Transparent video output

Bikegoddess

Greetings,

I started to make videos to post to the internet, close to 40 so far, using video pad v. 5.11. The software is great, it seems to have the functionality to make higher quality videos. I'm struggling right now however because I'm trying to make an intro and outro with logos and a few seconds of music. I'm struggling at the moment because in order for this to really work and be something I can just drop into every video I make from here on out I need the intro to have a transparent background. Was this something that was in v 5.11 or did that come later?

I searched the forum and found:

(Edit: forgot the link, can't re-find it but I tried a lot of things.) which got me out of bed when I was supposed to be going to sleep to see if I could utilize what I learned but I don't see anything.

I also discovered a while back, several weeks ago, that I could export a .apng which is transparent but doesn't have sound.

I see the ability to export .mov which supports transparency but I can't get it to become transparent and I'm stuck with a large ugly black box. I've found a few ways to get around this like adding a subscribe banner to the end of the intro and extending it from 10 to 20 seconds and then using a fad and overlapping the tracks. however I want something I can just drop in and go, not having to fiddle with adding the fade and overlapping tracks and stuff.

Also I was wondering if there is a way to have a bin that is durable through projects so that I can add my time-lapse music intro etc and it will always be immediately available to me when I open a new project, but I can add a new topic for that if it doesn't get answered here.

Thank you for helping

❤️ Bike Goddess

borate

Many under the hood changes have been made since 5.11 which dates back to 2017. Consider trying out the latest. For licensed users upgrades are free for up to six months from purchase date. After that, VP will continue to fully function but a fee will be required in order to register the newest. Retain your old install file and registration info.

If a logo is a PNG image with transparent background, it can be overlaid above on a lower track which will appear in the transparent areas.

Here, the dice (PNG) have been superimposed over a (blank clip) gradient background.

If the logo has a high contrast with its background, and no color within it that is the same as the background color it can be chromakeyed (green screen effect). Key out the background color and overlay the logo on a higher track.

Upload examples of your elements to a free server, such as MS OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, get a shareable (public) link, copy that link and post it here. If using Google be sure to specify "anyone with link can view." Someone will suggest specifics.

Custom bins don't persist between sessions, unless a project is being reloaded. Create the time-lapse music, intro, etc. and export them. The resulting clips can then be imported into new projects.

[deleted]

"....so that I can add my time-lapse music intro etc and it will always be immediately available to me when I open a new project,...."

Starting a new project from scratch always has empty clip bins. If the music in your intro is a single clip then it can be saved to your PC by right clicking the audio track and selecting Save Audio Clip As a New File. If, as is probable you have created the audio intro from several clips then click the + which follows the words Sequence 1 x at the left end of the timeline. This will create a sequence in the Sequence bin. Right click the sequence in the bin and select Save Sequence Audio as a New File You can now load the audio file in any other project.

"....that I could export a .apng which is transparent but doesn't have sound. ...."

A png is an image file and by itself is silent but it will retain any transparency created when the clip is on the timeline...e.g by a green screen effect. Right clicking the preview or sequence display and then selecting Take a Snapshot of Sequence will save a png of the displayed frame with transparency.

"....I see the ability to export .mov which supports transparency but I can't get it to become transparent and I'm stuck with a large ugly black box....."

Exporting as a mov file does not retain the transparency of the VP clip and transparent areas reload a black areas.

Without seeing exactly what you are after the obvious suggestion is to create your into and then export it as a stand alone clip that you can use whenever you want.

The best way to advise on this is for you to upload the specific intro and its components to a free server as Borate suggests and someone can take a look.

Nat

Bikegoddess

I previously didn't quite get the intro to the level I wanted, what was the point if I can't export it, so I just finished it up and uploaded it here: Video Pad Help Folder.

For some reason I didn't think of cutting the music where I want it and exporting it separately and using a .apng like Nationalsolo suggested, would definitely be easier that what I did in the last video and look more like what I want. I think I would prefer the chromakey thing, though is that something that was available in version 5?

I want to upgrade the software but I built this computer around the idea of video editing less than a year ago, and I'm trying to make due with the software I already own. It is on my list of things but with this exception, it has done what I need it to do. scrubbing is a little difficult, way too difficult on my old PC but I just found a setting last night, at 1am when trying the thing mentioned in previous post, that allows me to set the memory for caching and I set that to a more appropriate level. Haven't worked with a big file yet but I'm sure scrubbing will be 100x better as 1gb vs 16gb when my pc has 32 to work with should be enormous.

I digress, you can see in the intro that if the video was transparent I would be able to have something going on in the 20 seconds, for sure the last 10 seconds. it is only a few seconds but people on YouTube are impatient and if I don't grab them they will leave. I have two other projects I worked on one for adding sound to the subscribe.mov that I could use randomly in videos and and intro for my Minecraft videos that I just exported as a .apng and have been using that for a few videos with no sound. Also being an avid cyclist and now having the ability to edit video effectively I plan to start something that has more to do with cycling.

borate

It's not entirely clear how you want this to look, but the videos, which have a transparent backgrounds, can be keyed over other images, as in the example here.

Then fonts, which also have transparent backgrounds, can be added on higher tracks. Check your spelling on "industrials."🙂

Space Engineers test.mp4

[deleted]

Hi Borate

For some reason this example played here. Normally I just see an "Unavailable" notice. Did you load it to the forum in a different way? Also was your last character an emoticon (Emoji) from the smiley button - as I only see a tiny square?

Nat

Bikegoddess

Yeah I think you see my problem but with another option that will work pretty well using a .apng and a saved music file. hopefully it works really well going forward.

borate

That was an attached H264 mp4 export, Nat. Yes, it's an emoticon chosen from the many. Displays okay here.

And Bikegoddess should get the same result with any clip that has a transparent bg, whether it be an image or video.

If it doesn't have transparency, then chromakey may serve, if the video has high contrast with the background and no conflicting colors.

[deleted]

Hi B

"....And Bikegoddess should get the same result with any clip that has a transparent bg, whether it be an image or video...."

Are you sure this is correct? Text has a transparent B/G so I exported a simple text image as an mp4. Reloaded it back into VP on Track 2 over a clip but B/G was black.

When Bikegoddess mentioned he couldn't get a transparent B/G with mov I did the same. The clip I used was an mp4 and had a greenscreened transparent area which I exported as a mov but when reloaded the mov, the formerly transparent area was black.

Nat

borate

Should have been clearer that any original with transparency can be used to create a video as above. Yes, transparency is lost after export. A saved snapshot will retain the transparency, as you noted, so that would work for title text.

There is a way an animated logo or video with transparent background can be saved for use in other projects..

First, clear the sequence and save this logo/video alone as a project. Use chromakey (green screen) if appropriate.

Then, while working on your current project, click FILE | IMPORT CLIPS FROM ANOTHER PROJECT and load that saved project.

It will appear as Sequence 2. Switch to that tab and select the video track, right-click on it and press <ctrl-C>.

Return to Sequence tab 1 and use <ctrl-V> to PASTE (overlay) the saved logo/video onto a higher track than the background. Transparency is retained.

Here's an example made that way...

test .mp4

[deleted]

Hi B

Yes that works OK but text doesn't seem to retain the transparency even when the scenario is...

Text placed on track 2 alone..track 1 empty
Saved as a project (text.vpj)
A new project is created and clips (the text clip) are loaded back from the text project ..they are no longer transparent.

Nat

borate

Did you Import Clips From Another Project, then COPY that project's saved text clip in sequence 2 and PASTE (overlay) it in sequence 1?

[deleted]

Hi B

Your test played OK 🙂

A bit of a learning curve here. I had previously widened the tracks by sliding up the white bar. When at the widest the clip bin area becomes scrollable with all the bins present one above the other.(I hadn't noticed this before.) With the tracks made less wide the normal separate bins turns on.

Importing the clips from the text project places a non transparent clip in the Sequence bin since the project sequence is imported AND a transparent text image in the Image bin. As I had the tracks at their widest (which default scrolled to the Sequence section) I must have added the non transparent sequence to track 2 instead of the transparent image whose section was not visible.If I had scrolled the bins down I would have seen the actual text clip with transparency in the image section. Doh! :wacko:

Happy to say it IS working OK

Nat

borate

Perfectly understandable.😇

The intent here might be easier if transparency was saved via an APNG export. That's being looked into...

Bikegoddess

Transparency is retained when using .apng. I'm using that for the intro on one of my series, but there is no way to add sound 🙁 with out doing what NationalSolo suggested. He said something about saving the video separate.

Borate had the idea of saving the file and just importing. I just tried that. I'm not really editing that video yet, but I started it. It creates a second story board which took me 2 seconds, I just have to remember that this will always have to be the very first thing I do, or I will have to reformat the intro every time and that is the kind of frustration I want to avoid. I was looking for something that I can just drop in every video from now on. every solution we have come up with isn't that easy.

borate

Bikegoddess wrote: Transparency is retained when using .apng.

Not seeing that here. When the exported animated APNG still or video is overlaid in VP, transparency is gone. But this is being looked into.

Using the Save Project/COPY/PASTE method outlined above (in the dice post) allows a transparent image/video and audio to be quickly applied to a project.

[deleted]

Any mileage in creating a Template of your intro with a placeholder?

The template (a vpj file) should retain transparency. "On paper" you should then be able to start a new project and at some point load the template whereupon your new project will be inserted in the placeholder. Needs testing on a small scale.

Nat

Bikegoddess

Okay, Maybe it is a problem that developed in later versions. cause it appears to be working and I did what she suggested in that earlier post. How would one create a template?

borate

Click on the ? at the top-right of the VP window, then use <ctrl-F> for a FIND box, bottom-left. Search for "project template."

Created a template with a single placeholder clip bordered by two, three-second transparent dice images.

Then opened a new project and added two adjacent video clips for a duration of thirty-seconds.

Applied the template.

Sequence 2 launched, with this result...

Templates do retain transparency. But placeholders don't seem that useful for the purpose being discussed here, and can be confusing.

That said, if a template contains images/video (transparent or not), followed by a single video placeholder, then when that template is applied to a project, its content will be followed by all content from video track 1 of the project.

borate

aPNG transparency is now being saved upon export in beta version 10.14.