They're here! More Muvipix.com Guides by Steve Grisetti!
The Muvipix.com Guides to Premiere & Photoshop Elements 2024
As well as The Muvipix.com Guide to CyberLink PowerDirector 21
Because there are stories to tell
muvipix.com

Videomerge

Specific to Premiere Elements version 2020

Videomerge

Postby ant@aemiller.co.uk » Sat Aug 08, 2020 5:36 am

Hi there,

I have just leaned about Videomerge from your excellent book (I have a MacBook and can't use green screen) and got it to work fine using my portable 2m x 1.5m pull-up green screen. However, you have to make sure the green screen fills the entire frame which means you are limited to head and shoulder shots only.

I have just seen a YouTube video where they have shot a video wide angle with the presenter in front of a portable green screen (i.e. you can see the room he is in too) and then used After Effects to create a mask of the presenter and the green screen only and somehow extend the transparent background to fill the entire frame.

Is it possible to do this with Premiere Elements alone?

Thanks

PS Please can you add the point in the Videomerge section of your book that the green screen clip has to be in Video track 2 above the background clip? You mention it when you talk about Chromakey but worth repeating as I got it wrong first time and PremEl got its knickers in a twist!
ant@aemiller.co.uk
New User
New User
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 5:23 am

Re: Videomerge

Postby Steve Grisetti » Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:27 am

Welcome to Muvipix, ant! And thanks for supporting our book.

In the Keying effects, you should have a couple of "Garbage Mattes". Garbage Mattes are made to make areas of your video clip transparent, regardless of whether Videomerge has been applied to.

If you apply a Garbage Matte to the area outside your green screen and then apply Videomerge to the green, it should make everything transparent except your subject -- Not quite as sophisticated as After Effects but it accomplishes the same thing.

Sorry I wasn't clear on where the "key" clip goes in my discussion of Videomerge in the book. I'll see if I can clarify it in future editions.
HP Envy with 2.9/4.4 ghz i7-10700 and 16 gig of RAM running Windows 11 Pro
User avatar
Steve Grisetti
Super Moderator
Super Moderator
 
Posts: 14439
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:11 pm
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Re: Videomerge

Postby ant@aemiller.co.uk » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:59 am

Thanks again, Steve, I will give Garbage Mattes a try.

However, I spoke too soon about getting Videomerge to work. I have since tried to create a promo video for my business with me talking to camera in front of a green screen and with some still (mainly text-based) images as the background. I find I am getting black 'smudging' in the corners and around the edges of the frame. Weirdly, I don't get this problem when I use exactly the same clips using green screen in iMovie.

This is rather a showstopper for me - would really appreciate any advice you can offer.
ant@aemiller.co.uk
New User
New User
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 5:23 am

Re: Videomerge

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:15 pm

Can you post a screen capture of what your key shot looks like? if you're getting smudging in the corners it could be that your background isn't lit evenly. Or it could be that Videomerge's tolerance needs tweaking.

But that's all hard to say without know what you're working with.
HP Envy with 2.9/4.4 ghz i7-10700 and 16 gig of RAM running Windows 11 Pro
User avatar
Steve Grisetti
Super Moderator
Super Moderator
 
Posts: 14439
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:11 pm
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Re: Videomerge

Postby ant@aemiller.co.uk » Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:03 pm

I've just taken a slight diversion to try out Final Cut Pro X which is on a 90-day free trial from Apple.

I have to say that it seems easier for me to use at it's similar to iMovie (surprise, surprise). Indeed I can import stuff from iMovie and especially Photos to FCPX which is a big advantage for me as almost all my stills are on Photos. But most importantly, I have just knocked up a test video with the same clips I had been using on PREL for my promo video and chroma-keyed the clips and they appear perfect (as they did in iMovie). I'm also finding FCPX runs faster than PREL on my MacBook Air.

I am going to give FCPX a good try out because perhaps in my case it will be the better tool for the job. It does cost a lot more than PREL but that's life.

I'll also try out your Backgrounds which I guess should also work fine in FCPX (but would not expect you to fix if they didn't of course).

Thanks for now.
ant@aemiller.co.uk
New User
New User
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 5:23 am


Return to Premiere Elements 2020 


Similar topics


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests