Finally got a client and can start doing Green Screen/Chroma Keying. Is the Vegas utility enough or do you recommend a 3rd party ? (I also have New Blue)
I love using HitFilm's Chroma Key.
The New Blue keyer is better than the built-in keyer which is 16 year old technology! If you need more than New Blue, try Boris FX Chroma Key Studio. That works really well with Vegas Pro.
~jr
the built in keyer was always a bit iffy, and as jr points out was never upgraded... bcc chroma is good, but even better (though expensive) is DFT.zMatte - http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/zmatte/
Fusion is free ( blackmagic site ) and it also includes Primatte keyer. Hard to beat at any price and now it's free, so...........
Hmmm that Fusion sounds like a great deal. I'm going to have to check it out (for free).
I really like the Vegas Chroma Key, because I use it in combination with the free AAV Color Lab plugin. First I use AAV to crank up the green to max lightness and saturation. Surprisingly this has no effect on skin tone or other objects (provided I leave Hue at 0), but it makes the green screen itself a bright, uniform neon green, perfect for doing the Chroma Key. It's my "secret weapon" for doing green screen work without great lighting or a perfect greenscreen surface. I was able to use it in some footage where one of the people in the foreground has curly, Harpo style hair, and Vegas was the only product I tried that (if I used AAV first) could greenscreen the "halo" of hair with background showing through, instead of creating an unnatural sharp border. I haven't tried the expensive options like After Effect, but I have found this workflow the best of all the mid-price products.