What Harmony Premium import/export formats support alpha?

Alpha is another way to describe an image’s transparency. Depending on a project’s needs we might need to keep the alpha when importing an image made by other software. There are also instances, like if we are compositing in another software, where we need to export the alpha as well.

Import Formats with Alpha

The following formats support an alpha channel and can maintain their transparency when imported into Harmony Premium:

There are a few things to consider when importing alpha formats into Harmony. The following documentation covers the specifics:

• For more on importing bitmap files, see Import Bitmap Image.
• For more on importing vector files, see Importing Vector Files.
• For more on importing EXR files, see Importing for a CryptoMatte Node.
• For more on importing QuickTime movies, see Importing QuickTime Movies.
• For more on importing SWF files, see Importing Flash Movies.

Export Formats with Alpha

The following formats support an alpha channel and can maintain their transparency when exported from Harmony Premium:

There are a few things to consider when exporting alpha formats from Harmony:

• Any Colour-Cards or background layers must be disabled if you want the export to have a transparent background.
• Harmony does not export alpha with images by default. To export the image’s alpha, you must change the Colours dropdown in the Write node to Colour + Alpha. See Write Node for more.
• The EXR Format can only be exported using a Cryptomatte Write node and the Render Write Nodes… option. See Exporting with a CryptoMatte-Write Node for more.
• Double check that you have the supported codec (ProRes 4444) to export a QuickTime Movie with transparency.
• For more on exporting SWF files, see Exporting Flash Movies.