First Attempt at Green Screen

[Nigel O’neill]

Check out this article:

https://amediaprof.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=27

Intel i7 920, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10 (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Mike Kujbida]

That’s an excellent article and one that I recommend a lot.

[Stephen Mann]

Screenshot?

Without seeing it, I suspect that your subject is being lit with green light reflected from your screen.

Vegas Chromakey is not he best – I use the NewBlue FX Chromakey because it has spill control.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Danny Hays]

If you didn’t backlight your subject with at least 6 feet between them and the greenscreen, then Vegas isn’t going to get you the results you want. If you can’t reshoot, Try and find someone with Adobe CS5. CS5 Premiere now has Ultra key as a plugin. I have been able to get great keys with it with footage that would have been considered unkeyable. After Effects CS5 has Keylight, which is probably the best around in my opinion but alot harder to learn. Both could probably get you an acceptible key.

[John Rofrano]

[Danny Hays] “If you didn’t backlight your subject with at least 6 feet between them and the greenscreen, then Vegas isn’t going to get you the results you want.”

I can’t stress enough how important this is. It sounds like you might have spill from the screen which means that your subject is too close to the screen. Also, you can add a magenta gell to the backlight when shooting which will further minimize the green spill.

Check out this other great tutorial from Keith Kolbo on green screen lighting:

Tight Budget Chroma Key Lighting

I second the idea of getting the NewBlue FX Chroma keyer. It’s inexpensive and does a lot better job than the one built in to Vegas. For an exceptional chroma keyer look at Boris Continuum Complete 7 Chroma Keyer. It can be purchased separately as a continuum unit.

~jr

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

[Stephen Mann]

“For an exceptional chroma keyer look at Boris Continuum Complete 7 Chroma Keyer. It can be purchased separately as a continuum unit.”

I’ve never tried BCC because of the huge up-front cost, but I’ve seen something else described as a “BCC Unit”. It that a stand-alone product or is it an add-on to BCC?

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[John Rofrano]

[Stephen Mann] “I’ve never tried BCC because of the huge up-front cost, but I’ve seen something else described as a “BCC Unit”. It that a stand-alone product or is it an add-on to BCC?”

The BCC Units are a way to purchase just the parts of BCC7 that you need. They are not “add-ons” to BCC7… they are “pieces of” BCC7.

Here is a list of BCC Units and the hosts they support (direct from the BorisFX web site):

Which Boris Continuum Units are available for my host application?

You can get all of BCC7 for Vegas Pro for $595.00 as an introductory price. Eventually it will probably be $995 like for the other hosts. When you consider that you are getting over 150+ plug-ins including motion tracking, chroma keying, stabilization, super smooth slow motion, light wrap, HD uprez, in addition to the effects and generators… it’s quite a good deal.

~jr

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