greenscreen materials(fabric, etc.) anyone?

greenscreen materials(fabric, etc.) anyone?-Cinematography and lighting

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Author	Topic: greenscreen materials(fabric, etc.) anyone?
fanjazzma	posted 01-05-2001 10:41 PM hey guys and gals! i was wondering if yu could tell me where to get and what kind of fabric they use for greenscreen? or is there a backdrop i could buy where they already cut out a big piece(anywhere cheap thanks a bunch
Wade	posted 01-05-2001 11:38 PM I found this at www.studiodepot.com http://www.homemole.com/cgi-bin/StudioDepot.storefront/342033232/Product/View/PP925 http://www.homemole.com/cgi-bin/StudioDepot.storefront/342033232/Product/View/PP975 http://www.homemole.com/cgi-bin/StudioDepot.storefront/342033232/Product/View/PP875 There are a few more...just do a search for 'chroma key fabric'. [This message has been edited by Wade (edited 01-05-2001).]
Sluggo	posted 01-06-2001 12:10 AM i wont take credit for this, but i cant remember who said it origionally, so i guess they wont get credit either. if your doing a closeup, use a piece of that bright green posterboard. it works very well, and its only a few cents per piece. ------------------ Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication--Leonardo da Vinci, used in an early Apple Computer ad
morpherguy	posted 01-06-2001 12:50 AM You can make an economical green screen out of polyester fabric that you can find at any fabric store. Choose a fabric that is not shiney so you don't have too many lighting problems. You can make a frame for it out of PVC tubing (underground sprinkler system pipe). You can buy a 10 foot piece of the stuff for around $1.00!! You can also buy elbow joints and Y adapters to connect the pieces together with. I built a 10 X 10 foot frame for about $7.00. The blue fabric cost about $30.00 (I made a blue screen instead of green). It works great!! The best part is that I can take it apart and store it in a closet..
Red Stranger	posted 01-06-2001 12:39 PM It doesn't matter, as long as nothing casts a shadow on the material. Whatever you use, it will work fine if you key it out correctly. I hope that I have helped you. ------------------ Never doubt the Red Stranger
Actor	posted 01-06-2001 03:24 PM Get a big roll of seamless paper from a good camera store. I think you can get it up to 12' wide by 50' long. Not cheap I'm afraid.
ADOM	posted 01-06-2001 09:46 PM I use green or blue material from Wal MArt Myself. It's important to make sure there are very few wrinkles in it, but it works well with the right lighting. For minatures or close up I use the bright green poster board as mentioned above. The nice think about the material, if you find it, is that the most keyable colors don't seem to sell well to the general public, so they're usually pretty inexpensive. ( I think both my green and Blue were $1.00 a yard). Getting them seemless to add area is the tricky part. You may have to paint a wall if you need a really big space. I'm still trying to convince my wife that this will look good in the "play"room.' ADOM
Jeff F	posted 01-06-2001 09:47 PM Modern digital editing software removes the need for proper chroma key colors, which were required for broadcast video equipment and live keying. Choose a vibrant color as different as possible from from the subject matter as possible - i.e. don't use red to key out people. At the local public access cable studio I used many moons ago, they had a chromakey blue curtain on the cyclorama but no chromakey generator in the control room! We had to use video black and pull out the black curtain to key things and had to watch out for shadows, which would turn trasparent if they were too dark. You whippersnappers are spoiled today. ------------------ Jeff F - Moderator Magic and FX Amazing the Masses
fanjazzma	posted 01-07-2001 12:44 AM cool guys! thanks for the tips!and yes we are spoiled,but it still takes some thinking, i guess. so, it doesn't really matter tooo much what kind of fabric you use? (sort of) i'm thinkin about buying a big piece of sheetrock and painting it green. what kind of paint would i need? can i get it at a home depot or something? thanx guys
DigiteyeZ	posted 01-07-2001 02:19 AM Sheetrock! novel idea, my friend! i wonder how paint would coat on it, probably would have to be real thick to cover evenly. i should try that sometime, though. it seems nice and stable, just be REALLY careful with it, if it cracks, you're screwed... oh, and they sell chroma-key paints (some apparently work better than others) but they're real expensive, like $25 bucks a gallon or something. If you can find the right color in normal paint, i would try that first... [This message has been edited by DigiteyeZ (edited 01-07-2001).]
cdolsen	posted 01-07-2001 02:46 PM search the net for 'chroma key fabric' and ask for a sample of it. take the sample, usually a 1" square, to the local paint store and have them match it. get it as a flat paint. light it evenly from the front and have a slight ring light on your actor (helps to delineate the actor's edge).
fanjazzma	posted 01-07-2001 10:47 PM hey cool! i didn't know they gave samples! uh, ehat do you mean by a ring light? or how exactly would you do it? thanks
Erik S	posted 01-08-2001 12:31 PM What he means is adding a rim light, backlight, kicker, etc, to your subject to seperate them from the background. It's a light or combination of lights that you place to hit your actor just enough to illuminate a "rim" around his head or shoulders or whatever. You usually place the lights so that they are 3/4 behind the actor (kicker) or directly behind (backlight)or maybe even from the side. It always varies. It's good for giving shape to a subject.
ADOM	posted 01-09-2001 12:25 AM The psot above is right that now you can key out most any color, just be sure the color is only present where you want to key. They sell a spray paint in auto parts stores called "Ford Blue". It's the color of the FOrd oval and should key out against skin tones pretty well. It's cheap too. ADOM PS No Blue jeans though.
Mr. Hutt	posted 01-09-2001 12:32 PM Neon green posterboard works incredibly well. It's so vibrant that you really don't need to put a lot of light on it. Just my 2 cents. ------------------ Andy Holmes -artist, animator [This message has been edited by Mr. Hutt (edited 01-09-2001).]
fanjazzma	posted 01-09-2001 04:07 PM Thanks a bunch everyone! does everyone think that green posterboard works great? i've heard a lot about it working good for a cheap price! anything else i should think about as i get materials for this? Thanx
Jeff F	posted 01-09-2001 04:23 PM True Neon colors have phosphorescent pigments so they store and throw off a bit of light. Thus they "glow" a little, so they appear to reflect more light than usual. You want as flat a finish as possible because shiny surfaces create reflections, which disturbs the evenly colored background you need. Unless you're keying just a window or a tight shot, you'll have a problem with seams if the posterboard isn't large enough to cover the entire background. Ideally, your entire background needs to be one large, seamless color as evenly lit as possible. If you decide to paint something, whatever material you use, I'd use a white primer first for adhesion & to get the color to pop as much as posssible. ------------------ Jeff F - Moderator Magic and FX Amazing the Masses
fanjazzma	posted 01-09-2001 05:05 PM good idea jeff f! that helps. do may people paint there background? as oppsed to a backdrop? or is it because of mobility?
Wade	posted 01-10-2001 08:15 AM I ordered the Rosco Ultimatte Blue from www.studiodepot.com and painted my garage wall. It seems to work OK, if I could get the lighting even. Those 500 watt halogen bulbs are hard to work with....
Sarge	posted 02-07-2001 05:34 PM A couple suggestions... tint your primer with a little of your cover coat. Makes the cover coat go farther. Youc local mega-builders store will be able to color match any color you throw at them, shake up a couple gallons of FLAT or MATTE paint, which you can them spray all over everything. BTW, I wouldn't recommend painting with a brush or roller. Finally, remember that you can paint THINGS with chroma color. So you can have your actors duck behind a rock on the moon, under a full earth, without a rock, the earth or the moon. Sarge
fanjazzma	posted 02-07-2001 08:03 PM hey guys and gals! I am having a hard time w/lighting!! is there any tips to make it easy as possible? or is there something that can evenly spread out the light? i was using one of those good sized halogen lights... My program (videowave 4.0) is sort of difficult when it comes to that. of course, b/c it's kinda cheap. and is blue better than green? thanks a bunch!!!
Mr. Hutt	posted 02-07-2001 11:16 PM What type of scene is it? Outdoor shots are easiest because the sun gives perfect, flat, even lighting. If you're indoors, see if you can find a place to set up that has flourescant (sp?) lights. That will give a fairly even, shadowless light. The only trouble is you'd need to light the actors seperately. (But you would in a normal setup anyways.) ------------------ Andy Holmes -artist, animator
barend	posted 02-21-2001 04:38 AM hi everyone My first post on this forum... Adding to the good stuff above. Although modern digital technology will let you key out any color you want, chromakeying is still a tricky process to get right. When you are shooting DV or DVCam or any of those compressed digital formats, you get tiny hardly visible artefacts that will really give problems even on a well lit green/blue/red screen. Considering the limited colordepth of DV, you will want the screen to be as GREEN or BLUE as it can be. This way you have more stuff to work with. Also if you're working with DV and have the choice, go for green. The DV format uses more data for the green channel than the blue channel, so this will give you a slight advantage. For the rest, approach as mentioned above, LIGHTING, LIGHTING, LIGHTING. And keep your objects away from the screen, as far as possible. HTH Barend ------------------ Or check my current projects at www.raamw3rk.net
Mr. Hutt	posted 02-21-2001 02:19 PM Here's a shot I did with my sister in front of a neon posterboard greenscreen: ------------------ Andy Holmes -artist, animator
morpherguy	posted 02-21-2001 03:00 PM I've used sheetrock to make screens and had some good results but the screen isn't very portable. I used a two step paint process. First I used a heavily pigmented blue primer then I painted over it with flat paint that had been pigmented the same color as the primer. The blue was very even and deep. I can't remember the brand of house paint but "they" are the ones that had the 2 step paint process.
potmonkey	posted 02-21-2001 04:47 PM I bought some green polyester (I think) material - although I'm still not convinced that paint would have been more expensive. you just have to make sure that it is stappled out Tight! (there are always plenty of folds you'll find).

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