Graphics

hi guys,
i was wondering if there is a way to drop a global background image for testing purposes...i know u can do it in vizArtist; basically to see how any masking or alpha channels are looking. Also
is there a way to check the alpha signal in the sequencer? bec. when i play a scene in the sequencer it's always on black....i could probably just add a background object in my scene, but is that accurate?

thanks for your help

Hi mlister... I don't believe there is a "global background" option in Xpression. I wish there was. I wish they would adopt the checkerboard pattern so we can easily see our keyable elements. I totally understand your frustration with the background being black. I recently worked a show where all the L3rds had black bars. My solution was to make a background object which was 50% grey. That way I could check the keyable elements. Unfortunately I don't know of a way in Xpression to change the background. If I'm wrong, please reply to this post so we can both learn something new. Cheers!
#XPression

XPression 7.1 will have an option to show the checkerboard background in the Sequencer preview window.

#XPression

Yay! That's great news!

As a workaround, I started adding an _Overlay group to all of my scenes. I put stuff (backgrounds, safe title frames, operator notes) into the overlay group, then add scripts to OnPreviewRender and OnOnline to show the Overlay on my preview canvas, but prevent them from playing to air (so I don't have to remember to turn them off).

'Show Overlay (Add to OnPreviewRender)
dim overlay as xpBaseObject

if Self.GetObjectByName("_OVERLAY", overlay)
overlay.visible = 1
end if

--

'Hide Overlay (Add to OnOnline)
dim overlay as xpBaseObject

if Self.GetObjectByName("_OVERLAY", overlay)
overlay.visible = 0
end if


#XPression

You can also see the key channel in the Viewport by going View > Channels > Key
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You can also create a Layer Object in the scene and set it to "Render on Preview Only"
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https://www.rossvideo.com/graphics-system/xpression/xpression-u/video-tutorial-mos13/
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thanks everybody for their responses...any idea when 7.1 will be released?
#XPression