My goal is to make a powerpoint show in which a figure walks around on the slide. I think I can accomplish this by rendering an image sequence in .png format, then combining them into a video that preserves the alpha channel transparency, and insert the video onto the powerpoint slice. What might be the best video format to do this in, and what is a (not exorbitant) application that can do that conversion? Thanks

For a free video editor, you could try virtualdub.

fivecat posted at 6:48PM Tue, 19 April 2016 - #4266221

For a free video editor, you could try virtualdub.

While it is technically an editor, I tend to think of virtualdub as more of a video processor. It lacks a lot of basic editing functions, but does have loads of useful filters and functions for improving individual clips. It's just that when you start working with more than one clip you quickly see how limited its editing functions really are.

Virtualdub would be my recommendation for the first part of the OP's question. If the images are numbered sequentially, simply loading the first one will cause virtualdub to load the successive frames (they must all be the same size/aspect as the first image) and create an animation/video.

The first problem though is that virtualdub doesn't preserve the alpha channel when it imports the frames. It doesn't support true 32 bit color, as its 32 bit color depth only adds a dummy alpha channel. I'm honestly not sure which video formats do support transparency. Maybe animated .gifs can have masks? It may not even be a limitation of the video format, possibly virtualdub just doesn't support an alpha channel.

If you were wanting to composite the animation in a more full-featured program such as Vegas, you could use a bright green or blue instead of the transparency and set up chroma key in the video editor for that layer. I'm not very familiar with Powerpoint, but I doubt it has a chroma key for video.

just google best free editor for your OS n your get top 10 list like this one

http://filmora.wondershare.com/video-editor/free-video-editing-software-windows.html

ya can google alphas also

google is one of the best CGI tools you have ;)

There's a free cross platform video editor called Shotcut that's fairly easy to use. You can check it out here: https://www.shotcut.org/

Photoshop will do this past version 5 I believe. They used to call it "extended" for animation. Of course it's not free, but you may already have access to it.

If you don't mind paying for it, Magix Movie Edit Pro can do everything you are asking for. And it can support multiple formats.

And it's basic software (which is still really powerful starts around $70 USD.

http://www.magix.com/us/movie-edit-pro/

What video format are people using that supports alpha channel? That's the part of the question I had no advice for.

A good page for all video related tools, many of them free is www.videohelp.com/software, there you can see almost any free and not free video application

I think the creators of vlc video player are creating a NLE free, still in beta I think, you can take a look.https://www.videolan.org/vlmc/

https://www.google.com.ph/search?num=20&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=what+video+format+supports+alpha+channels&oq=what+vid&gs_l=hp.3.0.35i39j0l9.2110.3209.0.5004.9.9.0.0.0.0.300.1015.0j2j2j1.5.0....0...1.1.64.hp..4.4.871.0.4pcYjqu74jY

If you want a really full featured video editor (with learning curve to suit) Fusion 7 is free http://www.videomaker.com/videonews/2014/11/blackmagic-design-rolls-out-fusion-for-free

Hi

I'll just throw in my 2 cents worth. I've used Adobe Premiere Elements for years and it works great, it's reasonably easy to use, can do green screen, many special effects, has multiple video and sound channels etc.

Pretty much nothing that you can't do, to have a professional looking video.

You can use pretty much any format and out put in any format or resolution up to full pro video HD quality.

And it's cheap, under $100.

I'm pretty sure you can get a free trial at Adobe so you can try it out before you commit.

Mike