Export video with an alpha channel
Transparent video, three ways
A lower third, a logo sting or an overlay needs to sit on top of someone else's footage, which means the background has to be transparent, not black. Three of Premation's export formats carry alpha, and the export panel says which as you pick.
Free · AGPL-3.0-only · macOS & Windows
The panel that does it
The editor’s own panel, rebuilt on its chrome. It works: drag, toggle, queue.
How to do it
- 01
Leave the composition background transparent
Composition Settings ▸ Background. The checkerboard in the viewport is what transparency looks like; a solid colour there will be baked into the file.
- 02
Open the Export panel
Window ▸ Export docks it beside the inspector. Pick the Video category.
- 03
Choose a format that carries alpha
WebM (VP9) for the web and most editors, MOV ProRes 4444 for a lossless hand-off to Premiere, Resolve or Final Cut, PNG sequence for anything else. The preset card shows alpha in green when the codec supports it.
- 04
Turn on Transparent background and queue it
The switch is only enabled on formats with alpha. Add to Queue renders in a child process; the status-bar tray shows progress and Reveal file when it lands.
Questions
- Does MP4 support transparency?
- No. H.264 has no alpha channel in any tool. Use WebM VP9 for the web, ProRes 4444 for an editor, or a PNG sequence.
- Why is my exported background black?
- Either the format has no alpha (MP4, GIF) or the Transparent background switch was off. Both are shown on the export panel before you queue.