Chroma keying within Final Cut Pro is easy but there are some advanced controls.
We're going to go through each one of them and show you what they do.
If you haven't yet please watch our first video on chroma keys before continuing.
First we'll click on our foreground clip.
Which has the keyer effect applied.
Then we'll navigate to the inspector on the top right.
If the inspector is not showing click on this icon and click on the video icon.
We've already adjusted many of these controls to refine our key but it's not yet perfect.
So let's check out these more advanced controls.
These controls are a little bit advanced but we're going to take you through them one by one.
Click on the arrow next to color selection to reveal
a huge set of controls we can use to refine our selected color key.
We'll scroll down to see everything.
Let's focus on graph first.
We'll see two options here.
Scrub Boxes limit these chroma and luma controls to adjusting softness in the matte we're creating.
Manual does the same but also gives us control over the tolerance of the matte.
It's a good idea to start adjusting in Scrub Boxes first then switch to Manual for finer adjustments.
Be careful because switching from Manual to Scrub Boxes may mess up your key results.
Chroma is a color wheel control allowing us to adjust the selected
range of hue and saturation that defines the key.
The goal is to make this range as narrow as possible while keeping the key clean and accurate.
Within this circle we can choose this outer graph to control the softness of the edges,
and we can drag these outer handles to extend the range of hue and saturation on the key.
If we change it to Manual mode we can access the inner graph
which controls tolerance or core transparency.
If you're not careful this can create holes in your subjects.
Now let's check out these control schemes starting in Scrub Boxes mode.
Luma is a gradient scale that allows us to change the luma or light values of our selection.
In both modes we can adjust the lower softness handles which adjust the
range of brightness and darkness affecting the edge transparency.
If we change it to Manual mode we get these upper tolerance handles
which affect the core transparency.
We can also adjust the luma roll-off slider
which will modify the softness of the matte around the edges of regions affected most by luma...
and adjusting the chroma roll-off slider does the same for the edges of the key color range.
If your keying compressed media and are experiencing jagged edges in your selection
you can use this Fix Video control to apply subpixel smoothing to the chroma of the image.
In general we recommend keeping this checked on for smoother results.
A little intermission break for you (Sweet Guitar Solo).
Now let's check out the Matte Tools which control the transparency of the keyed object.
These tools are helpful for more translucent objects like water or hair.
We'll switch to Matte View to get a better example of the changes we're about to make.
Levels will adjust the amount of contrast...
these handles set the black point the midpoint of the distributed gray values...
and the white point.
Shrink and Expand manipulates the contrast of the matte adjusting the sharpness of the edge.
Soften will feather the edges by a uniform amount...
and erode will increase or decrease the transparency from the edge inward.
Now if we switch back to Composite View
we might find that the adjustments went a bit too far and revealed some green screen.
So we'll take the Shrink and Expand value back a notch.
Next let's explore the Spill Suppression controls.
Spill Suppression works best for removing any fringe surrounding a subject
that may be too close to the green screen.
It's directly linked to the amount of Spill Level we have active.
So if our Spill Level is zero none of these controls will create any changes.
For demonstration we'll increase our Spill Level.
Spill Contrast is a gradient that adjusts the contrast of the color being suppressed.
Which can reduce the gray fringe surrounding the subject...
because the keying may cause desaturation in the keyed areas on the subject...
the tint control attempts to restore the natural color of the keyed foreground subject.
Overdoing it can result in over-tinting the subject with the complementary color of the key.
In this case it's red
and Saturation affects the saturation of the foreground subject's suppressed color value,
which in this example is green.
We'll set our spill level back to zero.
Remember to comment below if you're confused about anything
and we'll help you in the comment section.
And finally let's check out the Light Wrap controls
which blends the colors of the subject with the inserted background
to provide a sense that the subject is actually in that space.
In other words if there's light in the background of your subject
that light will now wrap around it to create a sense that your object is truly there.
Amount lets us control the overall effect which sets how far
in the foreground the light wrap extends.
Intensity adjusts gamma levels to lighten and darken the interaction of wrapped edge values
with the keyed foreground subject.
Opacity fades the light wrap effect up or down.
And Mode allows us to choose the compositing method that
blends the sampled background values with the edges of the keyed subject.
Generally it's best to flip through these and choose which one looks best...
but we'll explain what each one does to give you a better idea.
We can choose Normal which evenly blends the light and dark values from the background
with the edges of the keyed foreground.
Lighten compares the overlapping pixels with the foreground and background
then preserves the lighter of the two which creates a selective light wrap effect.
Screen superimposes lighter portions of the background
over wrapped areas of the keyed foreground which creates an aggressive light wrap effect.
Overlay combines the background with wrapped areas of the keyed foreground
so overlapping dark portions become darker
light portions become lighter, and colors become intensified.
And hard light is the same as overlay except the colors will become muted.
Well hopefully you enjoyed that episode of our latest Final Cut Pro tutorial,
till next time stay healthy.
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Where you can find Final Cut Pro plugins designed for beginners and professionals alike
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