ChromaKey in Vegas 7/8pro

[Mike Kujbida]

Keith Kolbo’s tutorial, Using Chroma Key and Chroma Blur in Sony Vegas, is one of the best I’ve come across.

[Allen Zagel]

Wow! Thanks Mike.
I found that tutorial over at Digitalproducer.digital medianew full of ads and stuff. This is a clean copy so I printed it out.

Now that I remember, I did see that one before but forgot where.

This was my first green screen attempt and I used a plastic green sreen I got off ebay really cheap. It would have worked okay except my lighting was horrible and I didn’t realize how bad it was until I got it into the computer.

It’s just a test 2 minute shot though so nothing wasted. I just couldn’t mask out the screen totally. I got a line on a reasonable priced muslim green screen.

I dont have After Effects or I would have brought the video there and re-colored the screen to even off the green ha ha

I don’t suppose I can do anything with that green screen in Vegas 8 without messing up the subject, can I?

Regards
Allen

[Mike Kujbida]

Allen, I’ve got a few sites bookmarked on my office computer on various ways of dealing with problem chromakeys.
I’ll post them when I get to work tomorrow.

[Douglas Spotted eagle]

The tutorial, which appears on the VASST site without the ads as well) is very good, but it doesn’t mention that muslin is a tough fabric to key from. Stiff, shiny fabrics are tough.
Try putting your key in pre-mode, you might lose the line.
Plastic is almost impossible to key with.
Keep distance between your subject and the screen, that’s very important to reduce spill.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST

Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor

[Allen Zagel]

Hi Spot
Wow, thanks a lot. You just saved me some possibly wasted money. So no plastic, which I found out, and Muslim not recommended. What’s a good recommendation for something that will be somewhat portable then? Paper rolls? I think my local camera shop has rolls of background paper but we did’t check to see if he had any green. But I’d have to be careful not to crease the paper.

That article from Keith Kolbo was great. That’s what I used.

[DSE/Spot] “Try putting your key in pre-mode, you might lose the line.”

Could you expand in this statement a bit plesase? I’m quite new to green screening. Right now since we can’t buy Ultra2 anymore, I was thinking of trying one of the virtual sets from Zkad, virtualsetworks or iPhotovideo.

I can put up a 30second Flash vid if you’d like to see my goof-up 😉

Thanks
Allen

[Mike Kujbida]

Allen, here are 2 more chromakey sites that I had bookmarked.
The Garbage Key (I used this technique a lot on a recent project!!)
Vegas Chroma Key Tutorial

[Tim Wilson]

Allen Zagel What’s a good recommendation for something that will be somewhat portable then?

Best source for all things chroma key is markertek.com. They have everything from Ultimatte=brand paint to rt hardware keyers and green microphone cables and gaffers tape.

Two products that can work for you. One is keying fabric, for $17.99/yd. Of course, it’s only 3 ft. wide, so you’ll need to sew it into a usable size.

I prefer the Westcott portable screens – they have wire rims and fold like those silver windshield screens. (Which make awesome bounce cards, btw. I can’t even count how many times I’ve used them for fills.) The Westcott screens start at $169 for 10×12. If you need to regularly key on the road, it’ll pay for itself fast…if not on one job.

Poke around Markertek’s site a little, and you might find some other things that suit you.

Also the best place for cables, connectors, converters, Vocal Eze throat spray, and more oddly useful stuff than you can imagine. Be careful: you’ll find a ton of things you had no idea you needed because you didn’t know they existed. I’ve spent a small fortune there over the years, one doo-dad at a time.

tw

[Allen Zagel]

Thanks Mike and Tim

Great tutorials and Spot’s link is worth it’s weight in gold. Fantastic information for me.

Now I got something to work with. I think my main problem was that ‘cheap’ plastic green screen with the uneven lighting (glare on 1 side) and the creases from being folded, but it gave me something to ‘get-my-feet-wet’ without spending a lot of money. Ha! only $15 on eBay.

Now I got to decide what to buy. Spot sez Muslim’s hard to key but I’m also reading that Muslim seems to be a popular choice, The only other thing then is those paper rolls. I’m going to price both. A paper roll wouldn’t be too bad as I’m not planning to green screen outside in the field anyway.

I’m not planig to go big-time green screening anyway. It’s just a once-in-a-while thing at this point.

Thanks again
Allen

[Douglas Spotted eagle]

I’m not certain that a Muslim is any more difficult to key than a Mormon, but I’ll take your word for it. Muslin on the other hand, can be difficult to key. Just because you see it offered everywhere doesn’t mean it’s a good material to work with.
“Polished muslin” is common, and terrible to key because it’s shiny. Raw, or rough muslin, works easily, if it doesn’t have wrinkles.
I’m a bigger fan of the foam-backed key fabric, available in up to 12′ pieces without any need for seaming. It’s not expensive, and easily found on Ebay. Photoflex makes foam-backed popups like Tim mentioned. AFAIK, Westcott does not. With the foam-backed key material, it’s pretty hard to mess up, if you’ve got even questionable light.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST

Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor

[Tim Wilson]

I should have mentioned this, but my favorite Westcott collapsible chromakey screen is this blue-green reversible one. Not many people use blue nowadays, but I find it still has its uses.

The pictures at the top of the page do a better job showing the collapsible part than I may have explained — twists into a circle maybe 2 feet across.

Since it starts with M, I’m reasonably sure that Markertek handles Muslims, Mormons AND muslin. You should definitely check the mussels…with muscles…nicely recovered from that childhood bout of measles.

🙂