Another greenscreen (paint) question

[Steve Wargo]

We have used a lot of different greens and all very successful. Chrome Key green is made for “Ultimatte” machines and that box looks for a particular color with a lot of yellow in it.

Do this: Go to your local Art Supply Store and find their Foam Core cards. They come in lots of colors including a bright green, about 18″ x 24″ and around $5. Test this green with your camera. After you’re completely amazed at how well it works, take the card to a paint store and have them match the color. A gallon flat washable paint is around $17 to $20.

Light your background at 40%, caucasion skin at 70%, keep your subject 12′ away from the wall, side light them with a touch of magenta.

Simple stuff.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Ray Palmer]

[Steve Wargo] “Light your background at 40%, caucasion skin at 70%, keep your subject 12′ away from the wall, side light them with a touch of magenta.”

And if your subject is wearing white and any of the green reflects onto their shoulder, wash their shoulder with amber or yellow light. This changes the green reflected light to another color that won’t “key”

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Leo Ticheli]

I think it’s a very bad idea to try to change the color of the spill with an amber or yellow kick.

In the first place, you can’t “dye” light colors; light doesn’t work that way. More importantly, you now have a strange, unmotivated colored edge on the subject that looks like a bad key problem.

I light my screens to 60%. Test to see what works best for your screen and keyer.

Good shooting!

Leo

[Dusty Powers]

Thanks for the input. I was told that a one gallon can of the Rosco paint was a bit expensive and I need to paint a wall the size of a two story building as well as the floor.

dp

Dusty Powers Video, Inc.
Coastal NC
910-520-5240

[Dusty Powers]

How good is the greenscreen scene file setup for the Varicam that has been floating around? Is it worth downloading and include it when I shoot my tests? Do you know what menu changes are made on this particular scene file that may be helpful with keying?

dp

Dusty Powers Video, Inc.
Coastal NC
910-520-5240

[Bruce Schultz]

Leo is absolutely right. Coloring back lights and side lights is a throwback to the Chroma Key days when switchers used simple ON/OFF routines to key with. Ultimatte, Primatte, and all of the NLE keyers now use very sophisticated alogrithms which easily differentiate between foreground and background and remove the green and blue spill electronically. You have more chance of hurting yourself with straw and amber gels than helping the situation.

Bruce Schultz

[Steven Bradford]

This is true. However Rosco is actually the cheapest paint available. You don’t have to use Ultimatte Green though, you can use Chromakey green which is cheaper, unless you’re using Ultimatte Hardware for matting. Also, you can order the paint in five gallon containers.

Anyways, the one problem you’ll have with getting it mixed is that it may not be flat enough and may glare on you. Ask the paint store for their flattest formulation possible. The Rosco paints are very very flat. If you’re just painting the wall, this may not be an issue, but if you’re painting the floor, glare becomes more of an issue.

You might want to check out my web page on the subject.
https://www.seanet.com/~bradford/bluscrn.html

Steven Bradford

[Steve Wargo]

Leo got me on this one. When we light for green screen that will be processed on a Discreet Flame, we light the green at 40%. Otherwise, we’re closer to 60% as my collegue suggests. Some think that you need to flood the green with light when actually, the opposite is best. Also, you only need to key the area directly surrounding the talent and create a mask to cut the image beyond that.

Also, when we shoot GS with a 16×9 camera, we turn the camera on it’s side and fill the imager with as much subject as possible, making the surrounding edge as clean as we can.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!