Chroma keying with a Pre-recorded AVI video Background

Stop MotionMaker Advance can also use an AVI Video as the chromakey backgroud which can automatically snychronise (increment) to the frames as they are taken.

The below tutorial will run through the basic requirements and procedures.

A Logitec 4000 webcam is used in the production of this tutorial.

As with any chromakey project, proceed as follows:

Open Application (Stop MotionMaker Advance)

Start a new Project - select ‘New’.

Set Frame rate and take one frame for system reference (this can be easily removed later when it is not required).

See screen capture below:

Open Background Chromakey Viewer - select ‘B/Chromakey’.

See screen capture below

Select either  the ‘Green Screen’ or ‘Blue Screen’ checkbox in the Chromakey (Background) Viewer.

Adjust ‘Colour Range’ in the Chromakey (Background) Viewer to remove all green or blue.

See screen capture below:A

Open AVI video.

As the first frames of the selected example video are black, then black is shown chromakeyed around the figure. (see screen capture below).

Adjust video slider so we are one frame before the starting frame.

Select ‘Update Video’ to load the current image into the system.

Note. Even if an image is shown, still select ‘Update Video’ to synchronise to the correct frame.

Adjust the chromakey settings as explained in the chromakey with a video camera tutorial.

Select the check box ‘Sync to Capture’ in the Chromakey (Background) Viewer which will automatically increment the video frame when the image is captured.  This does not have to be used, but simplifies the process of matching the moving video to the live captures.

Take a shot.

The image will be captured and shown as a thumb nail image. 

The video frame will automatically increment ready for the next shot .

To gauge the movement for the next shot, select either ‘Onion Skin’ or Loop Last.  Onion Skin shows the last frame overlayed on the current live frame. Where Loop Last toggles between the last frame and the live frame, which is often better for gauging small movements.  These functions do not have to be turned off to take a frame.

Take another frame and note the video frame also increments to ensure synchronisation.

Once completed, make a movie of the frames with either ‘Movie’ when a video camera is connected or ‘Bmp to AVI’ when it is not.

Both of these controls are in the main window.