Alpha video advice

[Linton9]

Hi,

I'm sure its possible, but right now I dont have a machine in front of me, and I only have one day with a player pro to deliver a solution for this:-

We have two layers of video and wish to display both at once (ie alpha channel or key into black on layer 2) and then have the option of changing the colour of these.
Currently the layers are 1- red on black, 2- blue on black.

Is the best way to achieve this to use video with alpha channels?

What video codec is recommended for alpha channels to ensure machine stability? We have just one PB Player Pro on this job so sync is not important.

Should the parts of the video we wish to colourise be white to start with rather than red and blue?
I'm imagining we would just use ColourFX Multiply to get the colour.

[Patrick Verhey]

Hi,

are you runnning the show with a server or a player? If you have a Server you can use the Alpha Blend FX, wich seems to be perfect for your need.
Here is a tutorial how to set it up:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=334&p=655&hilit=alpha#p655

If you are running a player software you need to check the peformance of your computer. The main Problem regarding alpha channel videos is that you need to use uncompressen Quicktime Aninmation. Pandoras Box is able to play them back including the alpha channel, but as they are uncompressed the will eat up a lot of performance. Even on a Server you will not be able to run more than two in a smooth way.
I cannot say if this will work on a player as I do not know your hardware specs.

I hope that helps you.

Best regards

Patrick

[Linton9]

Patrick,

We are running one player.

The final output is a matrix so we can be fairly low resolution in the quicktime animation...

If using an alpha channel was not possible, what would your next best recommendation be?
Considering we cannot apply a colour multiplier and a black key at the same time on the same layer.

[Julia Foest]

Hi Linton,

if you use Video with AlphaChannel (QT Animation), then definitely take a white object for applying the multiply colour fx.
If you do not get an Alphachannel working, I do not see a chance to colour the not keyed parts of the video, I´m sorry, not with a PB Player.

Best regards,
Julia