chroma key help needed

rs170a wrote on 8/11/2006, 3:17 AM
The (well lit) host is standing approx. 10 ft. in front of a (again well lit) green screen.
He's standing on the right half of the screen.
The key is reasonably clean except for a slight crawl along the right side of his sport coat that I can't get rid of.
I've got chroma blur, chroma key and secondarly colour corrector applied (in that order) but I can't eliminate the fuzzies on his jacket.
Is there anything else I can try?
Thanks.

Mike

Comments

Grazie wrote on 8/11/2006, 3:18 AM
Any green on the jacket?
rs170a wrote on 8/11/2006, 3:49 AM
Nope. The jacket was a very dark blue, almost black.

Mike
Grazie wrote on 8/11/2006, 4:01 AM
Any green shine being reflected ONTO the jacket. Yes I know the screen would've been behind.

How are you view this?
vicmilt wrote on 8/11/2006, 4:04 AM
Have GOT to recommend trying Ultra 2 by Serious Magic www.seriousmagic.com

There's a free trial download.

If you do, let us know how it goes.

v
rs170a wrote on 8/11/2006, 4:05 AM
Any green shine being reflected ONTO the jacket.

Grazie, unfortunately yes.
The frustrating thing is that I'm able to get rid of it (OK, reduce to an aceptable level) everywhere else except along the right side of his jacket.
I'm watching it on my JVC monitor (the same as yours).

Mike
rs170a wrote on 8/11/2006, 4:08 AM
Have GOT to recommend trying Ultra 2...

Thanks Vic, I've given that serious consideration.
I just have to convince my boss that it's worth it.
Do you know if the trial version puts a watermark on the output?
edit: looked at the website and found out that it does.

Mike

Jay Gladwell wrote on 8/11/2006, 4:21 AM

Well, your boss has one of two choices:

1. Live the problem.

2. Buy Ultra 2 and fix the problem (or at least lessen it significantly).

It's a tought choice, I know, but those are the ones that make life interesting!


AlanC wrote on 8/11/2006, 4:40 AM
Reduce Interlace Flicker.

Could be worth trying.
rs170a wrote on 8/11/2006, 5:02 AM
It's a tought choice, I know, ...

Fortunately my boss trusts me to make the tough choices :-)
My dilemma is that the project is due next Wednesday. I work for a community college in Ontario Canada and can get Ultra 2 from an educational vendor for $440 Cdn. (it's $495 U.S. from Serious Magic) but it would take at least a week to get here :-(

Mike
rs170a wrote on 8/11/2006, 5:03 AM
Reduce Interlace Flicker.

Thanks Alan. I already did that.

Mike
richard-courtney wrote on 8/11/2006, 5:19 AM
This sounds like the same issue a few months back.

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=447223

I don't think it was resolved either.
vicmilt wrote on 8/11/2006, 5:48 AM
I checked out the Serious website and see that they are throwing in a folding chroma backdrop - that's a two hundred dollar item (I know, since I bought one last year - love it).

I'd suggest calling the guys at Serious and telling them your sad tale of woe. They might be able to help you out.

Or just bite the bullet and eat the extra $50 bucks. With the backdrop you come out ahead.

Caveat:
Make sure you can download the program and serial number. That way you'll be up and running today. Ultra takes longer to composite with than Vegas, because you've got a couple of extra steps. But it's incredible in it's keying abilities.

Doubly make sure that you try out the free trial BEFOR you buy. Green shine may not be a solveable problem, with any software. Basically, though you'll probably get it good enough to work for a couple of short shots. I hope you've got stuff to "cut away" to.

best,
v
Jay Gladwell wrote on 8/11/2006, 5:53 AM

You can get the educational version from Specialty Video Supply (Video Guys) for $346.50 US, that's $389.75 CA. Overnight it and you're all set.


Fleshpainter wrote on 8/12/2006, 4:39 AM
Last ditch effort - try lighting the offending area with a backlight, perhaps slighty magenta? Use only a small amount, just enough to overpower the green spill.
Unless of course you can't re-shoot the scene. In which case you would have to do some type of bezer-masking trickery. This would involve having an overlying track with just the jacket left and everything else masked out. The overlying jacket would not be keyed, and would thus not be transparent. This would "patch" over the area which is giving you trouble, and you could do this in a few minutes.
rs170a wrote on 8/12/2006, 4:59 AM
Thanks to all for the suggestions. I've done a bit more tweaking in Vegas and, while I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, the professors who are working on the project with me are. It's at this point that I've learned to say "OK, time to move on to other things".

I downloaded the trial of Ultra 2 and will definitely be ordering it. Nice product!!

Jay, a Canada Customs delay is the biggest problem with having it overnighted from the USA. I've tried this before and ended up having the product sit in a warehouse for a few days waiting for clearance :-(

John (Fleshpainter), your magenta suggestion is an excellent one thatI 'm well aware of. Unfortunately I wasn't on the original shoot or I would've found a way to do it. As I said, the clients are jhappy with the effect so I'm moving on.

Mike
[r]Evolution wrote on 8/12/2006, 8:22 AM
I Would try to apply a MASK.
Try to apply some BLUR to the MASK.

This usually helps but sometimes you just end up with one of those anomolies in DV where you can't get rid of the Jaggies or Fuzzies.

Sometimes you have to Duplicate your Tracks and apply a CookieCutter affect to cover one side of the talent... then apply other methods to the other to make your Key work. Sounds weird but works.

(Ultimatte... my favorite ChromeKey tool)
kkolbo wrote on 8/12/2006, 10:09 AM
If I can make a suggestion...
Read http://amediaprof.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=59

By adding the Chroma Blur and then adjusting the key in the right order, you will get excellent results.

Keith