digital hotcakes

[logcabin07 Profile Private message]

I'm looking to buy some Digital Hotcakes software and I noticed there's a warning on their website about using it with ProShow Gold, specifically about an alpha channel. I know a lot of you on here have experience with Digital Hotcakes. Can anyone tell me what I WON'T be able to do with DH using ProShow Gold? What exactly is incompatible between the two?
Thanks.
Terry

[im42n8 Profile Private messageWebsite]

In short, you can use DH for backgrounds in PSG. Any lower thirds or videos that have an alpha channel (used to make part of the video transparent -- such as creating a frame or a revealer or such) won't work for the user of PSG. PSP/PSG can't utilize a video with an alpha channel (well, they won't recognize the embedded alpha channel). PSP can utilize masks so it can take the alpha channel as a separate video layer and treat it as a mask of the video to make the areas of the video transparent that are s'posed to be transparent. PSG can't do that so you're essentially S.O.L. (bummer, eh?).

Dale

[logcabin07 Profile Private message]

So that means that for, say, the video of the book opening to reveal a photo underneath would be useless for me? Pooo...

Thanks.
Terry

[im42n8 Profile Private messageWebsite]

Yep! Bummer, eh?

Dale