user27382: I have built out a few little animations in After Effects. I'm trying to export them — and pull them into ScreenFlow.
When I export > add-to-media-queue I get a .mov that won't open in QuickTime — and that is “messed up” (for lack of understanding) when I try to use it in ScreenFlow.

It's supposed to look like this:

but it looks like this:

I've been able to export it with Adobe Media Encoder — but it has a black background and I can't find how to ensure it comes out with alpha.

Media encoder is being really buggy - and I'm curious is there are problems with the latest releases?
How can a regular ol guy, who's trying to get a basic RGB + Alpha animation, get the job done — the simplest way? I don't even want to know what a codec is... if possible. I plan on staying in the hobbies zone.

user27348: Click the output mode in the render queue, by default it says lossless:

use these settings, format: quicktime, video output channels: RGB + Alpha:

click format options and choose Apple ProRes 4444. The 4th 4 is the indicator that the codec has an alpha channel (this only applies to the Apple ProRes codec naming scheme).

That should fix your problem.
Edit: This was also fixable without changing the codec to Apple ProRes 4444, and could have been accomplished with opening one less window by just switching the color channel to Straight (Unmatted), however...

...knowing whether to choose Straight (no baked-in black) or Premultiplied (baked-in black) is somewhat abstract, and importing video with the default animation codec + aplha into other programs is just weird sometimes. 
I've found that ProRes 4444 hits the "it just works" goal more often, and remembering that 4444 corresponds with RGBA(lpha) is easier to recall than the difference between matted vs. unmatted.

27382: <p>I have built out a few little animations in After Effects. I'm trying to export them — and pull them into ScreenFlow.</p>

<p>When I <code>export &gt; add-to-media-queue</code> I get a .mov that won't open in QuickTime — and that is “messed up” (for lack of understanding) when I try to use it in ScreenFlow.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TZURZ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TZURZ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><em>It's supposed to look like this:</em></p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rg797.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rg797.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><em>but it looks like this:</em>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/deh1x.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/deh1x.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>I've been able to export it with Adobe Media Encoder — but it has a black background and I can't find how to ensure it comes out with alpha.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yVEVY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yVEVY.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Media encoder is being really buggy - and I'm curious is there are problems with the latest releases?</p>

<p>How can a regular ol guy, who's trying to get a basic RGB + Alpha animation, get the job done — the simplest way? I don't even want to know what a codec is... <em>if possible</em>. I plan on staying in the hobbies zone.</p>
 27348: <p>Click the output mode in the render queue, by default it says lossless:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1CQMU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1CQMU.png" alt="by default it says lossless"></a></p>

<p>use these settings, format: quicktime, video output channels: RGB + Alpha:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4EnOK.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4EnOK.png" alt="format: quicktime, video output channels: RGB + Alpha"></a>
click format options and choose Apple ProRes 4444. The 4th 4 is the indicator that the codec has an alpha channel (this only applies to the Apple ProRes codec naming scheme).
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PZUMN.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PZUMN.png" alt="format options: Apple Prores 4444"></a>
That should fix your problem.</p>

<p>Edit: This was also fixable without changing the codec to Apple ProRes 4444, and could have been accomplished with opening one less window by just switching the color channel to <code>Straight (Unmatted)</code>, however...
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0mnrg.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0mnrg.png" alt="Video Output Color set to Straight (Unmatted)"></a>
...knowing whether to choose Straight (no baked-in black) or Premultiplied (baked-in black) is somewhat abstract, and importing video with the default animation codec + aplha into other programs is just weird sometimes. </p>

<p>I've found that ProRes 4444 hits the "it just works" goal more often, and remembering that 444<strong>4</strong> corresponds with RGB<strong>A</strong>(lpha) is easier to recall than the difference between matted vs. unmatted.</p>
