Shalveon
08-12-2007, 12:00 PM
Hi there folks,
i've been searching for a solution quiet a lot but found no real answer without a loss of quality. Maybe you may help?
Simple description:
Particles (Streaks, or Points) are rendered in Maya 8 with Hardware Render Buffer
Alpha Source: Hardware, tried also Luminance and the others
Color Accumulation: on
Files imported in After Effects CS3 - tried both straight alpha and premultiplied with black
The result always looks not as good as without any alpha at all. Colors are pale and at the borders they disappear completely.
I tried the workaround to render the particles all in white (color accumulation on) and without any alpha - then imported them in AE and layered the white ones above the colored - put the fill method to luminance-"template"(?) (got german version "Luminanz-Schablone") - result is again not as good as without alpha.
Thoughts:
Problem with graphics card? Geforce 7950GX2
don't really know if it supports hardware alpha ; if not - what Cards do ?
If Hardw. alpha is not supported I guess there wont be any alpha to see at all
Color accumulation a problem?
Bug in Maya? Bug in After Effects? (rather uncommon i guess)
Windows Problem? Some people wrote that this only works on SGI machines? Hum?
Thing's I don't realized yet? ; I tried every alpha source setting in maya and every alpha import method in after effects. Still no real perfect alpha.
Straight alpha would be the only real solution to be as flexible as possible in postprod.
I'll give you some Screenshots of a simple render example for better visuality (i hope this word exists in english) :-)
Render without alpha (perfect and as it should be)
http://www.artitek.de/noalpha.jpg
Rendered with Hardware Alpha Source - imported to AE as straight alpha
Added a colored layer to see transparancy on other colors.
Results are pale and particle range to the border is smaller
http://www.artitek.de/straightalpha.jpg
Same thing, but premultiplied (black) import in After Effects
(Things get worse...)
http://www.artitek.de/premultiblackalpha.jpg
Workaround : Rendered 2 Layers - one with white pixels, other with original color
Layered them in After Effects via Luminance-template (schablone)
Result is better but still not as complete as it is without alpha.
Also there is no more orange colored layer to see because this method hides everything behind it - which makes it kinda senseless? (Maybe I have to render it out with alpha)
http://www.artitek.de/luminancealpha.jpg
Finito - i'm out of ideas now - please dont tell me to use other software or something like that. I'd be glad to find some solutions for this problem - also to help others who will have similar problems.
Thanks in advance
Shalveon
i've been searching for a solution quiet a lot but found no real answer without a loss of quality. Maybe you may help?
Simple description:
Particles (Streaks, or Points) are rendered in Maya 8 with Hardware Render Buffer
Alpha Source: Hardware, tried also Luminance and the others
Color Accumulation: on
Files imported in After Effects CS3 - tried both straight alpha and premultiplied with black
The result always looks not as good as without any alpha at all. Colors are pale and at the borders they disappear completely.
I tried the workaround to render the particles all in white (color accumulation on) and without any alpha - then imported them in AE and layered the white ones above the colored - put the fill method to luminance-"template"(?) (got german version "Luminanz-Schablone") - result is again not as good as without alpha.
Thoughts:
Problem with graphics card? Geforce 7950GX2
don't really know if it supports hardware alpha ; if not - what Cards do ?
If Hardw. alpha is not supported I guess there wont be any alpha to see at all
Color accumulation a problem?
Bug in Maya? Bug in After Effects? (rather uncommon i guess)
Windows Problem? Some people wrote that this only works on SGI machines? Hum?
Thing's I don't realized yet? ; I tried every alpha source setting in maya and every alpha import method in after effects. Still no real perfect alpha.
Straight alpha would be the only real solution to be as flexible as possible in postprod.
I'll give you some Screenshots of a simple render example for better visuality (i hope this word exists in english) :-)
Render without alpha (perfect and as it should be)
http://www.artitek.de/noalpha.jpg
Rendered with Hardware Alpha Source - imported to AE as straight alpha
Added a colored layer to see transparancy on other colors.
Results are pale and particle range to the border is smaller
http://www.artitek.de/straightalpha.jpg
Same thing, but premultiplied (black) import in After Effects
(Things get worse...)
http://www.artitek.de/premultiblackalpha.jpg
Workaround : Rendered 2 Layers - one with white pixels, other with original color
Layered them in After Effects via Luminance-template (schablone)
Result is better but still not as complete as it is without alpha.
Also there is no more orange colored layer to see because this method hides everything behind it - which makes it kinda senseless? (Maybe I have to render it out with alpha)
http://www.artitek.de/luminancealpha.jpg
Finito - i'm out of ideas now - please dont tell me to use other software or something like that. I'd be glad to find some solutions for this problem - also to help others who will have similar problems.
Thanks in advance
Shalveon