Alan Okey
5
COW Coins
2
DaVinci Coins
Forum Replies Created
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[Arnie Schlissel] “getting good keys is usually a multi stage process, often involving breaking a shot up into separate sections and building separate keys that get combined into a single matte. “
This is the most overlooked/ignored aspect of pulling a good key, and it’s often because it involves something that many people aren’t willing to do, which is work.
90% of the time when someone asks this question in a forum, they don’t want to actually take the time to learn how to build a good key, they want a quick and easy one-click solution.
I’ll posit this theorem:
The quality of a key is directly proportional to A) the amount of care taken in shooting the footage and B) the amount of effort put into building and finessing the key.
If a lot of time and care was taken in setting up a green screen shot, there is a much higher likelihood of having a satisfactory result form using a one-click keying solution. Since in the real world most green screen footage isn’t perfectly shot, this means that you’ll need to take the time to learn about all of the different keying options and associated tools at your disposal, and learn how to build a good key. No two shots are alike, and pursuing a one-size-fits-all solution will end in a low rate of success.
Of course most editors probably don’t want to become compositors, so this might be asking too much of them. But there’s no free ride – the choices are to A) pick the easiest option and live with a less than perfect key, B) take the time to learn and practice and become competent in creating great keys, or C) hire a compositor to do it.
There are so many parts of the problem to address, and so many tools and techniques relevant to the process. Here’s a short list for starters:
– chroma sampling and its impact on key quality (4:1:1 vs 4:2:2, etc.)
– garbage mattes (rotoscoped or procedural)
– core mattes and edge mattes
– spill suppressionI can’t recommend enough dvGarage’s Conduit plugin for Final Cut Pro. It has everything you need to get under the hood and build a great key for any given shot. It doesn’t have the roto tools of a dedicated compositing app, but for most basic work it’s a fantastic toolbox and a great way to learn about compositing. Shake users will feel right at home. The video tutorials on the dvGarage site are spectacular.
https://www.dvgarage.com/prod/prod.php?prod=conduit2
At only $200, it’s a steal. Of course it won’t satisfy anyone who is looking for a quick one-click soluton for keying, but it’s infinitely more powerful and flexible than one-click solutions. It requires a commitment to learning and practicing to get good results.
What’s the old proverb? Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. Or something like that.
Having a one-click keyer that works some of the time is not nearly as useful as knowing how to build your own keyer and how to work to create a perfect key every time.
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[Jason Brown] “ATI Radeon HD 4870 has the same connections – DVI + MiniDisplayPort … is there a performance boost with that card? “
Yes, there’s a major performance boost in Motion, Color, and certain FXPlug filters in FCP with that card. It’s currently the best performing card for Apple’s Pro apps.
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Thank you for sharing the link, I’m sure many people will find it helpful.
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Sorry, repost due to tinyurl address tripping the filter.
[walter biscardi] “Does this allow two LED displays to be connected to one graphics card that has the mini DVI port? I thought there was an issue driving two of them on one graphics card which is the reason there were not a card with two mini ports. “
Just to clarify, Mini DisplayPort != Mini DVI. DisplayPort and Mini DispalyPort replace the DVI spec.
I’m not aware of any issues driving two LED displays when using the adapter. The LED display is 1920×1200, which is accommodated by a single-link DVI connection. If Apple released a 30″ LED display with an even higher resolution, that would present a problem, as the current adapters do not support dual-link DVI.
[walter biscardi] “Is it me or are the Mini DVI ports ADC all over again? “
It sure seems like it, but there are important differences.
DisplayPort is an open standard that was not created by Apple. Apple just happens to be a bleeding edge adopter of new technologies. Apple did devise the “Mini” version of the DisplayPort connector to make it more usable on laptops, which account for the lion’s share of their computer business. Apple is freely licensing the Mini DisplayPort standard to other manufacturers, but I suspect that there hasn’t been a substantial adoption rate thus far.
This is all academic, however, as it appears that Apple will be replacing all of its legacy connectors with One Cable to Rule Them All: Intel’s LightPeak. LightPeak is a 10Gb optical-based cabling standard that can be used to connect anything – displays, storage, peripherals, etc.
“Apple is expected to incorporate Light Peak quickly and will use it to replace other legacy ports, much as it did with USB on the original iMac, albeit on a smaller scale. Engadget said that based on what it saw, it expects Apple to roll out the new connector on machines next fall, replacing existing ports for networking, display, and general peripheral use. ”
Isn’t it fun trying to keep up with technology?
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[walter biscardi] “Does this allow two LED displays to be connected to one graphics card that has the mini DVI port? I thought there was an issue driving two of them on one graphics card which is the reason there were not a card with two mini ports. “
Just to clarify, Mini DisplayPort != Mini DVI. DisplayPort and Mini DispalyPort replace the DVI spec.
I’m not aware of any issues driving two LED displays when using the adapter. The LED display is 1920×1200, which is accommodated by a single-link DVI connection. If Apple released a 30″ LED display with an even higher resolution, that would present a problem, as the current adapters do not support dual-link DVI.
[walter biscardi] “Is it me or are the Mini DVI ports ADC all over again? “
It sure seems like it, but there are important differences.
DisplayPort is an open standard that was not created by Apple. Apple just happens to be a bleeding edge adopter of new technologies. Apple did devise the “Mini” version of the DisplayPort connector to make it more usable on laptops, which account for the lion’s share of their computer business. Apple is freely licensing the Mini DisplayPort standard to other manufacturers, but I suspect that there hasn’t been a substantial adoption rate thus far.
This is all academic, however, as it appears that Apple will be replacing all of its legacy connectors with One Cable to Rule Them All: Intel’s LightPeak. LightPeak is a 10Gb optical-based cabling standard that can be used to connect anything – displays, storage, peripherals, etc.
“Apple is expected to incorporate Light Peak quickly and will use it to replace other legacy ports, much as it did with USB on the original iMac, albeit on a smaller scale. Engadget said that based on what it saw, it expects Apple to roll out the new connector on machines next fall, replacing existing ports for networking, display, and general peripheral use. ”
Isn’t it fun trying to keep up with technology?
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Jason,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can’t buy just any graphics card and drop it into a Mac Pro and have it work properly. The Mac Pro requires graphics cards with EFI support and a Mac boot ROM in order to work in OS X. This is a very short list of cards, none of which have dual DisplayPort outputs.
Your only option at this time is to use a Mac-compatible card in conjunction with a DVI to Mini DisplayPort adapter from either Gefen or Altona. The best performing card for Final Cut Studio is currently the ATI Radeon HD 4870. There’s no need to spend more for an nVidia Quadro card, as Apple’s drivers are better optimized for the ATI card. The card has one DVI connector and one Mini DisplayPort connector, which means you’ll need a third-party adapter in order to use two LED displays with the card.
Good luck.
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Shane,
Two third party adapters exist that allow the apple LED display to be connected to a standard DVI output:
https://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8913
https://www.atlona.com/Atlona-DVI-to-Mini-DisplayPort-Converter-p-17859.html
I agree with you, though. It’s obnoxious that Apple itself didn’t release an adapter of its own for the new displays, and it’s obnoxious that it costs at least $150 to gain that functionality.
The other bit of nastiness is that the cord on the new LED displays is only three feet long, and I’m unaware of any Mini DisplayPort extension cables being available at this time. Think about it: three feet. How close is your Mac Pro tower to your display? Mine’s in a rack right next to my editing desk and I couldn’t get by with anything less than six feet long. At least with a DVI adapter, you can use a DVI extension cable to get the extra length.
Apple sometimes makes some monumentally stupid design choices.
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Ed,
If you use a lot of slow motion in your work, then I would suggest using a camera that can overcrank, i.e. shoot at a faster frame rate than the recording frame rate. I\’m not sure about the Z7U, but the Sony EX1 and EX3 can shoot as high as 60 frames per second recorded over 720p30 or 720p24, which yields super-smooth slow motion shots that look far superior to shooting normal speed and slowing it down.
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[Michael Gissing] “Jason wants to monitor his mac directly, not FCP.”
FYI, you can also monitor Mac system audio through a Kona card. Just select the Kona in the System Preferences audio pane.
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I use the balanced analog outputs from my AJA Kona LHe. No buzz.