To Set How An Alpha Channel Is Interpreted; Adjusting The Opacity Of Clips - Adobe PREMIERE PRO 2 Manual

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Applications such as Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator can save clips with their alpha
channels when the alpha channel is present in the original file and the file is saved to a format that supports an
alpha channel. In these applications, you can display a checkerboard pattern that indicates transparency so that
you can distinguish transparent areas from opaque white areas.
See also
"About transparency" on page 354
"Adjusting the opacity of clips" on page 357
"To apply a key to a clip" on page 359

To set how an alpha channel is interpreted

Select a clip in the Project panel.
1
Choose File > Interpret Footage or right-click and choose Interpret Footage from the context menu.
2
3 In the Interpret Footage dialog box, select any of the following Alpha Channel options and click OK:
Ignores the alpha channel in the clip.
Ignore Alpha Channel
Reverses the light and dark areas of the alpha channel. This swaps the transparent and opaque
Invert Alpha Channel
areas.
If you have difficulty identifying which parts of a clip are transparent, choose Alpha from the Program view menu
in the Program Monitor. Another way to see areas of transparency is to add a bright solid color matte on a track
below the image you are keying.
See also
"About alpha channels and mattes" on page 354
"To create a solid color matte" on page 368

Adjusting the opacity of clips

By default, clips on tracks appear at full (100%) opacity except for areas marked by a clip's mask, matte, or alpha
channel. Make an entire clip more transparent by setting an opacity value below 100%. When a clip's opacity value is
set to less than 100%, clips on lower tracks may be visible. At 0% opacity, the clip is completely transparent. If no clips
are stacked below a partially transparent clip, the sequence's black background becomes visible. You can set a selected
clip's opacity in the Effect Controls panel or Timeline panel, and you can fade a clip down or up over time by
animating opacity.
Rendering order affects how opacity interacts with visual effects. The Video Effects list is rendered first, then
geometric effects such as Motion are rendered, and then alpha channel adjustments are applied. Within each effects
group, effects are rendered from the top down in the list. Because Opacity is in the Fixed Effects list, it renders after
the Video Effects list. If you want opacity to render earlier or later than certain effects, or if you want to control
additional opacity options, apply the Alpha Adjust video effect.
If you simply want to create a fade to black, consider applying a transition such as Dip To Black to the clip instead
of animating opacity keyframes manually.
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User Guide