Well, hello! I’m Axel from FXhome, and this tutorial for Imerge Pro will be covering basics
of the interface and workflow, to help you quickly get up to speed. Even if this is your
first time opening Imerge, it will only take a few minutes until you know your way around
and are comfortable using it. Download the files in the description if you want to follow
along, then go ahead and launch your copy of Imerge Pro, and let’s begin.
When you launch Imerge, it opens to the project screen, which shows all the projects on your
computer. The header bar has tools for organizing and finding projects, and the sidebar provides
direct access to the user guide, and other support and training resources. If this is
your first time using the software, there won’t be any projects listed yet, so let’s
create one. In the “New” menu, you can select any of the listed templates, if you
know what size image you want to create, or select Empty Document if you aren’t sure.
Creating a project opens the Edit screen, where your project is built. We have several
main areas here: the Viewer, of course, is where you view your project while editing,
and the Viewer Tools Bar at the top has tools for working with the viewer. The Sidebar is
where you stack the layers that make up your project. Imerge supports image layers, of
course, but you can also create Text layers, Solid layers of any color you wish, and Adjustment
layers. The Canvas Settings button is used to edit dimensions or color management settings
for the current project. Farther to the right, all controls for the currently selected layer
are displayed. Let’s create some layers so you can see what I’m talking about.
These buttons allow you to add a new layer of any sort. If we click the Add Image Layer
button, we get quick access to common folders and system drives where your images might
be stored. The “Image From Folder” option opens the folder from which images were most
recently imported. Navigate to the folder containing the Imerge Background.jpg image,
select it and click “Open”. An alert may appear, asking if you want to resize the canvas
to match the image. Since we started with an empty document, click “Yes”. If you
created your project using a template for a specific size, then you would want to click
“No”, to retain that selected canvas size. Now the layer appears in the viewer, it is
added to our layer stack, and we see the controls for the layer on the right.
Another way to import images is using the keyboard shortcut, CTRL+I, or CMND+I if you
are on a Mac. Use that shortcut to open the file browser, and select both of the greenscreen
images included in the download. When you click “Open”, a dialog appears at the
top of the interface, asking how you want to handle the multiple images. You can either
import them all into a single layer, or import each image into a separate layer. Click the
“Single Layer” button, and we get one new layer, and one of the images is displayed
in the viewer. But if you look over in the controls, under Content, both images are listed,
and if we select the other, it appears on the viewer.
So our Image layer serves as a container, which can contain multiple images. Each image
is called a variation. This is a core feature of the Imerge Pro workflow, and is the basis
for batch processing multiple images very quickly. Each layer is a container, and any
adjustments you make are applied to all the images contained in the layer at once. For
example, these images are too large. If we change the Scale to “Fit to Canvas”, both
images are resized. You could have 10, 100, or 1000 image variations in the layer, and
it works exactly the same way. They would all be resized at once, which is much faster
than individually editing each image. Whenever a layer contains multiple variations, the
same settings are applied to each variation. Not just Scale and other transform settings,
but masks and effects are also automatically applied to every image in the layer.
With this in mind, let’s hide Layer 2, by clicking this button, and go back to our import
options. Click CTRL+I again, or CMND+I of you are on a Mac, and select the same two
images for import. Now, what if we wanted to see both of these images at the same time
in our composite? That is when we would use the “2 layers” option for import. This
option gives each image its own layer, so they can be edited independently from one
another. Since each layer is a container, and only one image within the container can
be displayed at a time, we want to put these images into separate containers to have them
both visible together. So, with that clarified, let’s select and delete these two new layers,
and turn on Layer 2 again. Imerge Pro features the latest and most powerful
version of our world-class keying tools, which we will now use to remove the greenscreen.
Select Layer 2, and find Effects in the controls on the right. You can use the Plus icon next
to Effects to add an effect to the layer. You can also add Masks and Contents in the
same way, but in this case we’re going to use an effect, so click the plus, and a menu
opens, with all of the effects available for the currently selected layer. We have blurs,
color adjustments, sharpening, glows, and loads of other useful effects. You can type
the name of any effect into the search box at the top of the menu, to find it quickly,
or scroll down through the menu using your mouse wheel or trackpad, and find and select
the Chroma Key effect. Quick as a flash, the green screen is removed,
the green color spill around the edge of the image is removed, light wrap is applied to
the edges of the image in areas of the background that require it, and the image colors are
adjusted to better match our background image. All of that is done automatically in an instant,
and with no adjustments whatsoever, the edges of our composite already look excellent. But
you probably noticed that there is a bit of transparency in her sweater, or jumper, depending
where in the world you live, and we do want to adjust the settings a bit to refine that.
So click the “Refine Key” tab, to access the inner workings of the chroma key tool.
Here is where we can dial in the results more specifically when required.
You have access to several views in this toolset. “Status” shows all areas being removed
as black, all areas being retained as white, and any area that is only partially removed
as grey. So this grey in the center we want to adjust until it is white, so it is retained.
“Matte” provides a similar view, except you can see the full range of semi-transparency.
Look at the transparency around the hair, for example. In matte view, the hair looks
great, and isn’t really any more transparent than it should be. But in the area we are
concerned with, in the middle, the grey is much more subtle, which can sometimes make
it difficult to see exactly how much adjustment is necessary. So using Status view to adjust
that can make it easier to see what is going on. Matte view provides a more realistic view
of the key, while Status view just makes it easier to see all the semi-transparent areas.
“Result” shows the image in full color It gives you the actual result of the key
effect, so you can see what you are going to end up with.
One of my favorite features in Imerge Pro is the Key Color Selection display, which
makes it really easy to visualize the color range that is currently being removed from
your image. Using the Status view, reduce the Hue Range, and note how the selection
changes. Larger range, smaller range. For this image, we can bring it right down to
0. Now, as we correct that transparency in the Matte Adjustments, note how the Key Color
Selection updates there as well. Bring Clip Foreground down until the grey in the center
is removed, around 0.77. Then raise the Clip Background to remove the grey in the corners
of the backdrop, around 0.12. Notice how the edges of the Key Color Selection shift as
we make those adjustments. Now, click our other image variation, to check how these
settings work for it. Ok, here we have quite a bit of grey in the background, but rather
than going straight to Clip Background, let’s adjust the Sensitivity of the key, up to around
1.5. That gives us good clean edges on both images, though we have a bit of grey up in
this corner still on this one. But rather than push the key settings even farther, which
could negatively impact the edge detail, let’s use a mask to quickly remove that.
Imerge Pro has powerful masking tools, with a variety of different mask types. And you
can apply masks to layers, or to individual effects. In this case, we will use the Masks
toolset in the controls for the layer, to add a layer mask. Click the Plus to add a
mask, and select the type you want. A vector mask could work; it allows you to draw any
shape by creating a series of connected points, or, yeah, let’s use an area mask. This gives
us a rectangle, which we can reposition and resize as needed using the handles. You can
also use the corner handle to add a radius to the corners, and the dashed line indicates
the feather at the edge of the mask, which also has a handle for editing. By default
the area inside the mask is visible, but we can click the Invert toggle to reverse that,
and remove the mask area. I mentioned that masks can also be added to
effects. This icon at the top of each effect listed, is the effects mask menu. It has most
of the same mask types, and they are edited the same. But while layer masks control the
visibility of the entire layer, including its contents and any effects that are applied,
an effect mask defines where within the layer the effect is applied. So if our subject here
was wearing a green necklace, or if she had green eyes, we could use an effect mask around
those areas to prevent them from being keyed. Once we have our composites dialed in, we
want to export them, to create a new image. The current Canvas image can be exported at
any time, using the Export Canvas button. You can also use the Export command in the
Project menu, or the shortcut CTRL+E, or CMND+E on a Mac, but we will click the button. As
soon as we click it, a dialog opens where we can choose a name and location for the
saved file. Click Save, and the image is created. The Project menu also includes an Export Settings
option, which is quite handy. It also has a shortcut, which is SHIFT+CTRL+E, or SHIFT+CMND+E
on Mac. Use the shortcut or the menu, and you get this dialog, where you can choose
a format for the export, and specific details, which vary depending on the format chosen.
If we select JPEG, then we can set the compression level for the image, and some other details
depending how the image will be used. Progressive JPEGs load all at once, rather than loading
from top to bottom, and the Save for Web option optimizes the image for internet use. If you
choose a different format you get different options, specific to that format. Once you
have the settings you want, click Apply and they are saved. The saved settings will now
be used for all canvas exports, until you change the settings again.
In addition to exporting individual images in this way, Imerge Pro also has batch export
capabilities, so you can export everything at once, or to export a list of specific images
from within your project. This button adds the current image combination to a custom
export list, which will be discussed further in a different tutorial. And this button opens
the Batch controls tab, where we can export all of our images in one go. Its actually
a toggle, so you can click it again to go back and forth between the Edit tab and the
Batch Controls tab. The Output section defines the format details. Each format has the same
settings here that we saw earlier in the Export Settings dialog. Folder is where we choose
the location for the exported files, And Filename has a variety of options for how the multiple
files will be named. For a simple export like ours here, it many not matter much, but when
you have a large batch of hundreds of images with multiple layers in each image, being
able to keep track of which variations are included in each exported image is very useful.
The resolution of the exported images can be taken from the canvas, or a different size
can be specified. You can even export multiple sizes if you
want, by creating additional Output listings. So perhaps you want to create a small JPEG
as a preview for your customer, and a full quality TIFF as well. No problem, just create
a second Output listing, using this plus icon, and enter settings you want to use for the
second copy. You can also double-click to rename each output, for easy reference.
Since our composites are made up of multiple images, if we want to include metadata we
need to select which image it will be copied from. Or, if you just want to enter your own
name and copyright info, you can do that too. In the Batch controls, we have two options:
content Variations, and Custom Export List. The Custom Export List will be discussed more
in a later tutorial, as I mentioned. Content Variations lists all image combinations available
for export. In our case, this is four images. We have two foreground variations, each of
which will get combined with the background, and then exported to two different formats.
So all that is left to do is click Export, and all of the images are exported.
And there you go. Now you know how to create projects, import your images, edit them, and
export your new creations. From here you can experiment more with the wide variety of effects
and tools in Imerge Pro, to create an endless variety of amazing images. So thank you very
much for watching, and we will be producing more tutorials for Imerge Pro in the near
future. So if there is anything specific you’d like to see covered, please let us know in
the comments. And until then, have fun with Imerge Pro.