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Premiere Pro vs iMovie Chroma Keying
Using Mac OS X: I import video I shot using a green screen straight from a Canon VIXIA HF R200 Flash memory HD camcorder using iMovie. Then I apply the chroma keying effect from iMovie. Works great but I rather use Premiere Pro CS3 (PPCS3).
I export the raw footage as an MOV file (codec: Apple Intermediate Codec, compressor reset: other, frame rate: current and even tried HD-movie export). Import it into PPCS3, apply color key vfx (there is no chromakey effect plugin on my version of PPCS3, unsure why); the keying out of the background is not as great as it was in iMovie. Green starts appearing more around the subject mainly when the foreground subject is in motion. This does not happen when I use iMovie. I tried adjusting and animating the tolerance, edge thin, and edge feather but nothing seems to work as well as iMovie.
Does anyone know why this happens and/or is there a solution? I want to use PPCS3 for chroma keying and editing since it is obviously more advance editing software than iMovie, which I will be using the features not included in iMovie for my videos.
Below is video still from each program:
I will appreciate a solution, if there is any. Thanks for your time.
-Marc Forman
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6 Replies
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Hi Marc,
Honestly, any version of Premiere prior to CS5 had such basic keying capabilities that it was virtually useless for any serious keying.
Vince Becquiot
Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area -
Hi Vince,
Thank you for the reply! Would you know if Final Cut Express 4 will be any better at Chroma Keying?
Thank you for your time.
-Marc Forman
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Another thing – it seems you are keying the original footage in iMovie, while the footage used with CS3 has been transcoded, so that could further be affecting the key quality.
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor -
I am sure that FCE is NOT good at chromakeying.
Bang the work over to AE and use Keylight.
Best,
Jeff G
Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC | Adobe Cert. Instructor
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[Jeff Pulera] “it seems you are keying the original footage in iMovie”
iMovie automatically transcodes to Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC), a lossy, MPEG4-based, 8bit, 4:2:0 intraframe codec. Both iMovie and Final Cut Express only work with AIC or DV.
For all that, it looks like iMovie has done a remarkable job pulling a key. I hope that makes it into the new Final Cut Pro (never thought I’d be saying that).
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Thanks all for the replies, very helpful.
I have decided to go with keylight in AE as Jeff G. recommends. I’m still learning to tweak the settings to get a better quality key but it works a lot better than Premiere Pro.-Marc Forman
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