PNG with transparent background has black edges

Question

Level 1

8 points

PNG with transparent background has black edges

I've been trying to add a logo to some video. I saved the white logo with a transparent background... I've tried 8, 16 & 24-bit. For some reason the logo looks great in photoshop but in iMovie 09 it looks terrible - the edges look black and pixelated. What am I doing wrong?

Macbook Pro (2.66 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo), Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jan 24, 2011 2:53 PM

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Answer 1

swank77 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2011 8:44 AM in response to swank77

Does really no one have a solution for me? Or am I posting this in the wrong place? I'm getting desperate.

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2011 10:07 AM in response to swank77

Read [this link to Karsten Schluter's site.|http://sites.google.com/site/karstenschluter/imovie09tricks]

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Answer 3

swank77 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2011 10:24 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Thanks but I don't see how this will help my situation. I'm not talking about the black box that happens when you click 'fit' (when the png loses transparency)... i have a transparent background.. it's just the edges of the logo where it meets the transparent background have a jagged black edge.. like the alpha channel didn't do it's job. I used Photoshop to create the png... i placed an illustrator vector logo onto a transparent layer so the original had nice crisp edges.

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Answer 4

swank77 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2011 12:23 PM in response to swank77

I want to point out that I just sent the PNG file I was using to a friend who uses iMovie 7.1.4 and he was able to import the logo with absolutely NO problems. So the issue lies with my version of iMovie. And I believe I'm at the highest update without having to pay for the upgrade.. great!

if anyone should have any other suggestions I'm all ears! Thank you!

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Answer 5

R J Kerr

Level 1

41 points

Feb 22, 2011 7:16 AM in response to swank77

I have just come across this problem. I am happy to buy iMovie 11 if it fixes it. Does anyone know if it does or do transparent PNGs still have the black jaggies?

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Answer 6

R J Kerr

Level 1

41 points

Feb 23, 2011 1:36 AM in response to R J Kerr

OK, I got somewhere with this last evening. I put all the movie files (Event, Project etc.) plus the PNG file onto a memory stick. Took it home and loaded it up onto an iMac. Lo and behold the transparent png cutaway which had the black jagged edge on the MacBook worked beautifully on the iMac. I didn't even need to switch off Ken Burns in Project Properties.

I then renamed the updated Project in the Finder and loaded onto the stick. I've now put it onto the MacBook and the cutaway is perfect. I can even stretch it etc.

So, similarities and differences -

Bad:
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Core Duo
OS X 10.5.8
iMovie 09 8.0.6 (821)

Good:
iMac 2.16GHz Core Duo
OS X 10.6.6
iMovie 09 8.0.6 (821)

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Answer 7

ktgrl

Level 1

5 points

Nov 13, 2011 3:15 PM in response to swank77

I'd been scouring the internet looking for a similar solution. Needed to bring in a word block with a transparent background and it always brought in with a white background. I only have Photoshop Elements 8 but I did find a workaround that worked for me:

I opened my PNG file in Preview and then exported it back out to a PNG with the "Alpha" box ticked and then I could drag that into iMovie and it was finally transparent.

I have iMovie ver 9.0.4 and OS X 10.7.2.

FYI, I had to bring this into iMovie as a Picture-in-Picture to overlay some existing text (long story - having to adapt an existing training video with no original project files for my company and make a single change). It's taken me a long time to get to this point...

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