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  • Shooting a touchscreen for compositing

    Posted by Shawn Marshall on February 22, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    Hi:

    A client’s going to be shooting video of a hand interacting with a touchscreen PC, and I’m going to have to composite in the screen interactivity in After Effects. Any thoughts on the best way to isolate the hand from the screen for the shoot? My first thought was to create a frame of bright green and display that fullscreen on the PC, but I’m concerned that the green spill from such an illuminated screen might make it tough to pull a clean key on the hand.

    The other alternative would be to cover the screen in green paper or tape. That would require me to fake in reflections, and there still might be spill from green light reflecting off of the tape or paper.

    Any suggestions on the best approach?

    Thanks.

    Shawn Marshall
    Marshall Arts Motion Graphics

    Shawn Marshall replied 14 years, 5 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Angelo Lorenzo

    February 22, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    Just use white and adjust brightness (or have some variations of gray. Watch out for glare but if everything is shot clean then you 1) have nice corners and lines for a planar track in Mocha and 2) have a nice base for a simple alpha key for the hand in After Effects.

    Reflections are another issue. I’d prefer shooting without them if this is client work showing off a piece of software. You could use some colored tracking squares on the screen for Mocha (greenscreen ready tape) and then pull an alpha key off the black screen. Black matte for the hand and white for the reflection. It’ll need some roto cleanup though.

    My first thought.

  • Shawn Marshall

    February 22, 2012 at 9:21 pm

    Hi:

    Thanks for the quick reply.

    I’m pretty sure these are going to be locked down shots. I suppose I should confirm.

    We’re not really demonstrating software; we’re showing off the hardware in lifestyle settings.

    Pulling a luminance key sounds tricky, though.

    Shawn

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