FWIW...I bought about $30 worth of green chroma spandex (not purpose made...just happened to be a good color) at a local fabric store and have used it on all my green screen shoots (which is quite a few!)...just sew a loop in, put it on a cheap pipe and hang it between two light stands.
As far as the difference between pulling a key in Vegas versus Ultra...in my opinion...no contest...Ultra is fabulous...Vegas is just 'ok'...I'm sure you could pull a great key in Vegas, but the times I've tried, it just wasn't happening. Some may disagree! That said, I use The Foundry Keylight most of the time in After Effects 7 as it fits in to my work flow better.

The best prices I've found for green screen material is here at Chroma-Key.com.

In my opinion, there is no comparison. Ultra is far better than Vegas. Easy to work with and provides superior keying.

Just as an option - have had great results with those big green paper rolls from photo supply stores. Set up is super easy and they are not to spendy, around $40 bucks, plus they are pretty big. Downside is you can only use em' so many times.

Ultra 2 is a very good keyer but where it really shines is pulling hard or "impossible" keys. Easily worth the money.

Vegas is fine for keying if you have a good source.

Ultra is great, however. And, if you are sloppy with your green screen, or lighting, or framing...Ultra will save you. Well worth the $.

Thank you all for your valuable input.

I always pointed figures at my "green screen" (bright green cardboard from art store) and proper lighting for the reason my brief attempts at chroma keying shots was pretty bad (still green 'leak through in several place- partiuclary where hair is involved)

HOwever... i recently tried using a shot that was included on disc that came with my Matrox RT.X 100 video card.

[Also came with Adobe Premeire.. but of course since i have Vegas.. i have never used it :O]


They had a Green Screen stock footage clip on there.. i dropped it into vegas, chroma keyed.. and still got green leak through.

I can only ASSume that this stock footage of the green screen scene (a girl standing in front of green screen with hair blowing in the wind)
was professionally shot (lighting, chroma color.. ect)


Could this just be vegas? (away from my editing rig right now. or else i would experiment on the subject)


I see green screen all the time (news, movies ect)... hair flows perfectly with no 'green leak through).... Why can't i do that :(

Could it be maybe be cuz the DV format just doesn't have the rez to get "crisp" shots of say hair?

Could it be maybe be cuz the DV format just doesn't have the rez to get "crisp" shots of say hair?

Yep. It's the nature of the 4:1:1 signal from miniDV that's responsible for this problem.
The higher up the "ladder" you go (4:2:2 up to 4:4:4), the better a key you can pull. Higher end chroma key software also makes a big difference (a lot more things to tweak).

Mike

I tried a slightly different approach by purchasing a huge piece of panel ply and putting a frame on it. I then grabbed a good screen shot of a chroma green, colour matched it to the printer and took it to my local paint dealer.

They mixed a perfect dead-flat water based green and it cost about Au$90 for 4 litres.

3 coats and voila - worked a treat! (I still have 3 litres left so might paint the whole studio too - lol)

Shooting well forward of the screen, using good lighting and combined with the "chroma blur" article by Keith Kolbo and I can say quite smilingly that I am not plagued by any "green mist"...

http://amediaprof.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=81