About Alpha Channels

wrightj999 · Post by **wrightj999** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:48 pm

I have made some animated graphics in Apple's Livetype program and I need to export the proper file (a format supporting 32 bit I guess) that will preserve the alpha channel. I first tried exporting .mov files (or quicktime movies, even though I thought they were one and the same), as that works perfectly fine when incorporating them into a final cut project. The same files that worked fine in FC did not preserve the alpha channel back here in my Ulead VS11. So I guess that I need to export to a different format for Ulead, and it is possible to use livetype graphics with "3rd party applications" according to the user manual. Any advice would be greatly appreciated that way I can save time that I would be using experimenting.

Post by **Ron P.** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:43 pm

VS should recognize the alpha channel of your video file, in the overlay tracks, however not in the main video track.

Generally 32 bit AVI, SWF using Bitmap images, GIF (with transparency) are some of the formats that would have the alpha channel, and are recognized by VS.

VS also recognizes GIF, TGA, PNG and Bitmap, are images that would have transparency.

wrightj999 · Post by **wrightj999** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:09 pm

I'll give that a shot and get back to you, thanks!

wrightj999 · Post by **wrightj999** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:18 pm

so I've determined that Ulead does not recognize the alpha channel of .mov files (even in overlay), so later today I am going to make some of the files you suggested and see how they work.

wrightj999 · Post by **wrightj999** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:16 pm

After speaking with some apple support advisors I have yet another relevant question: Does Ulead recognize premultiplied black alpha channels that are inherent in the .mov(H.264) files that are output by Livetype?