Eliminating outline on actor during chroma keying

[Sean Sutton]

When I’ve had this problem in the past it was mainly due to the lighting set up and I had to reshoot on the green screen.

Is that an option?

Sean James Sutton – an English actor & filmmaker in Italy.

[John Rofrano]

Try adding the Sony Chroma Blur as the first FX in the chain (before the Chroma Keyer). It may smooth that out. You might also need to adjust the High and Low Threshold a bit more.

Another option is to try a 3rd party chroma keyer like Boris BCC Chroma Key. It has a matte choker that would take care of the black edges for you.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Steve Rhoden]

BorisFX CC Chroma key would clear that up beautifully,
using either the Composite Choker or Matte Choker, and can
finish up with Light Wrap… Vegas Chroma key has limited features.
BorisFX has come a long way and now i recommend it as a plugin to
invest in.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956

[Kelden Amadiro]

Many thanks for everyone who replied!

1) I can’t pull my subject (already about 5.5 feet) much farther away from the greenscreen, perhaps a foot or two. I will try lighting the green screen less intensively and seeing if that helps.

2) I tried chroma blur and it didn’t help.

3) Boris is kind of expensive and I was wondering if there is a less expensive software package that does the same thing (why doesn’t sony vegas do such basic stuff???)
Thanks
K

[John Rofrano]

It shouldn’t be this hard. I’ve pulled a good key from the Sony Chroma Keyer many times. Why don’t you post an image of one of your chroma key frames. Then we can use the keyer on it and see if we can get rid of the black edge and then we’ll tell you what parameters we used.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Kelden Amadiro]

Ooooh! I figured out what the problem was. It was NOT spill from the greenscreen. It was “spill” from a window above and behind the greenscreen. That problem has been largely solved. One problem I still have–the outline around my actors has no halo but still looks “busy” with tiny particules moving a little as they talk. I have tried adjusting the blur amount. Is there anything else I should try?
Thanks,
K

[John Rofrano]

Did you keep the Chroma Blur on BEFORE the Chroma Key. Set the Chroma Blur to at least “Medium Blur” and it should smooth out the edges.

You should read Keith Kolbo’s excellent article on:

Chroma Blur and Chroma Keying in Sony Vegas Software

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Kelden Amadiro]

I did it (and I read the article). The “busyness” around the edges is still there somewhat, but is about 70% better than before. The other thing I noticed is that my clothes also have a bit of the “tiny moving particles”. Any other thoughts for that? I appreciate your help–it still doesn’t look perfect, but looks a lot better than when I started!
–K

[John Rofrano]

[Kelden Amadiro] “The other thing I noticed is that my clothes also have a bit of the “tiny moving particles”. Any other thoughts for that?”

That’s usually because the mask isn’t clean. Use the Show Mask Only option to view the mask. It should be totally black and white. If there are any gray areas, they will show “tiny particle” movement. Adjust the high and low thresholds to eliminate the gray.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Kelden Amadiro]

John–thanks for all your help!!!!

I am using two softboxes to light my GS and still can not get it 100% evenly lit, so I have to make adjustments in keying that causes my shirt to jump around a little. I tried using secondary color correction to evenly saturate the background, and still have this problem. This is my last question and I really appreciate your time–do you have any other thoughts?
–K
PS Some people say I should buy kino lights to more evenly light it, but they are very expensive. is there another software or hardware solution you can think of?