Alpha channel proRes 4444 difficulty

Thanks to everyone in advance for helping with this.

I have been using the beautiful APR 4444 codec and love the way that I can output graphics from Motion with alpha channels and they play back in realtime in my timeline in FCP.
I was traveling so I was working from my laptop and everything worked beautifully. When I got back and went to work on my desktop, the exact same sequences are not playing back the alpha channels. I spent about 3 hours messing with my settings, trying to get it to work as it's supposed to. Giving up, I took it back to my laptop and the alpha from the exact same files are working again.

Anyone know what is going on here? The only thing that I can think of is that the desktop is upgraded to FCP 7.0.1 and the laptop is still FCP 7.0. I really don't want to have to down grade so I'm hoping it's and accidental setting change although for the life of me, I can't find it.

MacPro
3.2 GHz Octo core
18 GB RAM
FCP7.01

MacBookPro
3.06 Intel
4 GB RAM
FCP 7.0

Why not upgrade the laptop- it's never a good idea to exchange FCP projects between disparate versions anyway.

Noah

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
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Well, now the laptop is the only one that seems to be working and my deadlines are rushing in. The need for render time alone is worth keeping the laptop the same since it is the one that is working.

MacPro
3.2 GHz Octo core
18 GB RAM
FCP7.01

MacBookPro
3.06 Intel
4 GB RAM
FCP 7.0

I suspect once you finally upgrade the laptop the problem will go away...

Noah

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
Author, RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera available now at: [www.amazon.com].
Editors Store- Gifts and Gear for Editors: [www.editorsstore.com]

Do you think this is a version issue Noah? I'm kinda with Das in that if the deadline looms and only one computer works, you don't upgrade that computer till the job is delivered.

Don't know why the issue is happening though. You've checked that all the alpha settings are the same in both versions, of course..

Oh wait - rendering maybe.. try outputting a section from the laptop without rendering, and send this to the desktop.

Well if the guy has a workaround I don't see the harm in waiting -but yes I'd guess a versioning issue.

Noah

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
Author, RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera available now at: [www.amazon.com].
Editors Store- Gifts and Gear for Editors: [www.editorsstore.com]

I'll have to wait for the deadlines to pass but can someone explain to me why the computer that has not been upgraded works and the one that has been upgraded does not work.

Why is it a good idea to upgrade to the set up where the evidence is against it?? I have created apr4444 QuickTime files with alpha channels on both machines and it only seems to work on the older version of FCP.

I will try the render solution above soon and respond shortly.

MacPro
3.2 GHz Octo core
18 GB RAM
FCP7.01

MacBookPro
3.06 Intel
4 GB RAM
FCP 7.0

...a bug in the 7.0.1 sounds like.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Or could just as easily be something fixed in 7.01 that breaks compatibility from 7.0.

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
Author, RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera available now at: [www.amazon.com].
Editors Store- Gifts and Gear for Editors: [www.editorsstore.com]

I'm working in AE but the original files came from FCP in ProRes4444. Have you tried outputting in the classic Animation codec and try that on both machines? I started with 4444 in FCP, out to Compressor for Deinterlacing, into AE for keying, and out via Animation for Flash encoding in Episode Pro.

I encountered missing alpha channel in PR4444 when going out to Episode for Flash encoding. Producer, who has more experience than I, suggested rendering out in Animation codec, and that behaves better. Maybe you could substitute Animation in your workflow.

In FCP: did you try going to item properties > format and making sure the proper alpha on the files imported from Motion is selected?

If you exported ProRes 4x4 from Motion with the background set to transparent, there should be no problem.

Now I am trying to export with my desktop (the one not recognizing alpha channels from APR4444) and the following pop-up arrives.

"Codec not found. You may be using a compression type without the corresponding hardware card."

I have the latest versions of all the Studio apps and am updated completely. Any idea what the heck this means and how to proceed?

MacPro
3.2 GHz Octo core
18 GB RAM
FCP7.01

MacBookPro
3.06 Intel
4 GB RAM
FCP 7.0

Also I have my render settings set to 8bit YUV

MacPro
3.2 GHz Octo core
18 GB RAM
FCP7.01

MacBookPro
3.06 Intel
4 GB RAM
FCP 7.0