FX Chromo Key and Vegas 8 Integration Issues.

[Dave Reid]

So I guess no one is having any issue with the Boris FX Chroma Keyer and it’s integration with Vegas.

I was going to make a detailed report to BorisFX but I see they only expect reports within the first 30 days of ownership, and then they charge. Fat chance I will paying to report a problem with their product. I quess I won’t be buying anything from BorisFX, it’s completely unsupported and doesn’t work as advertised as far as I am concerned.

[Tony Noon]

Hi Dave,
I had some similar problems to what you are describing when I first started with Boris FX. It took me along time to work through it, but I finally figured it out, and now I love the program. Re-read the read me file in the vegas folder. Double check to make sure your settings are correct. (For me my settings did not match my project settings and that fixed the problem.) I don’t know about Boris charging for help. Every question I have had here has been answered. Peter Mcauley has been a big help, you might ask for his help specifically.

My only other advice is to watch any tutorials you can find on Red and Boris FX online. They are extremely helpful. There is even a decent one on the chroma key filter under the Red Tutorial section on the Boris FX website.

I hope that helps,
Tony

Tony Noon
Noon Productions

[Tony Noon]

Dave,
There are two sources that I suggest you check out, both by Chris Vadnais.

I just bought “Boris Basics, Tips & Tricks” and Instant Boris Effects. They both are essentially the same thing, however if you learn better by seeing a video get Boris Basics. If you like reading better get Instant Boris Effects. Both have sections on working in Boris with Vegas. I suspect that you won’t be thrilled with the work arounds, but they function. I have been working with Chroma Keys for the last few days and the keyer works very well with the Vegas work around. These items are out of date and you can get the Instant Boris effects used inexpensively. It is my hope that someone from Vasst, class on demand, or even Boris would put out a new one.

Tony

Tony Noon
Noon Productions

[Mark Gervasoni]

Dave –

I use Red 4.2 and Vegas 8. It may be considered a pain to you, but if you use the stand-alone application (I’m pretty sure that FX has that) you can key in that and save it uncompressed and bring it in to Vegas.

I’ve found the Boris Red keyer to be the best that I have used (including Adobe Ultra and the Vegas keyer). It is generally a one click key. Another trick though, is to create multiple mattes, starting with a garbage matte and working your way down closer to the keyed subject. You can then use whatever keyer works best for each stage as it gets closer to the final edge.

Don’t give up on Boris yet. I can’t find another plug-in as powerful and stable as Boris has been (and easy to use). After using the program for the last year, I finally bought the Red training CD from BorisFX. Big help. It just pulls a lot of issues together quickly that you can’t always get from the manual or just pushing buttons on the interface.

One last thing about using Boris in Vegas. One limitation (and in the documentation) is that motion effects generally don’t work in Vegas and must be accomplished in the stand-alone application. A keyer would be a motion effect vs a filter that is applied generally. Peculiarities in Vegas only allow Boris to pull a single frame from the program when it opens the plug-in, resulting in motion effects not working properly. One great thing about Boris and Vegas is that you don’t have to render anything to see the effect when you close the Boris window. Keep working at it and I think you’ll see the power in Boris.