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Cpilcher  
#1 Posted : Friday, February 26, 2016 10:04:51 AM(UTC)
Cpilcher

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In my production I use a list box to select different video files for a Time Clock during fights. It is an .MOV file with an alpha channel that I created in After Effects. I can start, pause and reset the position of this list box using shortcut keys and that works great. My problem occurs when I change the selected video file within the list box. Not always... but very regularly, there is a black flicker where the transparency should be. If you watch the lower left corner there is a Bug Logo on overlay 2, and the flicker occurs on the Clock on overlay 1.

vMix 4K - 16.0.0.115 x64

(New upload showing flicker)

IceStream  
#2 Posted : Friday, February 26, 2016 4:56:30 PM(UTC)
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@ Cpilcher

It looks like one frame of your video (either first or last doesn't have or vMix not picking up alpha). Are you able to isolate that and possibly trim the video (mark in or mark out)?
Probably not the solution but might be a feasible workaround for the time being.
Another option might be to convert your videos into .png sequences with the vMix tool for that.


Ice
Cpilcher  
#3 Posted : Friday, February 26, 2016 5:05:26 PM(UTC)
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I will look to see if I can find a frame without transparency.

As far as the PNG sequence, maybe you can help me with that setup. Right now I have a video of the Bug animating in, and another video of the Bug animating out. I use triggers on the list input settings to play the "IN" clip when "Overlay IN" occurs, and the "OUT" clip when "Overlay OUT" occurs. This way the Bug Logo stays on screen when active and then animates off screen when I want to remove it.

What would be the workflow to do something similar with an image sequence?
Cpilcher  
#4 Posted : Friday, February 26, 2016 5:33:33 PM(UTC)
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Ok, I just converted the .MOV Time Clock video into an .PNG Image Sequence. I noticed that the first 31 files created by the sequence do not appear to have any alpha transparency. But I don't notice any of this in vMix when I play the file as an overlay.

I think it would be better to use the Image Sequence and get away from the .MOV file, but is there a way to nest these sequences like I did with the List Input. Otherwise I will have 25 Image Sequences to manage to allow me access to the various time clocks I run.
Cpilcher attached the following image(s):
image1(1).JPG (2,379kb) downloaded 16 time(s).

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madness  
#5 Posted : Saturday, February 27, 2016 9:27:45 AM(UTC)
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With my experience in creating an image sequence in Blender, and looking at them as you are in windows explorer, those first 31 images are pure alpha channel. They have no actual pixels that are not alpha, so they display in windows as a complete black image. If you were to open those images in photoshop or gimp, they will display as transparent.

Windows explorer (and the file dialogs) will not display them as transparent. You must have at least one visible pixel for it not to display as a black image.

Looking at your video, I too think it's your first frame. Perhaps just open the image 1 and 30 in photoshop to compare, and if 1 is indeed all black/non transparent, replace it with the content of image 30.
Cpilcher  
#6 Posted : Saturday, February 27, 2016 11:18:37 AM(UTC)
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After working on it last night I discovered exactly as your mention, that the black frames were all frames that contained no image. I thought it was a problem with the conversion tool through vMix because in After Effects I couldn't find any frames that did not have transparency.

So with that said, I re-rendered the files and started a fresh vMix project. The flicker or Black Frame is still present.

I have added 2 shortcuts that I have linked through the advanced tab on the shortcuts menu that will turn the transparency of this input to either "0" or "255" depending on which button I activate. This is allowing me to reset the clock while at the same time hiding the flash as I change which clock asset is selected. This works very well but hopefully I can find the root cause.

Right now I have 3 different durations for Time Clocks:
2 minute rounds x 5 rounds
3 minute rounds x 5 rounds
5 minute rounds x 5 rounds

Thanks for the input so far, I have a live event tonight with my new set-up.
IceStream  
#7 Posted : Saturday, February 27, 2016 11:40:09 AM(UTC)
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@ Cpilcher

From your attachment jpeg, it looks like the first 31 frames are not transparent (perhaps how After Effects rendered your .mov and why you got the flicker, looking at my conversions, I see that the first image is usually black, but it is not visible on playback).
Unfortunately, AFAIK, there is no way to "List" the Image Sequences like videos (perhaps a 'Feature Request' is in order), although, if your workflow allows, you can probably put them all in the same "Category" folder/window and still use the "Shortcuts" you made to manage things.


Ice
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