Ive searched the smith micro forums and seen post re exporting a sequence of images as a tiff or png with a transparent background for layering in movie production, but i can't seem to find one that answers all the questions.

they say export as png or tif and import into qt pro . however i always get the background rendered. Ive tried various options and am wondering how to do it. Has any got a link to good tutorial for idiots..............

what i am trying to do is export a small v4 animation and paste it onto a time lapse avi..

no one has been smart enough to write one yet. :biggrin:

would it work to do the V4 animation as blue or green screen and then make that blue or green as your transparent color ? What program are you using to do your video editing?

I haven't done animation in a long time but if I remember correctly, you can select colors to make transparent in the video editing program...maybe not all of them, but then do as you suggested, layer that resulting sequence over the time lapse.

In your preferences, there should be an option to change between;

Render over background, Render over Transparency, etc...

So I'd go in and make sure that is set correctly.

thanks for that, i have 4 options in render over settings...

black

background colour

background shader

background picture.............

the only reason i want to try and do it this way rather than using an avi mat on the background, is that i thought just the figure would render faster than the 500 frame animation....Ive seen lots of posts about exporting to photoshop but thats a luxury i havent yet been able to afford......

I have successfully exported an image than in paint shop pro shows up with a transparent bg, but the moment i try to import it into any video editing proggy, it reverts to a grey bg........... hmmmmmmmmm

Havent worked a lot with animation and transparency, but the reason you would use png is because it have transparency build into it. So you should create your animation with no background objects (like a plane with a background image, dome or whatever). And in the output window choose image files -> png format.

And then you need to combine the images in somekind of program, that allow you to work in layers.

the only reason i want to try and do it this way rather than using an avi mat on the background, is that i thought just the figure would render faster than the 500 frame animation....Ive seen lots of posts about exporting to photoshop but thats a luxury i havent yet been able to afford......

I have successfully exported an image than in paint shop pro shows up with a transparent bg, but the moment i try to import it into any video editing proggy, it reverts to a grey bg........... hmmmmmmmmm

You can always get Gimp and a photoshop UI, Which is free and can do alot of the things that PS can. 

but i would assume that paint shop pro could export transparent BG. However you might have to click some option telling it to do so.

i have done that 3dmobster, psp has a png optimiser, the image shows as a transparancy until it it is imported into the movie........i've scoured the forums and google, but can't seem to find the answer.......hohum

I believe a png with transparency uses 32 bits instead of just 24 and its the video editor which is probably not handling the alpha channel.

Rendering on a plain color background does not add much time to a render.

what editor are you using ? Your chroma key color should be something not in the image itself.

i have been using a trial version of pinnacle videospin and also tried it in qtpro.

it's so frustrating lol, i can create a png with a tranny bg, but the moment i add it as an overlay track in either editor it reverts itself to being confined in a grey or white box, i think i am right in saying that poser has the abililty to render a series of images with transparent bg's that be recompiled as an overlay on an avi. or have i missed the plot

Movies can't be transparent, as far as I know...

Is your intention to add a background later in postwork for the video? If that's so, you should render simulating a chroma key (bright green or bright magenta backgrounds in Poser, or any other color that's very different from any color rendered in your figures or whatever you're rendering). Then, in your video editing application, pick that background color as a chroma key and use the rendered movie above a layer with your background picture/movie (Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere do that marvellously).

Without that, I doubt any video editing program will import transparency data, unless you have Poser's Make Movie feature save as image sequence instead of a video file (but then you'd have to import the images one by one in your video editing app, or use some plugin that does that for you).

ty for that, yes i have been using sequenced images, qt pro will import them and compile the animation, i'm just going to try with a different bg color and see if that works....

what i said but not so technically eloquent,
why does eveyone blow off what i say?

Quote - Movies can't be transparent, as far as I know...

Is your intention to add a background later in postwork for the video? If that's so, you should render simulating a chroma key (bright green or bright magenta backgrounds in Poser, or any other color that's very different from any color rendered in your figures or whatever you're rendering). Then, in your video editing application, pick that background color as a chroma key and use the rendered movie above a layer with your background picture/movie (Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere do that marvellously).

 

Without that, I doubt any video editing program will import transparency data, unless you have Poser's Make Movie feature save as image sequence instead of a video file (but then you'd have to import the images one by one in your video editing app, or use some plugin that does that for you).

i wasn't blowing off what you said at all, i was just saying that what i have been trying to do is to take an image sequence rendered from a poser animation with a blank bg to overlay on a time lapse avi i want to use.  and at this moment i'm no further forward lol....such is life........

oh  :)
let me put on my thinking hat..its very hard on Sunday after Saturday

Both Avid and After Effects will import PNG files sequentially and make a clip with a transparent background.  When you output your animation from Poser choose Image Files rather than AVI files.  Poser will output numbered PNG files and you'll end up with a folder with PNG images numbered sequentially.

When you import into Avid or After Effects, you import as a sequence and the system will automatically created a clip using each PNG as a single frame in the sequence.  This clip has a transparent background.

Your problem my be you using a low end editing program that doesn't support Alpha channels.

There is no need to go the greenscreen route in AfterEffects as the transparent clips self key and save a lot of time.  It's especially effective when you use motion blur - no green fringing, the transparency is perfectly preserved.

QT Pro uses animation layers.  it should work with poser trans anim in layer above background img/anim of same length, but maybe SM instructions are only for OS X, which uses QT Pro and others.  any tutorial may be one narrow case using specific OS, specific version of poser, specific video editor.

I would take the approach that Taylor-Made suggest.

poser ball animation (exported as series of tiff) in QT Pro (OS X).  works o.k. whether static background or clip is added in track below poser ball anim.

Quote - Both Avid and After Effects will import PNG files sequentially and make a clip with a transparent background.  When you output your animation from Poser choose Image Files rather than AVI files.  Poser will output numbered PNG files and you'll end up with a folder with PNG images numbered sequentially.

When you import into Avid or After Effects, you import as a sequence and the system will automatically created a clip using each PNG as a single frame in the sequence.  This clip has a transparent background.

Your problem my be you using a low end editing program that doesn't support Alpha channels.

There is no need to go the greenscreen route in AfterEffects as the transparent clips self key and save a lot of time.  It's especially effective when you use motion blur - no green fringing, the transparency is perfectly preserved.

AfterEffects has a sequence image function? Awesome, seems I need to play with it more. Only tried it in college...

My suggestion for a chroma key was just in case they didn't want to use an image sequence, actually. :)

This has been a feature of AfterEffects for as long as I can remember.  Years ago it was only JPEG sequences, but CS4 - CS5 imports PNG sequences which support transparent backgrounds and offer readymade Alpha channels.

I just finished an animated sequence of a robot walking that had massive motion blur and the composite in AfterEffects worked perfectly.  I just laid in the clip over the background footage, no need to key or mess with anything.  The transparency of the motion blurs came through beautifully.

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