3rd Party Plug-ins: Keying
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PrimatteIf you mix simplicity and power, you would end up with Primatte from Pinnacle Systems (www.pinnaclesys.com). When I say simplicity and power, I’m not kidding. The interface for Primatte is so simple, that as soon as you figure out what each button does, you are on your way to pulling a surprising fast and clean key (even with crummy DV footage).[an error occurred while processing this directive]Instead of dealing with tricky sliders and dials, Primatte allow you to select which function you would like to work with (Key color, matte clean up, detail restoring, etc.) and then allows you to point and click in the areas of the Comp Window that you want to work with.
The feed back is very good, and provides you with enough detail to work easily. On my slow 800 MHz PC machine, it did take a moment for Primatte to update, but on the fast Dual Gig Mac, it seemed much faster.
| Shooting tipAlways make sure your backdrop is evenly lit and that the subject is standing far enough away from the background to help prevent spill. The American Cinematographer Manual suggests 15 feet as the minimum. Of course in small studios that may be a problem, so flags and curtains may be needed to help block the spill. All of the plug-ins discussed here will perform spill suppression. |
AdvantEdge
For the ultimate in key extraction control, AdvantEdge from Ultimatte (www.ultimatte.com) allows you to pull amazing details from foreground elements. Hair, water, smoke, glass, and even reflections composite very well with this plug-in.
If you have worked with the analog equivalent systems from Ultimatte, you know how much control you have. The control is not lost in this plug-in. In fact that may be the one disadvantage to this plug-in - it gives you so much control it could be easy to be overwhelmed in a short amount of time. Unless you spend some time reading the manual and becoming familiar with the software, you might be lost when the full screen program/plug-in launches.
When it comes to selecting a color range for AdvantEdge to key out, you lasso the selection instead of making pixel-by-pixel selections. From there you can clean up the background and foreground, perform additional color correction, and fine-tune the key to maintain detail.
| Color RangeThere are several different built in After Effects plug-ins that allow you to select a color range when pulling a key. The most powerful is the Difference Keyer that comes as part of the Production Bundle. |
AdvantEdge does some automatic rotoscoping for you to keep your time on the shot to a minimum. By using roto screen correction, Roto Masks are created to eliminate the hassle of performing the tasks by hand.
AdvantEdge is available for the Mac and PC platforms for $1495.
Always remember that 3rd Party Plug-ins are available for a reason. They provide new features or improve upon existing conventions in After Effects. If you find you need them, use them, no sense making your life harder while you struggle long nights trying to complete a project.
When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products Stephen Schleicher can be found at the local university teaching a few courses on video and web production. He can be reached at schleicher@mindspring.com. You can also visit him on the web at www.mindspring.com/~schleicher
Source: Digital Media Online, Inc.
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