I think one solution would be to produce that portion of the project that contains the alpha channel, then insert it back into the project and do the respective transitions that you need.

Thanks for assisting.

I believe I have narrowed down the problem.

PowerDirector has trouble with transparencies in combination with Transitions. I'm attaching another example.

In this case, PowerDirector wants to 'outline' any object that has alpha/transparencies around it. Here I apply a heart mask which looks great... until you apply a Transition.

Now all of a sudden, the heart has an ugly gray outline to it. See? I've been strugling with a workaround using Chromas, PNG files, masks etc. ALL of these methods produce the same problem.

Does anyone know a workaround? Is this a bug? Limitation?

Thanks!!

Hi IntegratedConsultants,

I had the same problem with previous builds of PD9. But since installing the latest 2930 update patch, it seems to have cured the outlining and fade graying, to transparent PNGs. (For me anyway)

If you’ve already installed the 2930 patch, and the problem persists, you might try to save or convert your transparent PNGs to GIF.
Earlier builds of PD9 seemed to handle the GIF transparency much better, with much less outlining and graying. But now with the 2930 update installed, I’m back to using PNG transparencies exclusively.

The 2930 patch is available here.
http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/support/powerdirector/patches_en_US.html

(Note: This was never an issue at all in PD8 or earlier versions.)


Click here PDtoots for a collection of PowerDirector Tutorials and Tips

Can you attach a screen shot of your edit room? I made that area into a transparent png and applied a transition and it worked fine. Maybe I'm doing it differently than you. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM

To Cranston: Thanks for the help. I'm on 2930, but now I have found that this is at least two separate issues (one I solved). If I run into more issues, I will try GIF.

I will post my other findings soon.

To Jaime-esque: Thank you too for the help. I am attaching a simple movie I made that illustrates the Mask issue. I hope all the files are there to make it work!

Don't spend too much time on it since I found a solution which I will post soon.

OK, here is what I found so far...

I made another test file using PNG with alpha/transparency (see attached) and it does what I want... however my main file still has the gray outline issues (weird), so I will continue to work on that.

In the meantime, here is what I found:

When the 'Preview in the Media Viewer' is set to 'HD Preview Resolution', I see the ugly gray outline.

When the 'Preview in the Media Viewer' is set to 'FULL HD Preview Resolution', I DON'T see the ugly gray outline!

The silly thing is that no matter what view you use, it produces the final video just fine!

Anyhow, I'm going to get to the bottom of why my main project is having issues. Stay tuned...

OK... Here are my final observations.

My original PNG had a special alpha shadow component to it. If I take that out, all is well. I'm not sure how to describe it other than PowerDirector needs absolute 100% transparent areas.

I'm attaching my original buggy artwork so you can see what I mean about the gray areas.

The good news is that I solved the issues. Thanks for the help everyone!

PS: I'm also attaching the final video for everyone to enjoy the cool flame effect (LOL)!