A way to have alpha on imported movie file?

jhbmw007 · Post by **jhbmw007** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:38 pm

Am I correct to assume there's no way to have quicktime file with alpha channel import into AS with the alpha channel in tact? I think I tried once, and it didn't work. It'd be really cool if this was possible though...

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 11:54 pm

It would be cool, but it does not work now.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:25 am

are you referring to import a quicktime movie with alpha?
if so, actually you can do this.

Ronbo · Post by **Ronbo** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:53 am

I just successfully exported a QT movie from Toon Boom Studio and imported into ASP with the alpha channel intact. I selected PNG compression type set at "millions of colors +." That "+," of course, is important in order to retain the alpha channel.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:44 am

Aha - this is different from what I experienced. So it looks like it is a question of choosing the right codec again.

I'll test and report later.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:34 am

OK, testing done. Transparency in video files works.

You only have to choose a codec which allows you to set the colour depth to "millions+", the "+" indicates the alpha channel. (Of course I assume your source material has an alpha channel!) On Mac, I tested with PNG and Animation codec, both work. A codec like MPG-4 doesn't work, it even doesn't give me the choice of colour depth.

Here's a quick example, the animation was done in Mirage, nothing special. A loop of 8 frames, layers multiplied and tweaked.
http://www.slowtiger.de/examples/trams.mov (550 k)

jhbmw007 · Post by **jhbmw007** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:54 pm

Aha! I got it to work too. I'm using Sony Vegas and there's no selection for millions of colors +, but using PNG with the highest color setting worked. This is perfect since I will have to chroma key my source movie file in Vegas anyways.

Think about it- you could green screen yourself talking and then rig your head to a cartoon body! Why you would want to do that, I don't know....

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:55 pm

An animator in Berlin did just that - recorded several people's heads on video, extracted the heads, and put them, grimaces and all, on top of AS characters.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:26 pm

you could make an entire body with video head, arms and legs. it would be interesting.

rplate · Post by **rplate** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:43 am

EDIT

I removed the original post and reposted below with a more interesting movie.
http://homepage.mac.com/rplate/iMovieTheater27.html

jhbmw007 · Post by **jhbmw007** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:24 pm

I'm currently working on my own project using a filmed "head" on a photo cut-out body:

That head is an imported movie of the actor's green screen footage- it works like a charm. Try to get your actor to wear a green turtle neck- mine didn't and it was a bit troublesome with his neck showing in the video. I took pictures of my hands in various positions and set them up in switch layers (well you only need one hand, then just flip it in AS to create the other). The backgrounds will all be created using photo elements. There's a great music soundtrack that he'll be singing to also.

jhbmw007 · Post by **jhbmw007** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:44 am

selgin wrote:you could make an entire body with video head, arms and legs. it would be interesting.

That would be interesting- although extremely complicated to get the timing right. How about make a character with a man's head, woman's body, a white female right arm, a black male left arm, and horse legs?

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:39 am

If you have the right story for that, go ahead! I recommend "Are you real, Mr Joe?" by Stanislaw Lem.

rplate · Post by **rplate** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:02 am

jhbmw007 wrote:
selgin wrote:you could make an entire body with video head, arms and legs. it would be interesting.
That would be interesting- although extremely complicated to get the timing right. How about make a character with a man's head, woman's body, a white female right arm, a black male left arm, and horse legs?

Two for the price of one...
1 3D obj file
1 alpha movie

http://homepage.mac.com/rplate/iMovieTheater27.html

Here we have a movie of a car beside a 2nd car that is a 3D wavefront.obj .
Both are imported into Anime Studio and keyframed as an animation.
Notice the 3D attributes of the Cars.
The car returning is the 3D .obj The other is a movie.

Just having fun again.