Comments

Grazie wrote on 1/14/2004, 12:39 AM
Hiyah Mark!

A couple of questions . .I guess . .

Are you trying to ascertain whether your Green Screen is what is needed for C/K=Chroma Keying?

I understand you maybe wanting to "realtime" your green screen for the purposes of c/k?

Now what I understand in Vegas is that it is basically a 3 Step process:

1 - Capture

2 - Edit

3 - Print to format . . DVD, Tape . . or another file.

That's as far as I know.

I have Captured directly to my laptop in realtime. But that's it. I think I can see where you are going with this. But, again, as far as I can see Vegas is a 3 Step process. What you are after . .if what I asked is in the "ball-park" is a way to "break" into this 3 Step process and somehow "sample" the Green screen coming in and then colour correct or adjust lighting . . Am I any where near your thoughts ? . .

. . . interesting concept . . .

Sorry if this is a bunch of nonsense, but I am intrigued . .

Grazie
mark2929 wrote on 1/14/2004, 1:32 AM
Grazie thank you for your reply. What Im up to at the moment is..... our Spare room is in the process of being cleared and turned into a

STUDIO Yippee...

Dont ask me how I swung that one but Samanthas allowed me. Anyway Im gonna paint one wall. A bit of ceiling and floor. Chroma green I have a small TV for use as a Monitor and would like to light the screen with perhaps a fluorescent ceiling light and perhaps some side lights. Low watts. to minimise any spill.

And your right I would like to break into the 3step Process but failing that..

OPTIONS anyone.

AnywayS to achieve this I want to make sure everythings right from the get go and any advise AT THIS stage is greatly apreciated.
taliesin wrote on 1/14/2004, 1:37 AM
In Vegas - I think there is no way of live chroma-keying.

A system I know about which does it is the Toaster from Newtek.

Marco
farss wrote on 1/14/2004, 1:46 AM
You cannot do a realtime key the way you want in any NLE that I know of. Do you really need a realtime key or from what you're saying do you jusy want ot check that all is going to be OK?

Best advise I've read apart from all the usual stuff on lighting etc.:

Get to know your CK FX intimately. How each one works is slightly different.

So on that advice, get a store dummy, dress it up and try shooting 30 seconds of it with a voice over about the setup. Chaneg some lighting , do it again. Do this a few times then dress the dummy in different clothes, different wig etc.

Sounds like a lot of work, sure. But you do it once and it'll be a lot cheaper than a decent hardware Ck unit.

BTW from the one CK I've tried the key seems pretty damn easy to make work and even the bits that didn't were easy to mask. Its getting the subject - background to look like they belong together, that's the hard part.
mark2929 wrote on 1/14/2004, 1:57 AM
Thanks Marco will look into that.

farrs I know what you mean but at least with a perfect Key. The color correction Spill Killer ECT would be then down to you. I would try also to light according to the background while filming.

This is Also a very good reason for Monitoring because the lighting of the subject could/would have an adverse effect on the screen especially when the room is only 12 foot by 10 foot.
farss wrote on 1/14/2004, 2:01 AM
Hm,
small room and CK could be difficult.
Have you seen the reflective fabric you can use for CKs, no spill problems, you can just about stand against it.
mark2929 wrote on 1/14/2004, 2:16 AM
I did but a bit expensive for me at the moment My plan is to film at least a coupla feet away and perhaps use a wide angle lens anyway quite often small chroma painted boards are used. "I have been making do with a pulldown curtain blind attached to the ceiling". and then fiddling with the chroma key controls in post Anyway what I would like is the best I can do within my restrictions.
epirb wrote on 1/14/2004, 3:55 PM
hey Mark, is this kinda what your looking for?
Check out the Visual Comunicator
http://www.seriousmagic.com/
mark2929 wrote on 1/14/2004, 4:03 PM
Yep. had a look at that downloaded the filums. Quite pricy though.

Does the camera movement Using stage backgrounds also apply to yer own background I wonder. Still quite expensive although the deal is for me would be the background synchronised with the fore camera movement.
filmy wrote on 1/14/2004, 4:06 PM
I discovered Ultra the other day and caused a bit of stir when I dared to ask over at CSB for a comparison of Chromanator and Ultra. In any case - the live preview you ask about is a part of Ultra. From the FAQ: "How does the “Live Preview” mode work?
The Live Preview function enables you to connect a DV camera to your PC and view a keyed shot in real-time with a live source. It’s very useful for testing the lighting and angles to the background you plan on using." You can read more by looking at http://www.seriousmagic.com/ukchromakey.cfm
kevgl wrote on 1/14/2004, 5:08 PM
A good trick for imporving chromakeys is to use some backlighting that is the complementary colour to the colour of the backdrop. That helps reduce the colour bleeding around the edge of the subject as the two colour cancel out.

Cheers
mark2929 wrote on 1/14/2004, 9:26 PM
Filmy thanks for the link Im paying more attention now to serious magic this looks like a very good solution.

Thanks everyone for the help its much valued.