3d titles in Premiere Elements 10

[richlab]

I appreciate your help:

I would like to use animated 3d text created in Photoshop CS6 as a title in Premiere Elements 10. The problem is that no matter how I render it, it adds a black background that prevents me from using the title over video in PE10, and videomerge in PE10 does not fix it. I have tried the following:

1) In PS, I deleted the background layer, leaving just the animated letters. But when rendering, the .mov file (which is the only way you can save it in PS), adds a black background.

2) In PS, I kept the background layer, but reduced the opacity to zero. Once again, it looks fine in PS, but when rendering, it makes the background black, thus I can't use the words over video in PE.

3) In PS, I tried rendering on "interactive" and "ray trace draft." Both did the same thing.

I use a Dell XPS with Windows 7 and plenty of of RAM, a fast chip, and a good video card.

Thanks for helping. Richard

[Steve Grisetti]

After you removed the background layer from your Photoshop file, did you then save the file as a PSD?

If you do that, Premiere Elements will read the alpha/transparency as transparent and you should have no problems.

If you are creating animation in Photoshop CS6 and you want to output with the transparency intact, you must save as a file format that supports alpha channel.

SWF is the best, most efficient choice, if PS CS6 is capable of that.

But other than that, I'm not sure what CS6's video timeline is capable of. After Effects can certainly output video with an alpha channel. I just don't know enough about CS6 yet to know if it is capable.

[richlab]

Steve: Thanks for your quick response.

I made sure it was saved as a PSD file (SWF is not one of the choices). It is doing the same thing. I think the problem is in the rendering because the background is transparent in PS, then when it renders, it becomes an mp4 file and when I play it in Quicktime or in PE 10, the black background is there.

Would you please tell me which render settings may be causing this: I have been using "export" then "render video" in PS6. It gives yo the choice of "adobe media encoder" or "photoshop image sequence." For format, it offfers h.264, DPX, or Quicktime.

Is there another way I should be "exporting" the animation from PS?

Thanks. Richard

[Steve Grisetti]

How are you saving it as PSD file if it's a movie?

Am I misunderstanding? You're creating a movie on the Photoshop CS6 timeline, right? These are not still titles.

If it's a movie, then I'm not sure Photoshop is capable of outputting a movie with an alpha channel. But this would be better asked in the Photoshop sub-forum. May I move this discussion there?

[Bob]

1) In PS, I deleted the background layer, leaving just the animated letters. But when rendering, the .mov file (which is the only way you can save it in PS), adds a black background.

You need to select a codec that supports transparency and set the bit depth. When you go to render and export the mov file, select the video settings and set the compression type to "animation". Then, set the bit depth to "millions of colors+". You can now export with transparency.

[richlab]

Dear Steve and Bob:

I appreciate your help, but it is still not working.

For Steve, yes it is a video (animation) created in the timeline in Photoshop CS6 Extended using 3d. And yes, you can send this thread to the PS forum.

For Bob, I don't see any of those settings. When I am done with the animation in PS, I either delete the background layer or reduce its opacity to zero. (Neither has worked). But I see just the letters in PS, which is what I want.

Then I go to export, render video, and the dialogue box has limited choices, and none of the things you mentioned in your note. It can render it with h.264, DPX (whatever that is) or Quicktime. You also get to choose between interactive and ray trace. I tried them all. No matter whether I deleted the background or reduced the opacity, the rendering always adds a black background.

Would you please suggest something else? Thanks. Richard

[Gerlinde]

You say in your first post, applying Videomerge did not work with your clip. Have you tried to apply the Luma Key? I had once a similar problem with one of the fairy tale dust.swf. Videomerge did not eliminate the black background like it does for other .swfs, but Luma Key did. You may have to adjust the parameters for the keying.

[Bob]

To export video with transparency, you select the adobe media encoder and quicktime. I have PS6 ordered, but the box hasn't arrived yet, so I can't check the presets for you. You may need a custom preset. With the proper settings, the Alpha Channel selection in the Render section of the export video dialog should be available -- you'll probably want straight unmatted.

If you cannot get that to work, you can export a sequence with transparency. Be sure to set the the Alpha Channel selection in the Render section. A sequence is just a series of stills, one per frame. Tiff and PNG support transparency. The title of the still contains the sequence number. Save the sequence in a separate folder to keep them separate from your other project media as you will generate many stills. Premiere Elements can import the sequence using Get Media from PC Files and Folders. Select the first still in the sequence and check the box labeled "numbered stills".

[RJ Johnston]

In the Photoshop CS6, you can select Quicktime Animation or Uncompressed, then near the bottom of the "Render Video" dialog window you can select to render the alpha channel as "straight - unmatted." The alpha channel was recognized in Premiere Elements 10 when I tried it.

Alpha from PS CS6.jpg

[Steve Grisetti]

Awesome! I knew if there was a solution, Bob or Robert would find it! Thanks, guys!

[Chuck Engels]

Just remember that it takes a long time to export and the files will be HUGE

[richlab]

Dear RJ, Steve and others:

I tried it and it worked! Thanks so much for your help. The screen shot was particularly useful. I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I really appreciated your taking the time to help with this.

Richard