alright first of all im using AE 6.5 pro for mac. what im trying to do is make a title with a transparent background, export it to quicktime, and then import it into FCP and put it on top of a video file in FCP and have it so its just the title, since the background is transparent. so in order to do this is there a way in AE to have a composition with a transparent background, and have a transparent layer?... what im trying to do is make an animated title in AE and not have to edit it to the video clip in AE, yet just export it and place it at my liking in FCP. thank you for all of your help, im not sure if this is possible but id be suprised if it wasnt since they seemed to think of everything while making AE, yet AE came before FCP so maybe not

Hey Zander,

When you go to render your final composition in AE you need to also render an Alpha channel. (this channel controls the transparency of your footage) In the render queue, click on output module settings. There is a dialog box in that menu called "Channels." I think the default is RGB, but you want to change that to RGB+Alpha.

Now I've never used FCP so I don't know exactly how to import footage, but I'm assuming there are settings that tell FCP to read a clip's ALpha channel.

Hope this gets you started on the right path. Anyone else want to chime in and get a little more specific?

thanks, also how do i make a transparent solid ? thank you for your help

Hmm...

I guess I don't understand the question. You can turn down the tranparency of a layer using the Opacity setting under the layer's transform settings. Or you can simply turn that layer's visibility off by clicking on the eyeball next to the layer.

Don't know if this helps. Perhaps can you be a little more specific about what you are trying to accomplish.

see id turn down the transparency of hte layer the text is on, but it would make hte text invisible too, i need in short to be able ot export the animated text with no background and put it into FCP on top of video

Zander,

Rendering an alpha-channel should take care of this. You are using AE 6.5 correct? So I'm assuming you are creating the text with AE's built in type tool. Even though you see a black background in AE's comp window, this part should be transparent when you import into FCP. (assuming you render your video with an alpha channel)

Are you creating your text in AE or has it been imported from another program?

creating in AE, so which alpha channel should i use? thanks for the help

I do this all the time with AE to FCP. Here's what you do...

-When you're done composing your animation/title, put it in a new comp so it is only one layer
-set the "Mode" (in the timeline window) to "Alpha Add"
-Add to render que
-In the output module settings go to video output, format options, Animation compressor (this allows for alpha channels)
-then on the channels drop down menu choose RGB+Alpha
-Click render
-Drag and drop into FCP
-Voila, your title with FCP video in the background