Create Alpha Video Using iClone and PopVideo Converter

Using a Non-Alpha Image or Video Source which contains a solid background color, you can produce the Alpha Channel inside iClone if needed.

It helps if the surrounding color of the object is solid, this allows the edges to be easily defined when the HDR application id determining the edges of the object. Black colors always seem to apply better than others, but I have had success with Green and Blue also. Reds have a tendency to bleed on the edges. The point is that the surrounding color of the object be consistent.

The final clip after the instructional sequences was created through a multi-step process... The following are the various formats it was processed through before it reached it's final destination.

In the order the formats were achieved and / or converted from:

SWF
GIF
AVI

Inside iClone
The images were rendered to TGA 24 bit sequences. This ensured popVideo Converter would not assume the Alpha channel, but would use the Alpha Sequence exported from iClone as it's Alpha based channel.

If you produce 32 bit sequences which assume Alpha channels, then popVideo does not allow you to choose the sequence of images as the Alpha channel...keep that in mind because it doesn't work otherwise.

There are loads of Flash (SWF), AVI, WMV, or GIF sequences you can pre-process for use inside iClone, but many have no Alpha channel separating the background from the object...this method , shown here, circumvents that failure in being able to use the sequence as a clean animated object without all the surrounding clutter. It will extend your library of usable items. They can enhance your projects by compressing them as popVideo for the final product.

If my use of the terms GAMMA and ALPHA confuse you...think of Gamma as the color you want to keep and Alpha as the mask that blocks out the parts you don't.

I've used this extensively and it hasn't failed me yet...but then again, I rarely follow the crowd to the shopping mall on Black Friday either....you can too easily be trampled under foot in the crowd.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• iClone
• popVideo
• Alpha
• Gamma
• Animated Sequences
• Converting Video
• Cricky
• Panthar