Exporting from Motion with alpha channel intact?

Question

Exporting from Motion with alpha channel intact?

(working in FCP6 and Motion 3)

I work with a producer who sends me video from a PC which I convert to Prorez and then add Motion effects to. Once I get the effects just the way I like them, I'd like to be able to delete the video layer and just send my effects layer back to him so he can just plop on top of his original video. But every time I've tried, the export come out with a black background instead of transparent, and he has to set the blend mode of the layer to something like Add or Screen.

How can I export from Motion with an alpha channel intact that will work on PC video?

Posted on Mar 30, 2012 9:18 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2012 9:49 PM in response to Robert Kleindienst1

If you have Compressor 4, check and see if you have the Animation codec. If you do, send the Motion project to Compressor and select the Animation codec with the setting 'Million Colors+'. The + (plus) is the transparent setting for the codec.

Open the Motion app and drop the Animation video on top of something to make sure you have the transparency.

Motion has ProRes 4444 that can contain a transparent background. Unfortunately, Windows computers do not support the ProRes codec.

BTW, a transparent background will look black (sometimes white).

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Answer 2

fox_m

Level 6

13,250 points

Mar 31, 2012 2:45 AM in response to Robert Kleindienst1

You can export JUST the alpha channel directly from Motion to make a travel matte. From Share > Export Movie click on the Render tab and for the Color option: set Alpha (recommend setting Render Quality to Best as well.) Motion will export only the alpha channel. Render your other content normally. Combine the two in your editor (assuming your editor can handle travel mattes).

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Answer 3

Mar 31, 2012 5:30 AM in response to fox_m

Fox... I misunderstood the OP question... Thanks!

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