From the course: After Effects Compositing: 4 Color Keying

Welcome - After Effects Tutorial

From the course: After Effects Compositing: 4 Color Keying

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Welcome

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- Hi, I'm Mark Christiansen. You can't see me right now because advanced green-screen technology has made me completely invisible. Color keying is the most common way to create basic movie magic. By shooting actors against a particular shade of green or blue, you can place them into any scene, real or fabricated. You probably associate this technique with big-budget affects movies, but in reality, it's just as accessible as the equipment you use to make your own movies. (grunts) Color keying is computer automated, but the best shots require more than just a one button solution. It needs knowledge and a little bit of finesse and that's what I offer you in this course. We'll focus on the most common issues that can leave your shot looking like this. There are a number of words that we've come up with over the years to describe this type of edge: clumpy, chewy, sizzly. Whatever word you use, the edges around the hair are completely destroyed and even smooth surfaces like the arm look really horrible. Or this. Matte lines. These nasty, dark borders around the edges of the foreground that are the classic giveaway of a keyed shot. When they could look like this: Soft, natural edges, so full of detail that you believe this foreground belongs with this background even if the lighting match could use a little work. Or you can transform this, not only messy, green spill, but heavy background noise. Or this: heavy foreground noise, as well as matte holes that are often the result of trying to preserve delicate edges. Into this: a matte that appears natural and believable, even in a stylized shot like this. So now, let's get started making movie magic.

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