Green Screen I Vegas Pro 12

[John Rofrano]

The Sony Z1U is not AVCHD. It’s HDV MPEG2. The Panasonic Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 shoots AVCHD. Both formats are 8-bit 4:2:0 so they will be equally poor for green screen work.

Since the Panasonic GH3 shoots QuickTime I would not use that with Vegas Pro because of Vegas Pro’s limited Quicktime support. I would use the Z1U because it will edit a lot smoother in Vegas Pro.

It also depends on what Chroma Keyer you use. The one in Vegas Pro is rather primitive and needs everything to be lit perfectly. Other keyers like the one in Boris Continuum Complete are more forgiving.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Danny Hays]

You can bypass the HDV compression and bypass capturing to tape if you want to and get a better format to use with green screen with by capturing straight from the camera’s image sensor. I have a Sony HVR-A1 HDV camera that I won a national green screen contest with. But one day when I put a brand new tape in it and turned it on, it died on me. I had to send it to Sony for repair. They said it blew the on board fuse and fried the motherboard and it would be 400$ to repair. I actually laughed for a second and called the Sony repair shop and asked him if he realized what he said. I told him that fuses are there to blow in order to protect the device so what use was that fuse for. I payed the $400 and never put another tape in it. I use it as my static camera and record out of the component and audio rca jacks to a Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle, the USB3 version straight to an I7 computer with a solod state hard drive. It was very picky which chip set the computers motherboard had at first but I have found three other of my computers that work with it fine. It captures to Motion JPEG, 8 and 10 bit uncompressed avi if you have a fast enough computer and a raid hard drive system. That was back when I got it. I have two Sony laptops with a solid state hard drive and a Microsoft Surface Pro that will all capture at the high 10 bit uncompressed AVI. John is right though Vegas’s chromakeyer is almost useless and Boris’s is way better. I have found the After Effects is the way to go when you want to chromakey. It comes with Keylight which works Very good or you can install Primatte that is the best in my opinion. Checkout this tutorial on keying with shadows. You can make a very real looking video with this method.
https://youtu.be/0i9WsEQwDuw

Danny Hays
Samples of my Work can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ErnestDaniels/videos?view_as=public

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[Don Hutcheson]

Thanks guys. Will order Boris.and later, a more robust camera than the Z1U. Is the Z7, with its larger sensors, any better? Other recomedations? BTW I thought the GH3 offers AVCHD or QuickTime file recording.

Hutch

[John Rofrano]

[Don Hutcheson] “Is the Z7, with its larger sensors, any better?”

It’s not about the sensors. It’s about the recording format. The Sony HVR-Z7U is also an HDV camera that shots 4:2:0. Of course the larger sensor will give you a better picture in low light. I’ve used my Sony Z1U for green screen work all the time so I’m not saying that it isn’t workable. It’s just not optimal. If you light the scene correctly you should be fine.

[Don Hutcheson] “BTW I thought the GH3 offers AVCHD or QuickTime file recording.”

Quicktime is not a codec. It’s a container. The GH3 shoots AVCHD or AVC/H.264. Both of those are 4:2:0 color space. I’m guessing it uses AVC/H.264 in a QuickTime container (which is a superset of AVCHD) but from the specs, I can’t really tell. Either way it’s all 4:2:0.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[George Dean]

Don,

Another route, if you are happy with the Sony, may be to add an Atoms Ninja 2, or Ninja Star recorder (about $300 US). If that worked, it should capture 4:2:2 from your Sony. This will give you ProRes HQ or DNxHD (both in an MOV container). Neither are optimal in Vegas without converting it to an intermediate that Vegas will like. Not ideal, just a thought to keep the expense down, but with a time expense of workflow to run the intermediate files.

Best Regards…..George

[Don Hutcheson]

Thank you John. You’re always a huge help!

Hutch

Hutch

[Don Hutcheson]

I researched that, even the new one from Black Magic, but I haven’t found an external recorder that accepts Firewire400. They all accept HDMI (since that’s the standard now). Thanks

Hutch

[Danny Hays]

Capturing from the sensor bypasses the hdv format and doesn’t capture front firework or tape. It captures as 3 different avi formats.

Danny Hays
Samples of my Work can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ErnestDaniels/videos?view_as=public

[Danny Hays]

I don’t ever put a tape in my camera anymore or connect the fire wire to the computer. I capture with media Express software that is used for black magic video capture Hardware. Most every HD video camera has HDMI or component out that connects to the intensity shuttle.

Danny Hays
Samples of my Work can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ErnestDaniels/videos?view_as=public

[George Dean]

Sorru Don, for some reason I picked off the Sony model that was an alternative (which had HDMI), not the model you currently have.

Best Regards……George