Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

pianodude123

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 1, 2005
698
0
in the internet
I found ezemedia, and the one by stupendous software, but does anyone know of any free plugins/products that will let me use a greenscreen in imovie?
 

devman

macrumors 65816
Apr 19, 2004
1,242
8
AU
pianodude123 said:
I found ezemedia, and the one by stupendous software, but does anyone know of any free plugins/products that will let me use a greenscreen in imovie?

Not quite free, but only $3.50

http://imovieplugins.com/plugs/chromamovie.html

There are many other iMovie plugins. Some for around $25.

edit: I forgot to mention that quartz composer will also do chromakey and it's free from Apple with the dev tools.
 

rand()

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2004
151
0
Michigan
pianodude123 said:
I have final cut, dont qwuite know how to use the greenscreen feature tho???

If you've got FCP, do it there; it's going to be a lot better than in any iMovie plugin. And yeah, Shake or Adobe's After Effects will get it even cleaner - but those are far from free.

Anyway, any time you use a green/blue screen, or even a basic black matte, the professional term for filtering out the blue, green, or black is a "key." Essentially, you're "key-ing" out the color and replacing it with whatever background.

So in final cut, make sure you've got two video tracks. In the bottom one (v1) put your background video/picture. In the top track (v2), directly on top of the background clip, put your greenscreen footage.

Now double-click the greenscreen footage in v2 to bring it into the Viewer. From the "Effects" tab in the Browser, grab and drag "Blue and Green Screen" (it's in "Video Filters" under "Key") onto your clip in the Viewer. Now you can go to the Filters tab, and play around until you get the look right.

If your green or blue isn't quite right (you need LOTS of FLAT light on your matte to get Greenscreen stuff right), you might try the "Chroma Keyer" instead. That way you can eye-dropper the correct color and give FCP a little better direction.

Hope that helps!

-rand()
 

topgunn

macrumors 68000
Nov 5, 2004
1,557
2,062
Houston
I hear Microsoft has some great Blue Screen software. No, wait. That's something entirely different.
 

Sdashiki

macrumors 68040
Aug 11, 2005
3,529
11
Behind the lens
Um I hate to tell all your Fanboys (most of whom I assume arent "pro" and dont "own" shake or AE) that a real PRO can use whatever they are comfortable with. and to think that something is better than the rest is ignorant.

So what if King Kong used Shake (it was probably the Linux version anyhow like the one used in LOTR)...

A true professional is good at what he does.

Software doesnt make someone pro so stop the rhetoric of AE vs Shake vs FCP they are each ENTIRELY different apps but overlap in some areas like keying, and in that case its the USER not the APP that is labeled pro.
 

skimaxpower

Guest
Jan 13, 2006
70
0
I can't stand FCP's green screen utility.

I really like "KeyLight" for After Effects. Unfortunately, its neither free nor cheap.
 

mnstr_trd_sd

macrumors regular
Feb 24, 2004
143
0
san diego, ca.
Sdashiki said:
Um I hate to tell all your Fanboys (most of whom I assume arent "pro" and dont "own" shake or AE) that a real PRO can use whatever they are comfortable with. and to think that something is better than the rest is ignorant.

So what if King Kong used Shake (it was probably the Linux version anyhow like the one used in LOTR)...

A true professional is good at what he does.

Software doesnt make someone pro so stop the rhetoric of AE vs Shake vs FCP they are each ENTIRELY different apps but overlap in some areas like keying, and in that case its the USER not the APP that is labeled pro.

I completely agree, it doesn't matter what the professional uses as long as he gets the job done, correctly. As far as green screening I use FC and AE. Shake I primarilly use for compositing.

"you're only as good as your tools" my teachers used to say, but then again, i learned in the real world a real professional would adapt.

Here are some tutorial links:

AE:(i don't know if this is still up)
http://www.philipwilliams.com/chromatutorial.aspx

FCP:
http://www.lafcpug.org/chroma_key_part_2.html
 

mnstr_trd_sd

macrumors regular
Feb 24, 2004
143
0
san diego, ca.
rand() said:
Anyway, any time you use a green/blue screen, or even a basic black matte, the professional term for filtering out the blue, green, or black is a "key." Essentially, you're "key-ing" out the color and replacing it with whatever background.


-rand()



The correct term is Chromakeying.:D Also they use the the particular shade of blue and green because those colors are the least likely to be found on the human body. That is why the subject almost never wears blue or green.
 

d_saum

macrumors 6502
Jun 14, 2005
398
0
NC
topgunn said:
I hear Microsoft has some great Blue Screen software. No, wait. That's something entirely different.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! I literally laughed out loud when I read that! ;)
 

TheMonarch

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2005
1,467
1
Bay Area
Sdashiki said:
Um I hate to tell all your Fanboys (most of whom I assume arent "pro" and dont "own" shake or AE) that a real PRO can use whatever they are comfortable with. and to think that something is better than the rest is ignorant.

So what if King Kong used Shake (it was probably the Linux version anyhow like the one used in LOTR)...

A true professional is good at what he does.

Software doesnt make someone pro so stop the rhetoric of AE vs Shake vs FCP they are each ENTIRELY different apps but overlap in some areas like keying, and in that case its the USER not the APP that is labeled pro.


Uhh. OK.

I see that you take a comment with a smiley at the end quite seriously. So let me add to that:

1) I'm not a fanboy, but I do know that Pros use Shake. I've seen it myself. I didn't say or imply that it was shake exclusively, nor did I say they only use super expensive apps with "Pro" on them. I didn't say all Pros either.

2) I'm not a Pro, but I am a student heavily involved in multimedia, and I have access to Shake & AE Pro. But I liked your assumption :rolleyes:

3) A real pro doesn't only use what they find confortable, its whatever gets the job done. But yes, a real pro would be good at his/her job.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.