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Green Screen Processing

Specific to Premiere Elements version 2021

Green Screen Processing

Postby Pops49 » Mon Nov 02, 2020 6:10 pm

Hello. I am a new member to this community. Not a pro like most I see posting here but just a novice hoping to pick a few brains. I use Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements to do photo and video editing. All for personal use and nothing commercial. Just things to entertain family and grandkids. Recently upgraded from version 2014 to 2021. Really like the new software so far.

I am currently refining a process that I worked out to apply Green Screen background to existing videos. My method works but it's time intensive. This requires that I first extract each frame to a jpeg photo. So 5 seconds of video at 30 fps results in 150 jpg's. Best thing I found for this was the Candid Moments function. Still have to click each frame individually. So here's my first question: is there a way to select all frames and extract in one move?

I know the high dollar programs with annual leases probably have routines to handle this but those are not financially feasible for someone just doing personal work. Elements is in my pay grade.

Like I said I'm a rookie in the lower end of the spectrum here so hope my question doesn't seem to elementary. Any ideas or suggestions? All commentary good or bad is helpful and appreciated.

Thanks
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Steve Grisetti » Tue Nov 03, 2020 7:50 am

Welcome to Muvipix, Pops! But you'll only find a few pros here. A couple of semi-pros maybe, but most of us are just hobbyists who make movies for the joy of doing it. (And, lest you feel too old for the technology, let me assure you there are plenty of grandpas and grandmas among us -- including the three guys who created this site 14 years ago.)

That said, I just want to clarify something. You are NOT shooting in front of a green screen, right? You are taking footage of a person or animal and making everything but it, him or her green, right? (I think you've got a sample of something that demonstrates the results. Please share it.)

If so, you may find it much easier to work with a program like Adobe After Effects. After Effects has a tool that does this virtually automatically, and it can save you the painstaking process of painting one frame at a time.
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby John 'twosheds' McDonald » Tue Nov 03, 2020 9:05 am

Pops49 wrote:...This requires that I first extract each frame to a jpeg photo. So 5 seconds of video at 30 fps results in 150 jpg's. Best thing I found for this was the Candid Moments function. Still have to click each frame individually. So here's my first question: is there a way to select all frames and extract in one move?


This is taken from some instructions that I found some while ago when I was using Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI to enlarge some video frames. It isn't my original work so I cannot take credit for the method but it does work.

You will need FFmpeg to extract the frames and audio from the original. This is a command-line program which you will use to extract the individual frames of the source video.
In PrEl export the portion of video that contains the frames that you want to convert to individual jpg files and save to a folder that also contains FFmpeg.exe.
Open up command prompt and navigate to the folder. Now you will give FFmpeg the command to export the frames. Type in:
ffmpeg -i example.mkv example%04d.png -hide_banner

• example.mkv is the source file so you will need to change it to the name and extension of your source video file.
• example%04d tells FFmpeg how to name the frames (example0001.png, example0002, etc.). Adding text before the frame number helps to keep multiple video's worths of extracted frames organized.
• .png is the extension of the exported file. PNG is bigger than JPG, but JPG creates extra artifacts so the lossless PNG format is preferred.
• -hide_banner hides FFmpeg compilation information.

When you press enter on the filled in command, FFmpeg will get to work. This will take a while, depending on the length of the video and the original resolution.

Hope that it does what you wanted.
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Steve Grisetti » Tue Nov 03, 2020 10:50 am

FWIW you can also output an image file directly from Premiere Elements by selecting the Custom option under Export & Share/Devices and, under Advanced Settings, selecting BMP. The default settings will create a Clip Sequence, outputting each frame as a bitmap.

I create an image sequence/clip sequence in this tutorial.

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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Pops49 » Tue Nov 03, 2020 6:21 pm

Many Thanks to Steve and John. I will research both methods.

Steve, you are correct. I am taking a video that was not shot with a green screen background background. Using Premiere Elements I extract individual frames to a photo. Then in Photoshop Elements I remove the subject and paint the remaining background green. Then I use these as overlays mapped frame to frame over the existing video. This creates a green screen video of the subject. Using these to overlay the original video seems to produce better video quality than just using exported photos to create a new video. Tried to attached the examples I sent you originally but my MP4 format was rejected. What format is acceptabl?. I will convert and retry to attach. My method works I just need to streamline the process as much as possible. The replies you and John provided will certainly help me get there. I know I'm rookie but quality in my work is still an issue to me.

Thanks for the welcome. This group still seems to me to be a little more than semi-pro but I think maybe I do fit in here.
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:50 am

You can't attach MP4s to a post on this forum, Pops. But you can post it to YouTube or Vimeo and post a link on this forum so we can see it.

That said, you really ought to give the rotoscoping feature in After Effects a try -- even if it means you have to pay for a month of After Effects from the Adobe Creative Cloud. If it works (and it should) it could save you painstakingly painting over all those frames.
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Pops49 » Wed Nov 04, 2020 8:59 am

I tried the image sequencing process per your tutorial. Tested it on a 9 second 30 fps video. Worked perfectly. Created 270 images in barely over a minute. Using the Candid Moment method I would drop an image then advance a frame and drop the next image repeating the process over the entire length of the video. While it was easy just point and click repeatedly took me about 30 minutes to do what sequencing did in 1 minute. You have certainly shown me how to streamline the initial step in my green screening process. MANY THANKS FOR SURE!!

My second step involves removing the subject from the image leaving a transparent area and then painting the remaining background a green color. The SELECT/SUBJECT in Photoshop does most of the work grabbing the subject. Time per image here runs anywhere form 30 seconds to a few minutes depending on how much you have to add to the selection area. I attached a couple images, one of the extracted images and one of the green screened overlay. I will take a look at After Effects. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed Nov 04, 2020 11:14 am

Thanks for reporting on your success with this project, Pops. It's very interesting work!
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Pops49 » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:02 pm

i can't remember how i mapped images to match frames of video. can you help?
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Re: Green Screen Processing

Postby Chuck Engels » Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:20 am

Hi Pops, Just wanted to say HI and Welcome to the best forum in the known universe :)

:meet: :wcm:


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