Help with Blue Screen

[colbykenyon]

Hello. I've followed the instructions in the Muvipix manual as well as Adobe's online tutorials, but this is the first feature I cannot get to funcion properly. I'm filming a person dressed in black standing before a well lit, even blue surface. The background from the second clip comes in alright over the blue screen; the problem is that the object (person in black) becomes somewhat transparent themself. Imagine if you could partially see through the meteorologist giving a weather forecast (he's transparent enough that you can see the section of the map directly behind him).

Any tips on how I can fix this? I've tinkered around quite a bit and have had no luck.

Thanks!

Colby

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Hi Colby and welcome to Muvipix.

Caveat: I use PPro and not PrEl so this function might not be available in PrEl.

Have you tried using RGB Key or Color Key where you can select the color you want to key on with a color picker. Most Non-Linear edit systems expect an absolutley perfectly even background for good results when using the "Green Screen" or "Blue Screen" Chromakey option.

Also have a look to see if any of the YouTube tuts can help.

Finally I have an .flv tut on my PC which is the one I used for my first forays into chroma keying. If you like then I will try to send it to you via a PM but it might be rejected by the e-mail system as it is quite a large file.

[Bob]

Welcome to Muvipix!

Are you using the Blue Screen Key effect for this? If so, you may need to adjust the cutoff and threshold values for the effect in the properties panel. It's a balancing act between the two settings to get the best results.

Cutoff affects the opacity of the non-transparent areas of the keyed image. Moving the slider to the right increases the opacity. It sounds like your cutoff setting is too low.

Threshold sets the level of transparency for the blue areas. Moving it left will increase transparency.

Don't move the sliders so far that one crosses past the other, that will reverse the transparent/opaque areas.


Instead of Blue Screen Key, you might try the Videomerge effect. Videomerge is a newer keying effect using improved algorithms and frequently will do a better job than some of the older keying effects.

[Chuck Engels]

Welcome Colby

One other suggestion, you might consider using a green screen background rather than blue if your actor will be wearing lots of black or any dark colors.
Even still, the suggestions by Bob and John should help make a lot of difference.