avi to rtv

[RayLarson]

I have been sent a credit roll by a client to add to the end of a program we are producing for him. It is an .avi created in Premiere with alpha channel. Unfortunately T2 cannot use that file with overlay so I need to convert it to an .rtv with alpha. I am not very fluent in Aura...how do I convert this file for use in T2 thru Aura?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Norman]

Open Aura, load your file, set mode to D1 RTV in the file menu and export your file.

[Paul Lara]

File | Import Sequence
Point to your sequence
In the load requestor uncheck 'PreLoad' option
Load it up
(the red layer means it can't be manipulated)
File | Mode | D1 RTV
be sure to check the Alpha option
File | Export Sequence
point it to your video drive.

Done.

[RayLarson]

OK, I am missing something. Tried those steps and only got a black RTV which was less time than the original .avi. Yes, Paul, the layer shows red after the sequence is imported. Any other suggestions??

[vip3dran]

Ray,

In addition to selecting File | Mode | RTV | alpha,
At the bottom of the list under file | export, make sure alpha, no premultiply is selected before exporting as RTV.

[RayLarson]

Have tried everything to get this to work and no luck. The original file was rendered in Premiere (it is a TitleDeko Scroll and transparency was set to alpha channel).

I brought it into Aura (Import Sequence) then export as rtv with alpha (using all information in the above posts) and when I put it on the time line and set overlay to "on" it will not overlay.

This should be a slam dunk......

[Norman]

Does it work as an overlay in Aura?

[RayLarson]

Thanks Norman,

I really don't know. I am simply converting the Title Deko Credit roll to an .rtv. In Permiere the file shows as having the transparency set to Alpha channel so I have to assume it would carry thru to Aura. I am simply exporting the timeline in premiere to an .avi then importing to Aura as an avi and converting to an .rtv.....

[Paul Lara]

Originally posted by RayLarson
I am simply converting the Title Deko Credit roll to an .rtv.

What he's asking is, When it's in Aura, is the background transparent? If you select the layer background as 'checked', do you see the checkerboard behind the scroll?

Another thing to remember is in Aura, you must ensure the background is set to None, instead of checked or colored.

[RayLarson]

Hi Paul,

When I preview in Aura it shows a black background. I am not at the system right now but will experiment more tonight. Any other hints will be appreciated since I am an Aura newbie.

[RayLarson]

Well folks, I have tried everything suggested and still cannot get this .avi clip to convert to a .rtv with Alpha channel. I even tried to re-create another file in Premiere and convcert it but no luck.

I am either missing something or it is the way Premiere is making the .avi file...but no luck so far.......guess I'll just have to keep trying....I will be glad to entertain any suggestions

[Paul Lara]

Originally posted by RayLarson
no luck so far

Ray,
when you load it into Aura, can you see through it?
When you change the background to check...does it appear behind the supposedly transparent areas?

[SBowie]

Originally posted by RayLarson

When I preview in Aura it shows a black background. I am not at the system right now but will experiment more tonight. Any other hints will be appreciated since I am an Aura newbie.

By Default, Aura's project display background mode is set to "None", and will apear black where no opacity exists in the currently visible layers. So the fact that your background after loading appears black may indicate it is transparent, or it may indicate that it is actually black (opaque). As Paul indicated, one way to find out whether you correctly saved the original AVI file with an embedded alpha channel is to switch from "None" mode to "Check." This will show your layer over a checkerboard pattern, which will be revealed anywhere there is transparency.

If the transparency HAS been preserved on loading into Aura, switch back to None, then set Aura's export Mode (in the File menu) to RTV with alpha channel. Assuming you created the original with correct frame rate and aspect, that should pretty much do it.

[RayLarson]

It appears that Premiere is not saving the alpha channel when I export the timeline to an .avi file, even though alpha channel is selected on the clip. I will have to do more research on this problem. I imported a known .rtv file with alpha and did see it with the checkerboard under so Aura is working correctly. I now less about Preciere than Aura so I will have to find out what gives.

[SBowie]

There are a LOT of different AVI formats. You need to determine how to select a 32bit one in Premiere from the sound of it. I don't imagine it would be much more complicated than that...

[RayLarson]

Well Steve,

My version of Premier (6.02) only give me the option of DV Microsoft avi and Microsoft avi. These are the only options I have available even though I have the Main Concept codec on my system and several others I use with T2.

This has been a frustration situation and I will do some more messing around to see if I can solve it. Hopefully it will, eventually, be an easy fix.

[tmon]

Ray,

Is there anyway to output a sequential 32 bit Targa file sequence from Premiere instead of an avi?

If so, you would then follow the same procedure as specified by others here to convert it to .rtv with alpha.