#Super Black
The problem is: Under all circumstances the full color image goes to disk as
well as the alpha-channel file. Yes, disk space is a problem. A standard
animation for us would require between 350 megs and 1.5 gigs. Most of the
available drive space is filled with frequently used applications and we are
not will to constantly offload and onload applications to provide drive space
for files that are unwanted in the first place. Please note that this is a
dedicated graphics workstation.
There is no combination of software settings within the render procedure
which will permit what we really want: full color to display and alpha to disk.
While this should be a fairly simple software switch, it is not available.
We have also noted several anomalies within the rendering software settings:
You can set Split Alpha to On while Render Alpha is off (nothing happens). You
can have both Render Alpha and Split Alpha On when set to 16 bit ( again
nothing happens). Actually it seems reasonable that one should not be able to
select a switch combination that does not make sense to the system (e.g. Split
On while Render Alpha is Off).
The idea of using Video Post seems to be the only possibility but a
tremendous workaround. It also seems very risky. While we use VP a lot, In my
limited experience (bear in mind that I'm the director/editor not the computer
animator) video post is a complicated solution and one risks deleting files
that may be necessary elsewhere or later. How do you put a delete command in VP
anyway?
At the same time this thread began asking questions about Super Black. How
would Super Black relate to and be necessary in VP. After all, keying is what
the alpha information is all about. Super Black should relate to external
experiences, such as keying through a switcher.
-Robb