[jatala]

hey there, im a digital filmmaker for quite a time now, but ive never used chroma key on the final cut pro 4...... ill have to shoot a window w/ a green screen on the outside, then later change that to another footage.

a step-by step would be nice, im extremely native on the FCP4, so you can use our language.

thanks again.

[Hydra]

A while ago I copied this from some thread somewhere for FCP 3 - it should be mostly the same. I wish I knew where I got it so I could give credit where credit is due:

"10 tips for doing a successful blue/green-screen segment


I'm about to set up for my third shoot using FCP and green screen. I went with green because I read somewhere it was better for DV, but what I'll share with you should work just as well with blue.

1. The lighting is SOOO critical! Flat, even lighting on the background then brighter, completely independent light on the subject with strong backlight. NO SHADOWS ON SCREEN. If you have any "spill" of blue on the edges or bouncing off the walls of your studio, the subject gets "keyed" slightly and blurs. (If you want perfect, you're gonna have to spend the bucks, but I got some pretty damn good results just with FCP.)

2. Put your key subject on V2 and your background on V1.

3. Drag the blue/green filter from Effects to the clip in Timeline.

4. I use the spill suppresser filter also, so drag that to the clip as well.

5. Double-click on the clip to get it in the Viewer Window.

6. Open the Filters tab. Check Blue and Green box to activate. View--Final Key Mode--Blue (or green).

7. Go down to Edge feather and Edge Thin and make them both zero for now.

8. It is now time to play with the Color Level and Color Tolerance until you're in the ballpark.

9. Activate the Spill Suppresser. Start around 50 and go up or down from there. Add maybe two on the Edge Feather and Thin. It's now a matter of tweak till you drop. Your settings may be slightly different for each clip and background.

10. Don't forget to put in your transitions before you render the chroma stuff or your dissolves will show the blue.

Oh, one more thing: Render time is about an hour per minute of key. My last show was 30 minutes, it took 30 hours to render. That should get you going or drive you completely bonkers, but stick with it and you'll see IT'S ALL IN THE LIGHTING. -- Curtis"

- Jerry C

[Axo1ot1]

If you have a little budget to throw around, I recommend you look into Pinnacle's CinéWave. It ads a lot of functionality to FCP, and comes with a chroma key filter that puts the FCP one to shame.

[version]

I'd maybe invest in a compositor, something like combustion, or AE. The toolset will give you far more control, and much better results than an editing package like FCP. Depends though, on how much blue screen work you'll be doing.

I recommend Combustion.

[Hydra]

Shooting a single shot with a green screen outside a window is about as simple a green screen shot can get. A nice uniform rectangular border with a green screen set far in the background where you can prevent ugly shadow situations sounds ideal for a even the simplistic chroma key tools in FCP. Remember, lighting it the right way at the start will save a mountain of trouble later on while compositing.

-Jerry C.