Here’s the situation. You’ve created this ridiculously wicked graphic in After Effects, and now want to matte it over an image in another program (usually Final Cut). However, when you export it, the area that is supposed to be transparent is instead a big black area that covers up the image you’re trying to overlay your graphic on.

How do you maintain transparency when exporting out of AE? Well, what I’m about to tell you is universal to every design program (PhotoShop, Illustrator, FCP, Motion, AE, LiveType, etc.). Only the logistics will change.

In AE, notice at the bottom of the composition window a button that looks like a checker board. Click it, and everything in your image that is supposed to be transparent is now a checker board. It is not necessary for this feature to be on to maintain transparency, but it’s always a good idea to check and see what it will look like after exporting.

Go to composition, and select “Add to render Queue”. In this window, select “Output Module”, and a new window will pop up. In order to maintain transparency, you must be able to select the Color Channel and set it to “+ Alpha”. There is a couple of ways to do this in AE. You can do it here on this window, select ”Channels”. Or you can select “Format Options”. There should be a drop down window labeled “Depth”. Your depth should be set to either “RGB + Alpha” or “Millions of Colors+” (this is simply short-hand for +Alpha). Not all formats can maintain transparency, so for video I suggest “Animation” and for stills “PNG”. Experiment with formats to find the best one for you.

… Gosh, I feel like everyone can see right through me.