Green Screen Software?

[Poker_Babe]

Can anyone recommend a good one? Preferably a free one? I have some ideas for some youtube videos I want to make, but it requires the use of this software. The only experience I have is with using manycam, but I'd like to use a program with more features.
Anyone????????

 

[BiancaBaker]

Can anyone recommend a good one? Preferably a free one? I have some ideas for some youtube videos I want to make, but it requires the use of this software. The only experience I have is with using manycam, but I'd like to use a program with more features.
Anyone????????

its not free but if you PM me I can give you the link and instructions on how to get After Effects. After Effects is what they use in movies and stuff. You can literally do the most amazing things with it. It comes for PC and MAC, I have the MAC version but can find you the PC one if your interested.

 

[Sevrin]

Here's a quick tutorial on using Open Broadcaster (free) with a green screen. OB is used by a lot of Twitch streamers.

 

[VallieBeuys]

*snip*
After Effects. After Effects is what they use in movies and stuff. You can literally do the most amazing things with it. It comes for PC and MAC, I have the MAC version but can find you the PC one if your interested.

Seconding what Bianca said! After Effects is the way to go. Get yourself a copy of After Effects and get familiar with the keying options. I prefer the Color Range option when keying chroma colors out. You can select each shade of green to remove it so you can get very precise. And you can fiddle with the settings to get just the right amount keyed out.

General green screen tips: When you shoot with your screen try to light it as evenly as possible (easier said than done) that will make keying it out much easier and smoothing. Also try to stand several feet away from the screen while filming to avoid the green bouncing back onto your skin. If your parts of your skin are green from light bouncing of the green screen behind you they will start to key out and you'll look like you're full of of holes.

 

[zippypinhead]

If you're not into pirating expensive software, and a free program like Open Broadcaster isn't doing it for you, you could always rent access to programs like After Effects through the Adobe Creative Cloud service on a monthly basis. The Creative Cloud is actually how Adobe presents its programming after CS6. Not wild about such extreme DRM, but I suppose it has its advantages, like being able to legally use the software without having to pay hundreds of dollars up front.

Here's the pricing plan.

 

[ramblin]

If you're not into pirating expensive software, and a free program like Open Broadcaster isn't doing it for you, you could always rent access to programs like After Effects through the Adobe Creative Cloud service on a monthly basis. The Creative Cloud is actually how Adobe presents its programming after CS6. Not wild about such extreme DRM, but I suppose it has its advantages, like being able to legally use the software without having to pay hundreds of dollars up front.

Here's the pricing plan.

If you're a student, you can get not only After Effects, but also Premiere, Photoshop, and a whole lot more for $19.99/mo. You are required to commit to a year, so that's about $240. Eligibility requirements.

If you're not a student, or the educator of a student, you can get a single month of just After Effects for $29.99//mo with no obligation, or $19.99/mo with a one year contract. The whole suite is $74.99/mo or $49.99/mo with the contract.

Detailed pricing in the link above. For the student discounts, just click the Students and Teachers tab.

 

[NaNatasha]

You can download a free trial of Adobe Creative Cloud, which gives you access to the entire suite for 30 days (I think). It's a short term free solution, but you might find that the software's worth a small monthly fee moving forward.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

There's also many free, or at least cheap one time payment, options out there as well. Almost everything in Adobe Creative Suite can be done with alternatives.

Krita is the only one i'll comment on. If you ignore everything else, do yourself a favor and try Krita. Photoshop isn't as good as this. If you're into making your own artwork, Krita.

Photoshop - Krita (Win, Mac unstable but works with OSX10.9, Linux), GIMP (Win), Pixelmator (Mac - $30)
https://krita.org/
http://www.gimp.org/
http://www.pixelmator.com/mac/

InDesign - Scribus (Win, Mac, Linux)
http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus

Illustrator - Inkscape (Win, Mac, Linux), Affinity Designer (Mac - $50)
https://inkscape.org/en/
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/

Premiere - DaVinci Resolve (Win, Mac, Linux)
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

Dreamweaver - Microsoft Expression Web 4 (Win), Aptana Studio 3 (Win, Mac, Linux)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36179
http://www.aptana.com/

After Effects - Wax (Win), Blender (Win, Mac, Linux)
http://www.debugmode.com/wax/
http://www.blender.org/


For the more tech involved people there's other options too.

If you are comfortable with Linux you have a very easy option to get all the functionality of Adobe Creative Suite.
Just install Ubuntu Studio and you're done.
https://ubuntustudio.org/
This site does a better job of explaining what all is in Ubuntustudio.
http://www.creativebloq.com/productivity/free-alternative-adobes-creative-cloud-21514120

And if you don't have a separate computer (or 2nd hard drive) you could always install it to a USB stick, SD card, or CD and run the entire OS off that without making any changes to your main computer. Simply restart your computer and tell it to boot from that device. When you're done, restart normally.

But seriously, Krita!

 

[Red7227]

Have a chat to Kickaz as well. She is using it on-cam which is rather neat.

 

[zippypinhead]

Have a chat to Kickaz as well. She is using it on-cam which is rather neat.

I had the exact same thought when I scrolled past her room today.

 

[AllieAngelx]

Here's a quick tutorial on using Open Broadcaster (free) with a green screen. OB is used by a lot of Twitch streamers.

This helped me sooooo much! omg thank you!
I finally got all the setting almost just right but, how do I get what's showing up on the OBS to show up on MFC?

 

[KayleePond]

This helped me sooooo much! omg thank you!
I finally got all the setting almost just right but, how do I get what's showing up on the OBS to show up on MFC?

I couldn't figure this out (I hope there's a way to do this) however as a sort of "emergency" method, I used ManyCam and put a custom desktop over the preview in OBS! It worked quite well, actually! I know there's a better way, but I was glad to figure out some way to get it all to work on MFC!

I also wanted to note that someone posted a pretty good OBS greens screen tutorial above, but the person who made it updated with a new tutorial because there is a crucial element that can be MUCH improved! Basically, instead of using a color picker on the screen to choose the green, double click the box with the color in it and select the third green down (super bright). It works PERFECTLY and so much better than color picking! Using this method, I didn't even need to iron my green screen and it came out awesome.

 

[AerynShade]

Not a software question, but one about the actual green screen. How big of a sheet do you use? What size would you recommend someone get? I'll be using it for all sorts of strange and wonderful clips and potentially live streaming cam as well.