chroma screen and motion questions

[22Parrot]

I'm using chroma (green) screen, no problem getting the background eliminated and putting new background in. However, when i resize my video from track 2 (the green screen track), it automatically resizes track 1 (background track) as well and fills in the space with white. (or black or whatever.

If i DON'T key out the background, the motion (sizing) works as desired, but when i key out green screen, both tracks are effected by any motion added.

quick example: i'm trying to show something falling, so it gets smaller (appears farther away), but it is shrinking background track as well.

Any suggestions?

 

[Akribie]

If you are using Premiere Pro, try putting the chroma clip in a separate sequence and applying the motion there instead.

 

[22Parrot]

Akribie,
thanks, but i'm using premiere 6.5---I'm guessing there is a difference in premiere pro vs. 6.5 on this issue because i don't understand what you mean by "separate sequence

 

[Akribie]

Nowadays, one always needs to know what version of Premiere! Premiere Pro introduced nested timelines, called sequences.

In P6.5, in Motion, have you set the fill colour (colour swatch and eyedropper at lower left of the motion window) to the same colour as the keyed-out background?

 

[22Parrot]

setting fill color to same as keyed out color...I tried that, all that does is fill the rest with that. It still has the track in video 1 (what should be the background track) acting with the same motion settings as track 2.

any other ideas?

 

[Akribie]

This should not happen.

Maybe the preview files are corrupted? Does ALT-Scrub look any better? If so, highlight the clip on the timeline and hit CTRL-BACKSPACE to remove the associated render files and re-render.

 

[22Parrot]

I'm appreciating the effort Akribie, but that's not working either. A very related question on all this is...
With 6.5, you aren't able to apply Motion effects to anything in Video Track one, so why is doing it in track 2 affecting track one? Again, it's ONLY when i chroma something out on track 2 that it links and effects track one.

and yes, i have tried moving everything up into tracks 2/3/4 etc. Same thing.

 

[Akribie]

In 6.5 you can apply motion to any track, not just superimpose V2 and up tracks.

 

[Akribie]

Well, I've just tried chroma key on V2 and a base clip on V1 with zoom out to shrink the V2 clip and it all worked just fine in P6.5.

I was using DV clips.

Either you have a setup issue, there is something about your source material, or you are doing something wrong somewhere.

If you want to take this further, state exactly what you have applied to each of the clips on each track at the point where you have the problem and what these clips consist of.

Since it's now 2315 in UK, no more replies till morning.

 

[22Parrot]

I do want to take this further, just because i want it to work correctly. The first post in this string is what i have done, but i will elaborate to be EXACT.

Video track 1:
I put generic video, static shot of basement wall.

Video track 2:
video of me standing in front of Green Chroma screen (properly lit).

What i did:
Video track 1 (nothing)

Video track 2: used video transperency settings, selected CHROMA, eye dropped on the green screen, dragged "similarity" tab to approx 48--enought to get rid of green--only MYSELF standing was left.

WHAT HAPPENED:
I played it and it worked fine, it was Me standing in front of basement wall (AS EXPECTED)


THEN WHAT I DID:
i selected the clip in track 2 again, used Video MOTION settings, set keyframes at beginning and end to 50%.

WHAT HAPPENED:
I played it and the ENTIRE image (both tracks) was shrunk to 50%, with the rest of the screen being filled with whatever FILL color was selected in the MOTION setting for track 2 clip.

WHAT I HAVE TRIED (none have worked):
locking clip one on timeline: FILLING with same color as green screen: MOVING all clips up to higher video tracks: applying thing in different orders to tracks: Changed settings in MOTION menu--variety: And just about everything else i could think of.

NOTE:
All video files are miniDV captured directly to Premiere 6.5 with Firewire cable.
EVERYTHING ELSE WORKS AS SHOULD, just when i CHROMA KEY out the green screen, then use MOTION, it applies the MOTION to video track 1 as well.

I also tried using different videos and backgrounds to see if there was an infected file. Same thing happened.

I do appreciate all the suggestions. Hopefully, one will work eventually.

 

[Akribie]

What you say sounds OK, but there is something wrong somewhere because this is not the result you should get. I asked about the source of the clips because Premiere doesn't handle all CODECs and some people try editing DivX and other formats that don't work so well.

I assume that you can see the background through the keyed out part of the overlay and that this is how you judge that both clips are being scaled.

The only way I can get close to your problem is if the overlay is on V1A when the surrounds are in the fill colour set in motion because transparency is not recognised on V1A or V1B, but the background V1 clip is not scaled.

With the overlay on V2 or up, the background and the surrounds are keyed out as expected and overlay scaling does not affect the underlying material on V1.

I am fishing, as you will gather, because there is no obvious reason from what you have said so far for the anomalous behaviour you report.

Check the RGB values you are using for Chroma (double click the colour swatch) and transfer the same values into Motion (same way). That will remove the possibility that the fill issue is caused by a colour mismatch between the key and Motion.

Confirm that the background clip is indeed scaled down, not just partly visible only through the smaller window of the overlay clip.

Try swapping between the two options for Alpha within Motion (although this makes no difference on my system).

What happens if you start a clean new project and run a test on the same two clips using the method you describe above?

If anyone else can diagnose what is going wrong, please jump in.

 

[22Parrot]

The background clip is Definitely scaled down as well. I've tried it with Movement as well as scaling, and it effects both tracks (as long as i have used chroma), if i don't chroma key out stuff, it works fine (but that is pointless for greenscreen).

I have tried using the same (AND NEW, DIFFERENT) clips in fresh projects--same problems every time.

the bottom line is that when I ChromaKey out anything, it links video 1 and 2 together--and it doesn't make sense considering you should NEVER even be ABLE to put motion settings on a video 1 track.

Anyone else got any ideas? I'm very close to removing premiere 6.5 from my machine and reinstalling it--but i'm a little nervous as i have a Feature film on the HD right now and don't want to risk losing links.

 

[Akribie]

You are wrong to keep saying that Motion is not effective on V1 track, as I have already reminded you. Make absolutely sure, please, that you haven't got any motion applied to the V1 clips.

If the problem is still there, before you go as far as re-installing Premiere, try making a new Preferences file by starting Premiere with CTRL+SHIFT until the splash screen appears. Then re-instate your scratch disks and other preferences before trying editing again.

 

[22Parrot]

Akribie,
Thank you so much for the help, AND THE PATIENCE. It is now working, thank to you letting me know about the motions on V1. I was confusing that with transperency on V1.

You were correct in your diagnosis of the back track not being resized, just that it was covered up--I thought it was being resized because it was a consistent background (when i added motion to it, it became apparent).

Then i did what you suggested, filling the rest of V2 with the same color I keyed out, and it seems to be working as it should.

Again, I thank you and apologize for the stupidity on my part. It will take a lot of experimenting for me to master this, but this saves the headaches.

thanks,
Scott

 

[Akribie]

No problem.

It's not the most intuitive software to use and it is very easy to convince yourself that it is the computer's fault when things don't work as you expect.

Glad we got there in the end.