Overview, Using vfw programs without the rt.x2 hardware – Matrox Electronic Systems Matrox RT.X2 User Manual
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Chapter 5, Using Matrox RT.X2 with Video for Windows Programs
Overview
When using Video for Windows (VFW) programs to render material to an .avi
file, such as in the case of a completed video production or an animation, you can
use a Matrox codec to create a Matrox .avi file. For example, you may want to
render an animation to Matrox DV/DVCAM format so that you can record it onto
DV tape. You could also use your VFW program to render video to a Matrox .avi
file so that you can import the file as a realtime clip into your Adobe Premiere
Pro projects on Matrox RT.X2.
When rendering compositions or animations that have an alpha channel, you can
select a “+ Alpha” Matrox VFW codec to render to a Matrox MPEG-2 .avi file
that includes the alpha-key information. This .avi file will play back in real time
on your RT.X2 system, and will be automatically keyed when you place the clip
in your Adobe Premiere Pro sequence.
The following sections explain the various settings you need to make to render
material to a Matrox .avi file using a VFW program. For details on exporting
video from a Matrox project using Adobe Premiere Pro, see
. Using Adobe Premiere Pro to export video on your
RT.X2 system lets you overcome the 2-GB .avi file limit of VFW programs.
Remarks
• When you select the Desktop editing mode for an Adobe Premiere Pro
project, Adobe Premiere Pro works like a VFW program as explained in this
chapter.
• Speed changes are not supported on Matrox VFW .avi files with alpha.
• You can’t use Adobe Premiere Pro to render effects with alpha using the
Matrox VFW “+ Alpha” codecs because Premiere Pro does not preserve the
alpha-key information during the render. Instead, you should use Adobe
After Effects to render your effects with alpha to a Matrox VFW .avi file.
• Although Matrox has tested many VFW programs, there may be certain
operational limitations when using Matrox RT.X2 with some of these
programs (as well as with untested programs).
Using VFW programs without the RT.X2
hardware
If you installed the Matrox VFW software codecs (see “Installing the Matrox
VFW software codecs on a system without the RT.X2 hardware” in your Matrox
RT.X2 Installation Manual), you can render and play back RT.X2-compatible .avi
files using your VFW program without having the RT.X2 hardware in your
computer.