#Razor Pro HELP!
8 messages in this thread
This is for any Razor Pro gurus out there. I am having problems trying to do a
couple of things.
I have a series of PAR, still and audio clips on the composition timeline.
After arranging them and getting my transitions just right I have decided to
remove a couple of clips in the middle of the timeline. My question is how do
I now eliminate the resulting gap. I have tried using relative mode before
deleting, which does nothing, and also when trying to drag the next clip on the
right to the left, but it just pushes the clip on the left downward. I haven't
had any problems filling in spaces of a few frames using the relative drag left
technique, but it just won't work here.
Lastly, I am trying to key out some captured video that was shot in front of a
studio bluescreen. It worked fine in Premiere, but in Razor I am having
problems with a blue tint on the edge of the actors' skin and clothing. This
may be result of the transfer from Beta to S-VHS before I captured the footage
with the PAR. Yes, I am using multiple keys on the same clip, but the blue I
am talking about is past the actors outline. What I need to know is if there
is a way to filter out the blue in the keyed forgound clip after it is keyed,
but before it is composited with the background. I have tried using "adjust
channels" and "color correction" but they effect the whole image. I need to
lower the SATURATION of the blue that is left after keying so it will not be as
noticable. Any ideas on how this might be accomplished?
Thanks
Mitch
Mitch,
The relative mode is a little squirrely to say the least, but it does work.
With the "SNAP TO" in the ON mode seems to change effect, so try it in both on
and off modes. You need to work on grabbing the clips on the correct side for
the proper movement, in your case grabbing on the left side of the clip to move
all of the clips on the right in either direction should work.
Here are a few other keyboard shortcuts that might help you if you haven't
discovered them yet:
The CTRL key will constraint the clips in a vertical movement. You can use the
shift key to select multiple clips -bring them to the clipboard -delete the
selected clips, if needed -then insert them onto another area of the timeline.
The chroma keying has worked well for me, but I don't think that I have put it
thru a complete test. Have you selected the color menu and adjusted the
luminance/saturation along with the color, also how about the blend and
threshold from the menu, all of this can be done from within the Chroma Keying
effect.
-Mike
Mitch,
I see that Mike has explained the relative mode so I'll
help you with the chroma key.
Set the blend value to zero. Then adjust the threshold
value. Once the threshold is set correctly then adjust the
blend value. This will give you great results.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Jamie
I have been using the keyer as you have described, but that is not the problem.
As I said in my message the problem is that the actors' bodies have been
contaminated with some blue tint along their outlines. I need a way to take
any blue that remains after keying and desaturate it, so it will not be as
noticable.
Thanks
Mitch
Mitch,
Ummm, if the blue on the edges is not being caught by the chroma
key effect that it is not in the same color range as the background.
This would suggest that the edges are getting contamination from light
reflecting from a surface in front of the actors/actresses which
is giving a different value of chroma key to your chroma key
color. This is a tricky problem to correct and usually has to be
corrected in production.
However you could try applying a second chroma key to the values
on the edges.
Does this help cure your problem ?
Jamie Carr
in:sync
I realize this, the problem seem to have occured after transfer from Beta to
S-VHS, as keying worked fine in Premiere on clips captured directly from the
Beta footage. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the orginal footage,
on the S dubs. As far as the second chroma key goes, I do not want/need to key
out the remaining bluish areas, just reduce the saturation of the blue in the
clip after keying, so any blue tint left would be more gray, thus less
noticable.
Thanks
Mitch
Mitch,
Just a quick interjection, The problem you are having is one of the
most difficult parts of doing good chroma keying. If reshooting is not an
option then depending on how lon the segment is and your dedication to it's
final look you might try one of the following suggestions. Be warned, this
stuff is time consuming
and may not fit into your schedule/budget.
If your segment is less than around 1000-1200 frames than an option
would be to copy the footage to a system drive, maybe in chunks of 100 frames
at a time to save space. Either open up the frames one at a time in Photoshop
and paint the edges the are contaminated using the COLOR option (as opposed to
normal, darken, lighten, etc..) Sample the color from a bit further in on your
talent and use a opacity less than 100%. This is slow and time consuming but
will work
quite well. If the talent is more of a 'Talking Head' you could batch process
this procedure.
Another option would be to open up the TGA stream in premiere and make
a filmstrip file of lets say 30-50 TGAs at a time and then open that up in
Photoshop and correct as before.
Getting the original footage right is obviously the best solution. In
the future some of these ideas may help in getting better keying footage…
1- if you can use the Ultimatte System
2- If your shooting with HI-8 avoid a single chip camera at all
cost. They simply can't hold the edges clean enough reliably.
3- Use kick lights from behind ( normally on floor level ) on your
talent
this wil help to define their edges and eliminate blue spill
from your backdrop.
Good Luck I hope some of this can help you.
Brendan G.
Mitch,
the best way of seeing this problem is for you to send
me a few frames from the piece you have captured. I
am very surprised you are not getting the results you
expect. If you could send me perhaps 5 frames from
the whole piece to my compuserve account or to our
internet account :
tech-support@in-sync.com
thanks – I am sure this can be resolved.
Jamie Carr
in:sync