HS: Bad chroma key
If you haven’t used my Hotline yet than you have a chance to see how it works. Also you will learn how to key out a difficult footage.
Even at this small thumbnail image you can see how poor the quality of the footage is. How do you key out something as nasty as this? Watch the tutorial to find out.
You also might like to know that this tutorial is made without any editing. One of my viewers - Bogdan from Chicago - requested this tutorial on his Hotline Session (that’s where the name of the tutorial came from). Fortunately I was also working on a simmilar case myself and I’ve planned to show it to you anyway, so here it is.
This tutorial uses Key Correct Pro - a set of plugins from Red Giant Software. They can be replaced with standard After Effects keying plugins, but Key Correct Pro really makes the job easier. I recommend you at least take a look at them. If you like to follow this tutorial without them, than I suggest downloading my PixelSampler to get a better screen color.
Finally
This will be useful to a lot of people.
Awesome tutorial as absolutely everything u have here…
I suggest everyone watching these tutorials to suggest a solution to keep Mataannon healthy. He’s smoking too much and if he continues that way we will have no more tutorials soon.
Thank’s G
bogdan said this May 12th, 2008 at 18:34
Ohhh…
Another amazing thing I forgot to mention everyone: this guy is a genius…besides his amazing affx skills, he also created this interesting application that will replace the web cam over skype with his screen so you can actually see what he’s doing there on his computer (you can also full screen it and that is truly amazing)…he calls this the HOTLINE so try it out.
I was live with him when he recorded this tutorial and saw everything 1st hand…I’m the chosen one :P
I’m not going to mention the gear he’s building, like steady cam and crane for cameras, because u might just not believe me or think I’m advertising him. But anyway I had it on my heart so now u know who u’r dealing with.
I got to say..i have a Lynda.com account and I prefer this guy for making all his things so engaging and entertaining in the same time.
bogdan bucur said this May 12th, 2008 at 19:16
Alright, a fellow smoker!! I guess we are a dying breed. Anyways, awesome tutorial once again! Great to see how your mind works in solving problems, this was an extremely useful tutorial, Thanks again!
Vinnie said this May 12th, 2008 at 21:09
I really hate your voice!!! and your accent, after a couple of minutes is very annoying…
John said this May 12th, 2008 at 23:11
a very usefull one!
anyway..
can u tell me where to find a website where i can download free things like trapcodes, andrew kramer things, etc..
pls tell me where to download them. ive been looking for those in the net. it took me months looking for those free things and yet nothing happen.
hope you can help me. thanks a lot!
rakwel said this May 13th, 2008 at 0:25
@John - you can’t really blame me, I’m Polish. You can always turn off the audio and just watch the video. Besides I hope nobody forces you to watch my tutorials if you hate them that much.
@rakwel - sorry dude. no can do.
Maltaannon said this May 13th, 2008 at 0:47
john why the f*ck do you bother posting stupid reply like this
i personally don’t have any problem with the voice but why you check the tutorial if it irritates you… it’s been the same unchanged voice since the beginning
you sound like jealous person
keep up the good work maltaannon!
Karim Dehbi said this May 13th, 2008 at 1:28
OMG ITS LIVE !!!
ha ha
Very nice….could use this for a new vid I am working on…my green screen isn’t exactly ‘High-Class’ ;)
Shkaa887 said this May 13th, 2008 at 6:58
By the way…
I think you should to more of these live tutorials because they make it a lot more interesting to see how YOU do it without having the tutorial written down somewhere.
And SMOKING IS BAD !!! :)
Shkaa887 said this May 13th, 2008 at 7:04
@ john
Hey if you hate this so why are you visiting here…
Just watch and learn….
don’t campier maltaannon with any one…. because every one have its one importance…
for this tutorial nice tip dudes…
looking forwards,,
Regards,
UmairVFX ;)
UmairVFX said this May 13th, 2008 at 12:31
Maltaanon, please ignore the idiots. You have some seriously impressive skills and I really appreciate you giving your time.
Maybe you could branch out into the filming side as Bogdan mentioned it above?
Simon said this May 13th, 2008 at 12:37
Thanks a bunch for this. I worked on about a gazillion aeroplane shots last year and wish I’d known about the offset effect then! Keyframing position while maintaining speed is impossible!
Simon Bonner said this May 13th, 2008 at 13:21
Word, nevermind the morons pissing in their own backyard. You are truly talented and generous with your skills. Keep it up Maltaannon!
Urt said this May 13th, 2008 at 13:30
maltaannon you did a great job, really! Yours tutorials stands on high class, but this is live and this is really good. Many peple (including me) have problems with keying but this can be solution for some of them.
PS. What you say for a couple of beers together in Warsaw ;) ? I’m planning to go there soon as possible :)
Keep working you’re doing great job!
Paul said this May 13th, 2008 at 15:46
Sure! Just write me an email and we’re sure to meet. Thanks for the invite.
Maltaannon said this May 13th, 2008 at 15:52
Nice work Maltaannon! Your tutorials are truly inspiring. Keep up the good work.
@John. You are a moron!
Frank C. said this May 13th, 2008 at 18:19
Listen John whoever u are…
Go learn somewhere else or better quit learning with this attitude (isn’t it enough that all this is for free? You’re such an ungrateful MF).
What makes Maltannoon interesting is the fact that he’s live and u can follow real situations and learn …I personally feel like I’m there next to him on the chair and discover things 1st hand.
There is not prepared script in advance and perfect footage…
I wish Lynda.com would have something similar (I have an account there and I got sick of hearing the same “professional rigid voice with no feeling”)
And by the way…try learning some other language then English and then we will talk discuss accent…it’s probably the only one u know anyway
I think his English it’s very good. Besides…a different accent it’s always nice…ask the girls .they like accents…
bogdan bucur said this May 13th, 2008 at 19:24
i know it cause i have an accent to and girls love it lol :P
bogdan bucur said this May 13th, 2008 at 19:25
i love maltaannon . dont get no ideas .. haha
your the best , i really enjoy your stuff alot more then the cow tutorials or andrews tuts .. your on another level bro .. keep it up
LifesShort said this May 14th, 2008 at 2:06
Hey my Genius-M, I know ur genius thats y I gave this name to u……….GENIUS-M…………hehehhehehehe.
This is a very useful tutorial but I cannot hear any sound in this tutorial………..whether I’m doin anything wrong?
whether this Hotline recording has any sound in it or I’m just waiting to hear the voice of my Genius-M……..hehhehehhe
Plz clear me my Genius-M……………….thnx & gr8 tut.
Mark said this May 14th, 2008 at 5:39
The sound is there. Obviously you didn’t notice the discussion above - it’s all about the sound. Thanks for the kind words. Check your settings, speakers, and volume sliders - including the one in the video player. Cheers
Maltaannon said this May 14th, 2008 at 12:05
yup right, it was a driver file error, i got it reinstalled n now I can hear my Genius-M……….hehhehhe
thnx for the suggestions…………It helped me out……….
thnx Genius-M for a Genius tutorial………really very very helpful for color keying.
Take care
MARK
Mark said this May 14th, 2008 at 14:57
You are one of the few who blazes trails for us not so sharp ones, I praise you, I Salute you and I owe you sir. Thank you Maltaannon.
abe said this May 14th, 2008 at 15:32
This is so cool! Great Tut, I Love the interactivity-thing.
Im surprised AE crashed at your machine, i thought mine is the only one :) What are you working with maltannon?
illd said this May 14th, 2008 at 23:49
Custom (very very custom) build Intel Quad, 2TB Hdd Raid0, 2GB ram, Radeon 9600, WinXP. Something was wrong with my machine that day. It’s working just fine now.
Maltaannon said this May 15th, 2008 at 0:33
Thanks for all the tuts my 20 dollar donation was sure worth it!
Josh Johnson said this May 15th, 2008 at 5:05
Isn’t the Ati 9600 very old? (AGP) You must have one of those hybrid motherboards I guess. By the way I really enjoyed this live tutorial, I think you should do more in the future. It’s nice to know how others (especially the experts) resolve the problems as they occur.
Xavier B. said this May 15th, 2008 at 20:05
Yes it is, but I never relied on the OpenGL. Each time I did something went wrong, even with Quadro. Adaptive Resolution I can trust. And yes… I think I’ll do those Live tutorials a bit more often. Cut’s a day from the production time.
Maltaannon said this May 15th, 2008 at 20:16
Hey, I’m lazy to read all the comments maybe someone has mentioned that but the background moves in the wrong direction unless the helicopter flights backwards. :)
Tadas said this May 16th, 2008 at 11:33
No. It actually moves in the right direction, because they are sitting with their back turned to the direction of flight.
Maltaannon said this May 16th, 2008 at 13:17
It is really very wonderful tutorials that is beneficials to all of us video enthusiast people. Thanks for your video tutorials and please come up with more tutorials in the future.
Phunchok Dorjey, Leh, Ladakh, India.
Phunchok Dorjey said this May 17th, 2008 at 5:59
Really nice stuff Maltaannon. I really like your simplistic/clever approach. Do you use Primatte keyer? I’d like to see a tutorial on that one day if you do. I’ve had to work with some pretty bad screens lately(a lot worser than that copter footage) and used a combination of screen smoother + curves +primatte + matte choker to pull a decent matte. Maybe you can show the proper way to do primatte.
jon said this May 18th, 2008 at 1:17
Oh. I’ve been through similar cases myself, and as you know, and back then there was no screen smoother. Besides you know that theres no universal way to do pull a decent matte other than shooting good footage.
Maltaannon said this May 18th, 2008 at 16:49
Your system may have crashed if you have multiprocessing on. With only 2gb ram running four cores it doesn’t leave much spare, the latest update for AE includes a switch in the multiprocessing dialog to allow you to select how many cores to use, I would suggest using 2, one for every gig of ram.
Fat Elvis said this May 24th, 2008 at 15:27
[...] HS: Bad chroma key [...]
TGD said this May 26th, 2008 at 20:38
I am rather a quiet admirer , but I love your tutorials , and for FREE , wow , speding your time for us geeks , that’s so cool , I send you a good cold beer here from Luxembourg ,
Fuuss
Fuuss said this May 28th, 2008 at 9:54
Hello, I have just watched this tutorial-video and it’s very nice!
Also your Hotline is really cool, which I have used some minutes before. ;)
mani04 said this June 7th, 2008 at 19:55
nice stuff
learning more and more from you
keep it up
but..
isn’t the chopper flying in the wrong direction cause of the expression? :)
Bhacko said this June 11th, 2008 at 14:04
Hey I really like this tutorial.
Man!!! You gave courage to continue editing!!!
By the way… I’m 17 years old and I want to study about video editing with effects and stuff like this… how can I find the right school? I mean is this what we do called multimedia?
I hope you can answear to my e-mail :)
Thank you
MortallicA said this June 16th, 2008 at 1:07
Hi there Maltaannon and the whole crowd of fine FX artists you lead…
Personally, I use Apple Shake and trough the years I´ve managed to pull (sort of) decent Keys… I really wish I´ve known somebody as talented as you, and with this nice attitude before… Sure I´ll learn After Effectts and maybe, maybe after tons of hard work I´ll manage it half as you do.
Tx a lot for beeing here teaching us all there are ALWAYS an answer to your questions…
Ivan said this June 23rd, 2008 at 3:21
Great tutorial! Answered a lot of questions, and told us about an awesome plugin! Thank you so much.
Jake said this June 25th, 2008 at 1:30
George your english is awesome!
Don’t bother about that guy. Maybe you should post a tutorial in polish just to shut his teenager’s mouth.
Otherwise you can always pay a french lady to dub your tutorials…
mmmm that sounds cool to me…
Great job by the way… I had to key a horrible croma this week…
it took me 5 days! imagine how i’m impressed with yours..
Your work is brilliant!
Keep on, buddy!
Gabirell said this June 25th, 2008 at 23:35