Exporting 3D text as a still with transparent background?

Question

Level 1

112 points

Exporting 3D text as a still with transparent background?

I've made some 3D metallic gold titles for a film. I want to be able to export the text alone with a transparent background so the publicity people can use it for doing graphics, posters, etc.

FCPX does a beautiful job on the text itself. This would save me the agony of redoing the titles in Photoshop et al.

I've set the Player Background as 'Checkerboard', and am exporting out a .png file. But the results don't give me a transparent background. I know I can do it as a movie, exporting with Apple ProRes 4444 ... but then I still have the problem of turning it into a still.

All ears for any suggestions ...

Ben

Posted on Nov 18, 2021 10:04 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Nov 18, 2021 10:18 AM in response to Ben Low

I did it!! All by my lonesome. I just needed to set the 'Project' (timeline) as ProRes 4444; then when I exported a .png the alpha channel worked. I'm thrilled.

Even though the rain is falling in Montreal, promising snow, I can feel the sun rising somewhere...

Apologies for the unnecessary post.

Reply

Answer 2

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Nov 18, 2021 12:07 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis, Tom,

I clicked off the rendering (preferences), set the PlayerBackground as Checkerboard, then exported out as a .png. But it didn't work. I'd done it with movies before ... using ProRes 4444. But I was stalled, duh, for a bit ... coz exporting stills doesn't allow a choice, right? It's jpeg or png ... but no controls for the codec. More duh. It's only a bit later I realised I could set the ProRes 4444 in the timeline itself (modify project) ... and then it worked like a dream. And the export is razor sharp high rez ... fully rendered.

I spent a few hours trying to figure out how to do metallic titles, thinking I'd have to import them in from Photoshop or Affinity ... and then, more duh, discovered FCPX does gorgeous 3D controllable metallic titles. And thanks to 'fox_m' I got the 'Title With Parameters' ... and can keyframe the movements.

Thank you guys ....

Ben

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 18, 2021 11:06 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Tom Wolsky wrote:

Funny. If it’s not rendered in 10.5.4 and you export a transparency still it works regardless of the render codec of the project.

Yes, I remember years ago someone complaining of losing transparency if the timeline was rendered... it was then I learned about ProRes 4444.

I think that the current behavior is more consistent.

Reply

Answer 4

Nov 18, 2021 10:18 AM in response to Ben Low

Did you change the render codec from the default ProRes 422 to ProRess 4444?

Reply

Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,780 points

Nov 18, 2021 10:22 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Funny. If it’s not rendered in 10.5.4 and you export a transparency still it works regardless of the render codec of the project.

Reply

Answer 6

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,780 points

Nov 18, 2021 11:17 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I don’t like it. It’s unrendered. It should export in it’s state. Most users don’t want to render I don’t think, let alone render 4x4. Does that mean the user has to switch back and forth between render settings? Seems a backward step to me.

Reply

Answer 7

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Nov 18, 2021 12:10 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Yeah, that was the trick. It took me a bit to remember I could do it (set the codec) in the 'project timeline' ... I was stuck for that bit coz you can't set the actual codec in a still export, only the format.

Reply

Answer 8

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Nov 19, 2021 6:17 AM in response to Smilin-Brian

Hi mr fish,

I think Motion is a brilliant app. And. I began filmmaking coz it got me out into the world, unfamiliar locations, fascinating people, travel travel travel. My first love was the camera. Now I find myself sitting in an edit suite ... months in months out. Sitting sitting sitting. A third of that time is spent solving computer or software issues. I think I've reached my software tech limit. The manual for operating the software in my Ford Fusion is as thick as an Adobe manual. The world is digital. And I'm analog. Having said that, I have used Motion in the past ... I did some of the most amazingly precise Ken Burn moves for a couple of IMAX films ... to die for smooth and complex ... love Motion. (My father was the inventor of the Ken Burns technique - animating camera on stills - back in the fifties ... www.nfb.ca ... look for 'City Of Gold'. Ken Burns will tell you that.)

All the best mr fish ...

Reply