Classic Casablanca














E-mail me

Site Meter Home
Akaba

Audio
Blue Box

Effects
Hints
Keybrd Shortcuts

Misc/Hardware

Search
Titles
Tutorials
Credits
Links

 

Blue Box

Using Chromakey (Blue Box)
Chromakey

Using The Chromakey (Aka Blue Box) F/X
How do you select the 'mask colour' for chroma-key if it isn't at the beginning of the foreground clip?

 Using Chromakey (Blue Box)
Here's what I did:

1) Made a 10 second colour screen. (Chroma Key blue, but it can be any colour, as long as you archive it.)
2) Added the blue scene to the Sb.
3) Created a 10 second title on the blue scene.
4) Added a copy of the blue screen to the storyboard after the title.
5) Rendered a 3D effect of the title on the blue background, transitioning to just the blue background.
6) Took the clips on the Sb and made a scene (I'll call clip C) out of them.
7) Deleted the titles/renders from the Sb, and added clip C.
8) Added video BEFORE clip C. (In my case, black, but it can be anything to be keyed in.)
9) Made the Blue Box transition with the archived colour, colour range 100% full screen, and effect range for 10 seconds.

Granted, I added in some more because I wanted to have the "3Ding" of  the text, but the chroma will work the same no matter what you put in. Just remember that the scene that will be superimposed over the video goes second, and it should work.
Back To the Top Of The Page

Chromakey
I just tried putting the red text on a black background and it worked very well. In fact it gave the red text a very nice and clear black outline. Looked better than the example on my web page.

Here is what I did:
1. Created a 'Black' scene (default black scene).
2. Set the Mask Colour to:
a. Hue - doesn't matter
b. Saturation (bottom slider) - completely left.
c. Value (left slider) - *one notch up* from the bottom.
3. Set the Colour Range to 50% (Just a lucky guess).
Back To the Top Of The Page

Using The Chromakey (Aka Blue Box) F/X
Let's say you have a shot of some mountains that you want to use as a backdrop (SCENE A). We also have a shot of a weatherman against a blue background (SCENE B).

Follow these steps:

1. Place the two scenes on the Sb. Scene A should be directly in front (to
the left) of Scene B.
2. Go to the TRANSITIONS window and select Blue Box. Three options will appear.
3. Set the MASK COLOUR to match the blue background that you want to key out of Scene B.
4. Set COLOUR RANGE according to how closely you've matched that colour. If you think you have a perfect match, set the COLOUR RANGE near 100%. If it isn't quite perfect, lower the COLOUR RANGE.
5. Set IMAGE RANGE to FULL.
6. Use the xS button to set the length of the effect to equal the length of Scene B.
7. RENDER.

Tip: When you're trying to adjust your settings, to be sure the colour is keying properly, try this: Follow step 1-5, then set the xS button to 00:01 (1 frame). RENDER the frame. Use the SCENE button, and select the
RANGE option. This will allow you to look at the single frame you've rendered to check out how well your effect is working. When it is satisfactory, re-adjust the xS button to equal the length of Scene B and render. This will save you a lot of time and wasted renderings.
Back To the Top Of The Page

 How do you select the 'mask colour' for chroma-key if it isn't at the beginning of the foreground clip?
You have to make a copy of your clip, trim it to the point where the masking colour is visible, make a one second still of this point, then add it to the beginning of my original footage and make a scene of the two clips. I can then choose the masking colour from this still and trim it from my clip when I'm finished.
Back To the Top Of The Page