Аlpha channel with the Lagarith codec

[Aleina Show]

The question is probably for Igor. Is it possible to use video with transparent background based on Lagarith codec? 
If anything, here's a link to the codec's author's website

I really like the compression with almost no loss of quality. If mov file size is 900 mb, avi file size with this codec is only 100 mb.

This is an example of a file

[Igor]

Hi,

We'll check this video file.

[Aleina Show]

Igor,

Thank you so much!

[Igor]

On 2/1/2023 at 3:41 AM, Aleina Show said:

The question is probably for Igor. Is it possible to use video with transparent background based on Lagarith codec? 
If anything, here's a link to the codec's author's website

I really like the compression with almost no loss of quality. If mov file size is 900 mb, avi file size with this codec is only 100 mb.

This is an example of a file

Subscribe Button #03.avi

Hi,

Please try a new test version 11.0.2 Build 2:

https://files.wnsoft.com/test/pteavstudio-setup.exe

We added support for this video format with a transparency. Let me know about a result.

[vbl2007]

3 hours ago, Igor said:

 

Aleina Show, how to use this codec?
How to transcode video from MOV format to AVI using this codec? What program to use?

[vbl2007]

3 hours ago, Igor said:

We added support for this video format with a transparency. Let me know about a result.

Everything works fine! AVI file with alpha channel works well.

[Aleina Show]

6 hours ago, Igor said:

We added support for this video format with a transparency. Let me know about a result.

Igor,

Thank you so much! Everything is great. Transparency is displayed.

 

3 hours ago, vbl2007 said:

Aleina Show, how to use this codec?
How to transcode video from MOV format to AVI using this codec? What program to use?

I use Adobe After Effects. I choose to render in AVI, rbg+ alpha channel. In the parameters of the format I choose Lagarith codec. And in the settings of this codec choose RGBA (otherwise transparency will not be displayed).

 

[Igor]

Aleina, thanks for the confirmation. We'll include this improvement for the next update 11.0.3 in February.

[vbl2007]

16 hours ago, Aleina Show said:

I use Adobe After Effects

Alena, Thank you so much! I also do the same.
AE is very large. I thought there are smaller programs for such transcoding.

[jienense]

On 2/8/2023 at 2:44 PM, vbl2007 said:

I thought there are smaller programs for such transcoding.

 

To transcode multiple files with Adobe Media Encoder works great.

 

[tom95521]

I don't use Adobe products so that is not an option for me. Lagarith is a relatively old codec and not compatible with some animation programs like Apple Motion which uses ProRes with alpha channel but it has large file sizes. If PTE was able to use VP8 or VP9 with alpha channel then it would probably be more widely used since it's easier to convert to this format and has smaller file size than ProRes. It is easy to convert from ProRes to VP9 using Shutter Encoder. There is also H.265 with alpha channel but not sure if Windows could support this option.

Tom

[jienense]

1 hour ago, tom95521 said:

I don't use Adobe products

Vegas ? 

 

[tom95521]

I spend most of my computer time on a Mac. I have a Windows computer but I don't use Vegas. I will test VirtualDub2 Lagarith encoding.

Thanks,
Tom

[tom95521]

I was not able to create an alpha channel video in Windows using VirtualDub2 with Lagarith. It would create a video with black background. There were no quality or compression option during save so the file was large compared to modern codecs like HEVC + alpha or VP8/9 + alpha. Shutter Encoder does not support Lagarith (ffmpeg?) and I don't want to spend the time to install the codec to use with other video editors.

For compatibility between Windows and Mac computers using PTE the only option that worked well for me was the QT Animation codec. It uses very old compression method RLE run length encoding and the file size is larger.

I think I would use a QT animation alpha channel video only when publishing the project as a video.

Tom 

 

[Igor]

Tom,

We added support for video files with Alpha channel in Lagarith codec only in the latest test version for Windows. See the link above. 

For Mac we'll include it in the nearest update 11.0.3.

[Aleina Show]

1 hour ago, tom95521 said:

I was not able to create an alpha channel video in Windows using VirtualDub2 with Lagarith. It would create a video with black background.

Tom,

Thank you for reminding us about Virtual Dub 2.
I did a little experiment.
Windows 10

File source format .mov 
Size 20.7 MB

Encoded to .avi using:

1. Adobe After Effects
Transparency+
Size 5,22 MB

2. Virtual Dub 2.
Transparency+ 
Size 3,13 MB

I only changed this value In the setting

[tom95521]

Hi Aleina,

Thanks for the screen capture. I will verify my PTE versions and try again. If anybody wants the source video with alpha I was using here it is. I used Apple Motion and imported into Apple Compressor to create the video.

DNA Compressor QuickTime ProRes with Alpha.mov 28 MB

https://we.tl/t-zfdegWxBJF

Tom

[tom95521]

23 hours ago, Igor said:

Tom,

We added support for video files with Alpha channel in Lagarith codec only in the latest test version for Windows. See the link above. 

For Mac we'll include it in the nearest update 11.0.3.

I updated PTE and it's working now. I do see a nice file size reduction (13 MB Lagarith compared to 28 MB QT Animation) and the Lagarith video quality looks good. I can see this as being a good solution for Windows PTE content creators, but if developing on a Mac I think the QT Animation codec may be the only solution that works.

In case anyone wants to see the 13 MB Lagarith video file it's here.

https://we.tl/t-x1U8HkfJCy

Thanks,
Tom