CompuServe Thread

#Disk Render Alpha only

6 messages in this thread
#122090From: Paul MinniSep 4, 1994 11:29 PM
Greetings All, I am wondering if there is a way to have 3DSr3 save only the rendered .TGA alpha files to disk as opposed to split image and alpha? What I'm doing is generating animated hi-con mattes for later (video) on-line posting. The alpha images are all I really need so I wanted to save myself some file upkeep and mucho disk space all at once. Thanks, Paul
#122146From: david W. mennenohSep 5, 1994 9:50 AM
Paul, If you use a custom directory to save your images and render from Video Post you could call a batch file everytime you render an image that deletes the non alpha .tga from the directory. There isn't a way to just render the alpha channel so you'll have to do something like this. Because the alpha images always start with A_ you could just have your batch file DEL IMAG*.* and only non alpha files will be deleted. Should be very easy to accomplish this way. Good luck. Dave Mennenoh
#122159From: Yost GroupSep 5, 1994 10:54 AM
In addition to what DavidM said, there's actually a way to do this. Download the alpha.ixp from DL1 (I think it's called alpha.zip) and use that as the last entry in your VP sequence. It'll strip the RGB off and should let you save just the alpha. – G
#122228From: david W. mennenohSep 5, 1994 8:03 PM
Great tip about using Alpha.ixp in VP. Why didn't I think of that? Dave Mennenoh
#122733From: Paul MinniSep 8, 1994 12:24 AM
Thanks one and all for the tips. Paul
#122190From: Jamie Clay [DPh]Sep 5, 1994 2:42 PM
Sure, in the IPAS data library you'll find ALPHA.ixp (in ALPHA.zip). Use this in the keyframer from Video Post and make it your last entry in the VP queue. Render from Video Post and of course turn ALPHA ON and SPLIT off. This will create the same files (only 24 bit not 8) as SPLIT does. J-me