Making an AVI file transparent

[MrGrunthunter]

I'm still playing around with making animated text. I now have a program called BuffTitler that will let you easily create animated text . I can save the file as an "AVI with transparency" but when I bring it into my Sony Movie Studio Suite to overlay on a video (MOV file) I get the text overlayed with a black background, not transparent as I wanted. I was able to do this once before but unfortunately have completely forgotten how I did it (old age thing). It seems like I'm missing a setting somewhere. Can anyone help?

[Peru]

Try "uncompressed AVI with transparency."

[Bob]

"AVI with transparency" should be fine. Vegas does not automatically recognize the alpha (transparency) channel in AVI files. Place the transparent video in the Video Overlay track. Right click on the video in the timeline and choose Properties and set the Alpha Channel dropdown in the Media tab to Straight (unmatted).

[MrGrunthunter]

EUREKA ! ! !
You are my new HERO Bob !!!!!
That did the trick. I thought it had to be a simple little setting that I was missing. I'm going to print this out and highlight it for the future ha ha ha.

Thanks You so much for reading and responding to my question. I wasn't getting much help at all on the BuffTitler website and they have no operating manual what so ever for their software. It's a shame because it does some amazing things.

Mike

[Steve Grisetti]

Amazing, Bob! Great tip!

[Peru]

I wasn't getting much help at all on the BuffTitler website and they have no operating manual what so ever for their software.
Mike

I'm glad Bob was able to solve your problem. It really was Vegas issue, rather than a BluffTitler issue.

For future reference, here is the BT manual:
http://www.outerspace-software.com/manual

Also, you can request help directly from the author of BT here:
http://www.outerspace-software.com/support
He is very responsive to inquiries.

[Bob]

Thanks, guys. I'm glad I could help.

[MrGrunthunter]

Peru,
With all due respect to everyone at BuffTitler and the amazing talent being displayed there but they are really lacking in the Help & Support arena. What they have for a software manual is basically an outline for the making of a manual. They identify all the 'tools' available but not how to use them. What I see is a group of very talented graphic artists showing off their work but not sharing how they created it other than, at most, saying they used this tool or that tool and even the tone of some replies to questions I've read posted have had sarcastic overtones. There appears to be more questions going unanswered that get answered by the contributers. The Gallery appears to have evolved into "see what I can do" posting and not very helpfull other than being entertained watching very creative annimation video clips. The creator of BuffTitler has indeed done a magnificent job but needs to hire someone who can provide more detailed customer support. Not everyone that purchases their product is an experienced graphic artist.

I must add that Steve has shown a lot of patience with all the questions posted here and in my opinion has gone out of his way to help us video editing challenged 'newbees' . Without his book and this forum I'd still be struggling with how to edit a video with Sony Movie Studio. GREAT JOB and many thanks Steve !!!

[Steve Grisetti]

That quite a compliment, McG! But at Muvipix we've got a whole world-wide community of smart, friendly people who are eager to help. We all contribute in our own ways.

[Peru]

Peru,
What I see is a group of very talented graphic artists showing off their work but not sharing how they created it other than, at most, saying they used this tool or that tool and even the tone of some replies to questions I've read posted have had sarcastic overtones.

Before the introduction of Headsub (http://www.headsub.com/Search/Results), there were many people uploading free templates to the Gallery. Now they are trying to sell their work at Headsub.

There still are many free templates in the Gallery. It's not as easy as being shown how to do it, but sometimes you can download a free template and save it so that you can dissect it and see how it was created. Sign in to the BT site so that you will have all of the Gallery available, and go here: http://www.outerspace-software.com/gall ... =0&T=0#top
Make sure you click the downloads tab and then go to the last page and work backwards. The most helpful stuff is the old uploads.

The Tutorials tab may also provide helpful information.

[Ron]

Here are a few free Motion Elements with a transparent background you can look at as well:

http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=63

[MrGrunthunter]

Peru,
What I see is a group of very talented graphic artists showing off their work but not sharing how they created it other than, at most, saying they used this tool or that tool and even the tone of some replies to questions I've read posted have had sarcastic overtones.

Before the introduction of Headsub (http://www.headsub.com/Search/Results), there were many people uploading free templates to the Gallery. Now they are trying to sell their work at Headsub.

There still are many free templates in the Gallery. It's not as easy as being shown how to do it, but sometimes you can download a free template and save it so that you can dissect it and see how it was created. Sign in to the BT site so that you will have all of the Gallery available, and go here: http://www.outerspace-software.com/gall ... =0&T=0#top
Make sure you click the downloads tab and then go to the last page and work backwards. The most helpful stuff is the old uploads.

The Tutorials tab may also provide helpful information.

Peru,
Thanks for posting the link to HeadSub. I hadn't heard of that site before. Yes, I I've been looking throughout the Gallery postings and have found a real neat OUTRO created by Vincent that I like ( http://www.outerspace-software.com/gallery/view?i=6225 ) and have posted a comment offering to pay him for it but have never received a reply. I've also noticed that pretty much all of the posting have now evolved into "see what I can do" and not providing any insight as to how it was created. If only some of them had taken the time to create some youtube videos as to how they are creating some of the videos they are posting we could learn a lOT more from them.