MXF output with Alpha channel? Help!

M

MagicCat

Well-known member
I am editing two different projects in Premiere CS3 with the P2 upgrade patch. Both are P2 MXF formats. A DVCPro50 (60I) and a DVCPro HD 720p (30p) format.

I need to make some custom motion graphics up in AE, then export them with Alpha Channels so I can use them as layovers in Premiere, along with their respectively formatted projects.

In the past, I used Uncompressed 24 bit AVI's. (DV25 editing) I am assuming that is not going to work as well under the new P2 formats.

Can anyone suggest a proper, High Quality, lossless output setting to me?

(BTW, in the past, using a 24bit Uncompressed AVI setting, an beveled edged text with the color red in it comes out "Blotchy" after I export the final project. Anybody have some good recommendations for the export process here too while Im at it? I always assumed it was the 4:1:1 sampling of DV that did this.)


Many thanks in advance

David

MagicCat
 
you can use whatever output codec you want for use in your PPRo project. it makes no difference if your using an MXf preset project or not. you can mix whatever codecs you want on the timeline, and youll get the same performance and quality regardless. the only stipulations are the codec choice and options when you go to do your final render.

pending what your exporting your final project as, thats where your going to get your chroma blocking and staircasing from. ..if your going to DVD. you should be aware that the MPG2 4:2:0 encoding can aslo cause DV like compression issues. in some cases you can get better results by using multiple pass encoding, and/or a higher variable bitrate.

..no matter what codec your output is to, make sure you uncheck the box that says "recompress" in your export settings if your using the file -export-movie command.
 
If I'm reading your post right, you actually don't have to render anything, resulting in a lossless workflow. Using the CS3 Dynamic Link feature, you can create your comp in AE and bring it into Premiere without rendering.

Create your comp in AE, make the motion graphic to your liking, then from the project window of AE, drag the comp file to the project window of Premiere. The comp should come into Premiere seamlessly, including most/all plugin settings.

Although I am not 100% sure the alpha channel will come over, I wouldn't see why not.
 
Thank you both. I understand the chroma blocking. That is essentially what happens. Most of the loss occurs during the final export.

Also, I have not tried the dynamic link method. Thats pretty cool. I will give it a whirl. Im not sure how the plug-ins will react, but we will see. It seems like PProCS3 takes advantage of many of the AE plug-ins now. (unless the programmers built them this way) I have several that are meant for AE only, and when I install them into PPro, it sees them and uses them?


David
 
yeah, im a dynamic link preacher so im suprised i didnt see the workflow issue there. :) the dynamic link workflow would be the best solution by far, that cuts out the intermediate render. yo dont have to worry about plugins because dynamic link doesnt use PPROs engine to render the Ae comp, it uses AE's engine, so AE will be loading all of its own plugins naitively, and it doesnt matter whether or not they are compatable with PPRO. AE's engine just gives PPRO the resulting frames on the timline for the linked clip, and PPRO uses those prerendered frames for output to whatever your exporting to.
 
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