How to Export a Transparent PNG (and What to Do When You Need Transparent Video)
In KinoViz, transparency travels in a PNG frame: set the canvas to the checkerboard swatch, clear full-frame layers, then export a single frame. Video export bakes the background in.
By the end of this guide you will have a transparent PNG frame exported from KinoViz, ready to drop onto a website, a slide or a video edit — and a clear plan for the case where a still image is not enough. You need a KinoViz project and about five minutes. Everything here works on the Free plan.
What KinoViz exports today
One thing is worth settling before you start, because it decides the whole workflow:
| Format | Transparency |
|---|---|
| PNG (single frame) | Yes — alpha is preserved |
| MP4 (H.264) | No — the canvas background is baked in |
| WebM (VP9) | No — the canvas background is baked in |
Transparent video export is not yet available. If your deliverable has to move and be transparent, jump to When you need transparent video — there are two practical ways around it.
What you need
- A finished animation, or at least the frame you want, in KinoViz.
- A destination that understands alpha — an image editor, a video editor, a compositing app, or a web page.
- A clear answer to one question: is a single transparent frame enough, or does the element have to move?
Step by step
1. Open the Background panel
Click an empty part of the canvas so nothing is selected. The right-hand panels switch to the project-level controls, which include Background. This panel decides what fills the frame behind your elements, both in the editor and in the export.
2. Choose the checkerboard swatch
The Background panel shows four swatches: checkerboard, white, black and a custom colour. Click the checkerboard. The canvas now shows a chequered pattern behind your elements, meaning there is nothing there.
The checkerboard is a preview convention only. It is not a texture and it never appears in an exported file.
3. Remove anything that fills the whole frame
A transparent canvas does nothing if something is sitting on top of it. Scan the bottom of the Layer Panel for:
- Full-frame rectangles used as a backdrop during design.
- Imported PNG or JPG images that have their own solid background baked in.
- A Gradient Background element, which fills the canvas by design and will render as an opaque backdrop.
Delete or hide anything that should not travel with the artwork.
4. Park the playhead on the frame you want
PNG export writes whatever single frame is under the playhead, so choosing the moment is part of the export. Scrub the timeline until the composition looks the way you want it, then check the frame edges:
| Element | What to check |
|---|---|
| Light text | Will it survive over a bright destination? |
| Thin white strokes | Do they disappear against the destination? |
| Soft shadows and glows | They fade into transparency instead of into the canvas colour |
| Backdrop blur | It blurs what is behind it, and behind it is now nothing |
Fix the colours now rather than after the export.
5. Export the PNG
Open the export dialog from the top bar and choose PNG. PNG carries an alpha channel and is lossless, which makes it the right choice for a thumbnail, an app asset, a logo lockup or a print mock-up. PNG export is available on every plan.
6. Verify the alpha in the destination tool
Import the exported file wherever it will be used and lay it over a strongly contrasting colour. If a solid rectangle appears behind the artwork, one of two things went wrong: the canvas background was not set to the checkerboard swatch, or a full-frame element is still in the project.
When you need transparent video
KinoViz has no transparent video export today. Both video formats composite onto an opaque background before encoding, so the Background panel does not change the result. Two routes work in practice.
Composite inside KinoViz. This is the reliable one and usually the better-looking one. Import the destination background — a still image, a screenshot, a video clip — put it at the bottom of the layer stack, and animate over it. The exported MP4 already sits on the right background, with clean anti-aliased edges and no keying artefacts. It also avoids the compatibility problems that alpha video brings with it in players and editors.
Key the background out afterwards. If the destination background is genuinely unknown at export time, set the canvas to a flat colour that appears nowhere in your artwork, export MP4, and remove that colour with a chroma key in your editing tool. This costs real quality: keying softens edges, leaves colour fringing on semi-transparent pixels such as glows and shadows, and struggles with motion blur. Treat it as a fallback, not a workflow.
Tips
- Test with one frame first. A PNG export takes seconds and answers the transparency question immediately, before you commit to a long render.
- Export at the size you need. PNG is lossless, so a frame exported larger than its final use is only wasted bytes.
- Sequences are not available. There is no PNG sequence export, so a per-frame pipeline into another compositor is not currently possible.
- Check semi-transparent edges. Glows, soft shadows and blurred elements carry partial alpha, and some destinations composite them against black or white rather than blending them.
FAQ
Can I export a transparent WebM?
Not currently. KinoViz video export writes an opaque file in both formats: MP4 and WebM alike bake the canvas background into every frame, whatever the Background panel is set to. Transparent video export is not yet available. For a transparent asset, export a single PNG frame; for a moving element over other artwork, composite that artwork inside the KinoViz project before exporting.
Why does my exported video have a white background instead of a transparent one?
Because video export composites the canvas onto an opaque background before encoding. That is expected behaviour today for both MP4 and WebM, and the checkerboard swatch does not change it. Use PNG export if you need transparency in the file, or place the intended background inside the project and export video from there.
Does the checkerboard pattern show up in the export?
No. The checkerboard is a preview convention that tells you the area is empty, the same way most image editors indicate transparency. It is drawn by the editor only and is never written into the exported video or image.
Do I need a paid plan to export a transparent PNG?
No. The background setting and PNG export are both available on Free. Your plan changes the resolution ceiling, the frame rate and the watermark: Free exports are 540p with a KinoViz watermark; Creator raises that to 1080p with no watermark.
Related
- Export Formats — every format, plan by plan
- How to Make a Logo Reveal Animation — a common source of transparent frames
- How to Make an Animated Gradient Background for Video — the opposite problem
- Design Mode — background, blur and layer controls
- Publishing — sharing without exporting a file
- Glossary — alpha channel and other terms
- Pricing