Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I read elsewhere on the forum that plans to upgrade CT so it can use background vids have been abandoned or put on hold.  This is a shame, given what a compelling feature that would be, but maybe here's a solution.

I know I can easily add a green color to the background of CT videos.  The challenge is converting the green to transparent.  If the RealIllusion team doesn't want to code this feature, why not tell us who already has? 

I'm looking for a simple app dedicated to converting the green screen to transparent.  I'm on a Mac.  Any suggestions?

Unless this is a  MAC issue I can right click and drag video's into CTA2 and CTA3 and select as a background.  There is an update coming for CTA3 sometime the end of March from what I understand.





Dell XPS 8900, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3408 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s), 16 GB RAM, - 4 GB GeForce GTX 745, NVIDIA compatible.
Acer Aspire V Nitro Laptop,  2.5GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor with 6MB cache,  256GB solid state drive, 16GB Ram,  4 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics.

On Mac there is no problem. Just don't give a background, use Apple ProRes 4444 codec in export settings and you'll get a video of your CT character with transparent background.
If you want to use a background with partial transparency, then you can chroma key the desired colour in Apple Motion (circa $50) or in DaVinci Resolve (free).

I should have specified I'm using CT7.   I don't see how to do what you describe in CT7, but I would buy CT8 if that would allow me to import video backgrounds in the same way I can now import image backgrounds.  Are you using CT8? 



I could be wrong but I think I read elsewhere on the forum that this feature will not be included in the update.  Not sure if that's temporary or permanent.

Thank you, that works!  I had got it to work once, but then couldn't replicate.  I see now the issue was me choosing the wrong codec.

Suggestion, put an "export transparent video" option in the export dialog.  The feature is there already (on a Mac anyway) but is basically invisible to many or most users.

Ok, the next issue is getting the two vids to play together nicely.  I'm using Quicktime 7 at the moment to put the CT head on top of the video background.  Works nicely, except that it looks like videos will have to be the same length. 

I realize I'm using outdated software here, so would welcome suggestions of how I can better combine the two videos in to one.  Goal, simplest video editor which will do the job. 



Thanks much, downloaded Resolve and will check it out.

I again cast my one little vote for adding video backgrounds to CT.  It would be great to be able to add video backgrounds within CT without having to hack the vids together elsewhere.   Seems a compelling feature.  As example, imagine a CT character on top of a beach image.  Now imagine the character on top of a beach video with sound.  There's a big difference. the latter is far more compelling and realistic.

Until then, back to hacking.  Thanks again!