FCE Chromakey Problems

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VideoTales

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I'm shooting a short animation with cut out bears in front of a green screen. It's a small table top set - that I've lite with shop lights - it seems to be well lite. How come I'm having problems with the chromakey filter in FCE (I've also tried the blue green filter and the color key filter) - the edges of my cut outs have a ring of green around them - I've tried adjusting all of the settings - but just can't get rid of it. When I Greenscreen in iMovie it works much better then FCE. Any suggestions for how to improve this would be appreciated. I'm shooting a video on black bears that includes a spoof on Timothy Treadwell.

I'm using the green screen for another production as well - a news spoof. The problem still exists with the edges but is less noticable with a full size person in the shot
 
I had a similar problem with FCP. I spent hours trying to get the key right and just couldn't get it right no matter which filters I used and how much I fiddled with the adjustments. I opened up my footage in After Effects and dropped the KeyLight filter onto the footage, clicked the dropper and instantly pulled a better key than anything I got with FCP. In about 10 more minutes finessing the settings, I was able to pull a key I was happy with.

Moral of my story, which I've also heard from several others online, is that you won't be able to get a perfect key within FCP. You can get really close but not perfect.

BTW, Cieloent, I love your quote! No doubt, someone really brilliant said that once ;)
 
Thanks coddida, That at least puts it into perspective. I'm going to try readjusting the lights (more back light) and moving the green screen further back, and lowering the camera angle I'll try to post the results for more feedback!
-Dave
 
VideoTales said:
Here is a sample of the problems I'm having with FCE and Chroma Keying... The description has the settings I was using.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHeBFUaB4do
Click to expand...

Excuse me , but I simply do not understand what you are doing. I see a subject on a street road and then some bear running across the screen. So what exactly are you trying to do here?

Regardless whether it's the FCE or Imac neither of them looks realistic at all and you need to do some research on what exactly you are trying to do and the best way to do it.
 
Ignoring the realism for the moment, how exactly did you film the bear cutouts? It looks like you had them way too close to the green screen to me (based on your camera setup). It can be tough to pull a good key on things like hair but you should be able to get it pretty clean with what appear to be straight edges on your cutouts.

Assuming you aren't going for a realistic look with your project (and if you are, you need to go find real footage of a bear and do some serious rotoscoping) and are just having fun...

You could tape each cutout to a popcicle stick, straw or something similar. Using the popcicle stick as a handle, hold the cutouts in the air (away from the bottom of the green screen and the GS background). Move your cutouts way out in front of your green screen. Light the cutouts with completely different light than your GS. Film. Then in FCE (I'm assuming here 'cause I've never used it but most people say it's about the same as FCP), create a garbage matte (8 point matte) around your bear, cutting out the popcicle stick or whatever it is you used. Attempt to key out the green using the Chroma Key filter and adjusting the edge, feather, etc until you get it right. Then animate your cutouts using motion (again, assuming it's available within FCE) and cuts between your cutouts.
 
Yes please ignore the lack of realism - its suppose to be cheesy (or should I say Satire). Looks like I'm really in need of FCP - FCE does not come with Motion. I took photo's of cut out bears and exported them to quick time from iPhoto(to make a stop motion clip).

One of my points was I thought the iMovie green screen was a sharper key than FCE, But I can't manipulte the position of the green screen shot image, so the bear doesn't line up with the man. Its all just test footage right now any way.

I guess I'll try more light on the subject (cut out bears) and move the green screen further away from the bears and go from there,
 
I'm not really sure why you're using keying for this type of shot.

Wouldn't it be easier to scan in your paper bears and animate them in some kind of motion graphics software?

Or if you're going to key them, I would use a still camera instead.
 
I was using a still camera. I am wondering why I can't get a sharper Key. My two choices are a greenish bear or a greenish halo around the bear?
 
Do you have photoshop or a similar photo editing application? If so, I would think it would be easier to mask out the background of your bears that way.

From the looks of your animation you don't have too many different poses to cut out.
 
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