Join Mark Christiansen for an in-depth discussion in this video Fine-tune Keylight adjustments with Screen controls, part of After Effects Compositing: 4 Color Keying.
- You may be surprised at how soft…the natural edges in a perfectly shot scene can be.…There are controls right in Keylight to make…your edges look more natural on a single pass.…These can be a fine choice with…well shot footage that keys easily.…I'll turn off the effect here.…Take a look at the source.…We zoom right in on these edges.…Notice that there are four or five pixels of softness.…
And that's true whether it's the hat that is cloth,…or the skin, skin might be a little bit tighter.…But the point being that these edges are in focus,…but they all have a little bit of softness to them.…So, with any matte that you create,…if you're doing this in one pass,…you're gonna wanna introduce…some of that softness right in Keylight.…And to do that, you can use…the screen softness control that's right here.…
Now with high definition footage, you're usually safe…to start with a setting of about two.…That will make things look noticeably softer.…And then from there you can also…just shrink the matte by about one.…So I usually shrink by about half of whatever I'm softening.…
Author
Mark Christiansen
Released
12/6/2014Beginning with a brief explanation of the keying process, Mark takes you through the steps involved in creating a perfect green-screen key: generating a rough matte, eliminating color spill and matte lines, and refining problematic edges. He shows how to work with Keylight and Primatte—two indispensable keying tools in After Effects—and explains when to use one over the other. And for times when green screen won't work, he shows how to generate high-contrast mattes, or luma keys, based on the luminance data in your footage. Last, learn about compression and how to prep a shot for keying.
- What is color keying?
- Using garbage mattes
- Getting started with Keylight
- Understanding the Screen Color, Clip Black, and Clip White adjustments
- Eliminating spill with Advanced Spill Suppressor
- Using Key Cleaner to refine edges automatically
- Dividing a matte with holdout mattes
- Breaking down a complex color key
- Creating a luma key with Extract
- Setting up sky replacement
- Using Refine Soft Matte to improve edge detail
- Feathering edges with Channel Blur
- Knowing when to avoid green screen
- Prepping a shot for keying
Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
Views
Q: How do I locate the exercise files for chapter 5, 6, and 7 of this course?
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 46s
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Using the exercise files2m 23s
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1. Work with Keylight
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2. Manage Edges and Spill
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3. Divide a Matte for Best Results When Keying
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Add a holdout matte1m 38s
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4. Solve Problematic Edges
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5. Complex Color Keys and Primatte
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6. High-Contrast Mattes (When There Is No Green Screen)
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7. Prep for Success When Color Keying
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Prep a shot for keying3m 4s
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Video: Fine-tune Keylight adjustments with Screen controls