Advanced Green Screen Effects with Chroma Key

With VideoStudio, you can use the Chroma Key tool with green screen footage to create special effects. In this tutorial, I’m going to teach you how to work with difficult green screen footage that contains shadows or isn’t perfectly lit by using the NewBlue Chroma Key filter.

Ideally, your green screen footage will be well-lit with a perfectly even tone of bright green. However, if you have taken the footage at home or in a poorly lit area, you might have some shadows that create imperfections when using the chroma key tool.

How to Use the NewBlue Chroma Key Filter

Double click on your green screen footage on Overlay Track 1 to bring up the Options Panel.

Select Mask & Chroma Key then check Apply Overlay Options and select Mask Frame.

Scroll down until you find the full screen mask frame and select that.

Click on the Filter tab and select NewBlue Video Essentials II from the dropdown menu.

Drag the Chroma Key filter onto the green screen footage on Overlay Track 1.

Click on the “x” under the Effects tab and then click on Customize Filter. A pop-up box will appear. De-select Use Keyframes so that your edits will be consistent throughout the clip.

Click on the color dropper icon and select the background color of your green screen footage.

You will see that the subject may be blended with the background. Instead, we want a clear contrast between the subject and background. The easiest way to do this is to select Show Mask.

You want to see a crisp black subject against a white background. Depending on the green screen footage you’re working with, you’ll either need to increase or decrease the sensitivity levels to create this contrast.

Adjust the Sensitivity level until the subject is visibly black and the background is completely white.

Deselect Show Mask and and make sure that the subject is perfectly visible against the black background in the pop-up window, then click OK.

You can now zoom up again on the Preview pane and you can see that the subject will be clear against your chosen background.

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Related Tutorials

How to Use Chroma Key, Masks and Overlays

Adding Masks with Mask Creator

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