Specify transparent background

rogermate · Post by **rogermate** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:16 am

How could you specify that the background color is transparent? There isn't an alpha channel for the background color selection like in the style palette.

I would like to export an .avi ( or a .mov) animation which is layered on top of other video using another program.

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:24 am

the background is always transparent (although it doesn't look it) - if you export .mov with 'animation' setting with million+ colours (the + is the alpha) then anywhere you can see the canvas will show as transparent.

GardenGuy · Post by **GardenGuy** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:46 pm

FYI - Make sure to select the PNG format first for your mov and that will then show you a choice for million+

rogermate · Post by **rogermate** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:44 am

I guess once you set a background color, there is no going back to transparent?

Also, I don't see .mov listed as an export format, but I can view quicktime movies.

Does AVI support transparent?

Jean_R · Post by **Jean_R** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:28 am

Avi does NOT support alpha (transparency) but Quicktime (*.mov) does.

Check codec window and look for Million colour + (I guess the + is for alpha)

Take care of antialiasing can produce artefacts.

Once you have rendered your animation, you can test it with Anime Studio itself (Image layer with some stuff in the background).

I'm not a *pro* but I hope this will help you.

Edit: oops, funksmaname said same advice sooner

rogermate · Post by **rogermate** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:43 am

Jean_R wrote:Avi does NOT support alpha (transparency) but Quicktime (*.mov) does.

Check codec window and look for Million colour + (I guess the + is for alpha)

Take care of antialiasing can produce artefacts.

Once you have rendered your animation, you can test it with Anime Studio itself (Image layer with some stuff in the background).

I'm not a *pro* but I hope this will help you.

Edit: oops, funksmaname said same advice sooner

I'm not showing .mov as an export option. But I can play Quicktime on my PC outside of AS Pro.

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 9:47 am

updating quicktime should hopefully solve that problem, but the background has a colour even when you open AS, its not 'transparent' - regardless of what background colour you choose, if you export it with one of the alpha options mentioned, it will always be transparent.

rogermate · Post by **rogermate** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:02 pm

funksmaname wrote:updating quicktime should hopefully solve that problem, but the background has a colour even when you open AS, its not 'transparent' - regardless of what background colour you choose, if you export it with one of the alpha options mentioned, it will always be transparent.

By updating, are you saying that I would need to purchase Quicktime Pro?

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:52 pm

Not on a Mac, it's part of the OS. The QT player for Windows is free, but I don't know if that enables you to export to QT. Check apple.com .

If your video editing software understand how to import a picture sequence, then you can export from AS as PNG sequence which preserves transparency as well.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:55 pm

I'm not showing .mov as an export option. But I can play Quicktime on my PC outside of AS Pro.

".mov" is the Quicktime file extension. When you export to Quicktime, it will produce a '.mov' file. I'd suggest rereading the above advise with that knowledge in hand.

rogermate · Post by **rogermate** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:40 am

synthsin75 wrote:
I'm not showing .mov as an export option. But I can play Quicktime on my PC outside of AS Pro.
".mov" is the Quicktime file extension. When you export to Quicktime, it will produce a '.mov' file. I'd suggest rereading the above advise with that knowledge in hand.

I was aware that .mov is the file extension for the Quicktime wrapper format. What I'm not sure of:

1. Do I need to purchase Quicktime Pro in order to generate .mov (Quicktime) files from Anime Studio?
2. Should I get some sort particular codec installed that is better for exporting .mov files, especially if I'm going to be editing them in another app?

Thanks for the workaround of using sequences. I'm going to see if my video app can import .png sequences, that could be a big help. I would like to avoid buying Quicktime Pro, to save money but also to keep the amount of software on the PC as low as possible. Too many apps spoil the broth.

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:47 am

Quicktime pro is a worthy purchase rogermate, I never regretted that one though I have regretted many others.
It's a one off purchase and it will give you access to saving to iphone and other formats with awesome compression, it will update itself and it will make you a happy chappy.

rogermate · Post by **rogermate** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 6:10 am

chucky wrote:Quicktime pro is a worthy purchase rogermate, I never regretted that one though I have regretted many others.
It's a one off purchase and it will give you access to saving to iphone and other formats with awesome compression, it will update itself and it will make you a happy chappy.

I appreciate the advice Chucky. Does your advice also apply if I'm Windows based?

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 6:21 am

QT is a pretty universal format for Mac of Windows. There is even a plugin for it that allows the playing of WMV on the mac. You don't have to be a fan of Apple to appreciate Quick Time. It is a good way to work with video format and many applications use QT.

-vern

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:44 am

As Vern says, QuickTime is not just for macs I am a pc user and no fanboy of any hardware or operating system.
I do find that QuickTime codecs are more robust than the others, that's not to say that avi wmv and mpeg don't have their purposes, they do.
Increasingly though I am leaning towards QT especially with their new compressions, the ease of alpha channel and you don't get all those mac users complaining " I couldn't get the file to play"

.