Chroma key vs. Ultimatte

[Scott Sheriff]

You can pull a chroma key from any color. CK green is just a better choice because there is very little of that color pigment in out skin tones. Ultimatte paint shading is optimized for the that use, but isn’t really superior. Rosco CK paint, or really any green matte finish paint in that general shade will work in a pinch. Take your Rosco chip card down to home depot, and have them color match it if you can’t find, or afford CK paint.
The real difference in pulling a good key is more about the lighting, not really the paint. The more even the key wall is, the better. Second, keep the subject as far away from the wall as practical to avoid reflected green spill from the wall hitting the subject. If that can’t be avoided, a light magenta gel in the subject backlight to offset green spill sometimes helps.

[Mark Raudonis]

I agree with Scott on this.

I’ve gone to “Fabric Barn” and bought a few yards of green cloth, hung it from a rod and shot
perfectly usable green screen interviews. It’s all about the subject lighting, not the background.

Google this topic and you’ll find tons of hints, suggestions, and tutorials. Well worth researching before you shoot.

Good luck.

mark

[Pete Lo]

Thanks for the input. I was hesitant at using Chroma Key paint at first, but now am feeling more comfortable.

[Elijah Lynn]

The standard chroma keyer in FCP may end up being your weakest link. The other 2 that will contend are poor lighting and the camera.

I would get away from the standard keyer. I am using Primatte, it is good but only uses one core. After Snow Leopard coms out I am moving to a keyer which uses GPU and/or all 8 cores.