exporting with alpha - false promise

[Peter Wassink]

I'd like some more clarity on alpha exports.

When exporting a Quicktime animation in RGBA mode and Background not ticked.
TVPaint does not include the alpha in the exported mov.

Maybe this is not tvpaints fault but i think at least it should not 'promise' to include alpha it by showing all is well in the export panel.


export panel promise:

exportpanel

Screenshot 2021-10-08 093654.png (50.66 KiB) Viewed 4342 times

actual export----no Alpha!

actual export----- no alpha!

Screenshot 2021-10-08 093813-2.png (59.04 KiB) Viewed 4340 times

[slowtiger]

Uhm, choosing "MOV" means you have to choose a codec as well, and only some of those support alpha.

[Xavier]

We discussed this question with the team. This is not trivial :
- the codec has to support the alpha
- but also the video player must support the alpha

So far I found a very little number of players that properly display the alpha channel. One of them is mpv, as discussed there.

Also on MacOS I think the Mov+ProRes combination works well with RGBA.

But I don't deny that we also should double check all the export options and especially the alpha. This year has been quite intense and we still have a lot on our plate

[slowtiger]

The Quicktime player on Mac (new and old ones) shows alpha simply as black. I think it's more important that video editors recognize it, so far I haven't heard of any difficulties with that.

[Peter Wassink]

The Quicktime player on Mac (new and old ones) shows alpha simply as black. I think it's more important that video editors recognize it, so far I haven't heard of any difficulties with that.

Thats not the issue, TVPaint 'promises' alpha on export, but it ends up not being in the file.
at least we should get a warning, like; this codec does not support alpha export ...or something