Yes but you'll need to purchase it through a reseller. If you already own 4, it may be cheaper to simply upgrade.

Yep. I "stuck" the upgrade information up top (temporarily) so that it would remain on the main screen.

First of all, it's best to use a green screen (as that's the "4" component). Secondly, it is VERY important to use good lighting. You want an even amount of light over the backdrop. Vegas does a wonderful job of keying.

(Remember, you can also use the other color correcting tools to help get a better key when lighting is less than perfect.)

External preview is done via firewire. Connect your camera/deck/convertor via firewire and then connect the TV/monitor to the camera via RCA or S-Video. Make sure the proper settings are chosen in the camera to allow pass-thru and you will see the image on the external monitor.

(NOTE: your camera MUST support pass-thru for this to work. If it does not, you may look at something like the Canopus ADVC-100 convertor.)

DID The VASST Tour Date for NYC Change????
 

I thought it was June 7 and now I see it is June 9th. What is the truth?

Thanks,

KIM

Thanks Edward. Do I just plug the Canopus thing into firewire and then connect it to a tv and I am done? If so, that sounds like a no brainer.

Yes - GREEN is the right color. Photoflex Flexdrop2 or a westcott background seem to be good choices. You will want the talent far enough from the green backround that they don't cast shadows on it (consider 4 feet or more) and you don't want the green to spill onto the talent.

Light that background sperately from the talent. You can use flourescent lights to cover the backround - they are cheap and they wont heat up your room.

Also, make sure your camera has all the auto stuff turned off.

Try www.studica.com

Vegas 5 Capture
 

Hey Folks,
There is a procedure, and I can't remember what it's called. When you capture in AVID or FCP, you can capture at low res, edit your piece, then tell the programe to go recapture only the footage on the time line at high resolution. Do you know if Vegas 5 has this feature? What it's called? And how to work it?

Michael Estepp

Vegas 5 currently does not have this feature. You could capture at full rez, render at low rez, and then recapture at the end.

Yes.

The dates seem to be moving. The Atlanta date was 5/13 but now appears to be in June. I've asked Spot for some more information.

Kim: perhaps you'd better tell us first what camera you have
before you go and buy something else. We might be able to
tell if it should work with your camera or not.

Green is only the "right" color for the screen if you are shooting relatively dark foreground objects. If your subject has blond hair or lots of bright colors (whites/yellows) a bluescreen is the better backdrop.
More details here.

Most workarounds for DV video work by either bluring the Blue & Red channels prior to keying, or mixing Luma keying calculations with color difference keying. "Color Difference" keying is the most common technique for profressional compositing. This is not the same as the Chroma Keying calculation.

DvGarage has a product called DVMattePro that is simply the hands-down, best DV keyer anywhere, and it's only $200. Unfortunately, it's only available as a plugin for either AE or FCP.

Another company, CSB-Digital, puts out a product called Chromanator. I've never used this, but the existing users (mostly young, amateur movie makers) are downright fanatical about it. It's designed to be used as a stand alone application next to Premiere or Vegas, sells for under $100 and includes some of the most critical compositing calculations including a color difference keyer, garbage matting and spill suppression.

The ULTRA Key product really has nothing revolutionary in terms of the compositing calculation itself. It is good, but the keyer is no more advanced than what is in the two products above. What it DOES have that is above and beyond ANYTHING else is that it is bundled with automated, moving, virtual sets. These allow you to easliy place your subject into one of several preset environments and the ULTRA product automatically moves the subject in sync with the set as the camera "moves" along a pre-determined path. You can't really edit the sets or create your own (as far as I know) but if one of the sets fits your needs, it's basically a plug-'n-play operation.

I'm not a Vegas user, so I'm sorry that I can't address any questions specifically relates to keying in Vegas, but hopefully some of this information will be useful.
Have fun.

If I capture at high res and render at low, why would I need to recapture at high res