Comments

falz wrote on 2/23/2002, 1:55 PM
Before you get too excited, realize that DV isnt the best for chroma-keying. It will have artifacts on the corners of objects. Certainly try it and see if the results are to your likeing, however.

Now, on to your question. I went to a fabric shop and bought a few different sheets of blues and greens. I'm no expert, but try to get ones that are a big brighter in color. You can spend a few bucks on the sheet, experiment, then go buy a bunch and drape it over a wall or something. Be sure to light it evenly, though. Good luck.
DougHamm wrote on 2/23/2002, 3:16 PM
I remember reading somewhere that VV3's new DV codec is friendlier to chromakeying. Any tested truth to this out there?

-Doug
tomadonna wrote on 2/23/2002, 3:21 PM
Yeah I just tested it, it works great. But then again, I'm not using full motion video but a still picture...
falz wrote on 2/25/2002, 2:45 PM
That certainly is going to work much better, because the source is not compressed with DV. If the source were a TIFF or uncompressed analog, and THEN compressed to dv, it will certainly work quite nicely.

Conversly, I've tried it with dv captured footage, and you get ugly blockies around the edges. This however is with a canopus codec, I have not yet tested it in VV with their dv codec.
DavidW12 wrote on 2/25/2002, 4:35 PM
If you can afford it, you want to get a can of Chromakey Blue or green. You can find it at most well stocked broadcast supply house. Its expensive, but its the most stable shade of blue or green to work with. Theater supply house also probably have it. You need to paint a firm substance, using a cloth will be problematic (it can be done, but the fewer shadows, the better).

The lighting of the keying background is the most critical aspect. You need flat, flat flat lighting. You you may spend hours getting the lighting correct...its a fact of life. We've had network lighting experts (abc for example) take a day to light one set just for a 5 minute interview. The flatter the lighting of the cyc, the better key will be. If a subject (actor, weatherman, etc) is standing in front of the key cyc, you want him/her far enough away that they cast as few shadows as possible.

"Real" chromakeyers are hardware devices that cost thousands of dollars. NewsMatte and UltiMatte are two units that are "standards" in broadcasting. They allow shadows to interplay within the key. I honestly don't know to what extent the Vegas keyer goes to emulate such devices, but basically the Ultimatte will treat shadows very well, ducking the video levels in the highlights down without losing the key signal. So, it really looks like the key signal is painted on the back drop.

If you can't find the paint I mentioned (or care not to spend the $$ for a can of it...which I don't blame you), go with a deep blue (ultra marine). Good luck!

DataMeister wrote on 2/25/2002, 6:35 PM
If you are interested in buying the actual ChromaKey colors, StudioDepot is a good internet store to purchase from. Go to the section called "Special Effects".

http://www.studiodepot.com/store/


JBJones
rossf wrote on 3/10/2002, 10:50 PM
Ive had fun experimenting,i reckon you can get pretty good results with VV3.Green seems to work better inside and blue better outside.Seems to be less of a telltale line when using green.Get to know the plugin,the blur amount and threshhold can be tweaked a lot to vastly improve results.Dulux have released a paint called ChromaMax
which can give some pretty good results,especially "vitalize BY" which is a bright green.I personally dont think chromakey always has to be refined,trashy blue sceen can be just the look for certain films!