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In this article, we’ll take a detailed, step by step look at the various methods to keying green screen footage in Adobe After Effects.
Of all the editing software, you’ll probably get the best key results in After Effects. There are several methods for working with After Effects green screen footage. Adobe recommends using a built-in preset with a combination of three effects. This method works great for beginners (and experts) because it produces quick (and usually great) results. We’ll walk you through how to do this step-by-step.
Of course, the process of keying in all depends on the quality of your green screen footage. If you’re looking for the best chroma key possible, check out our comprehensive guide to green screen for tips on building, lighting, and capturing green screen footage.
Step 1: Import Your Footage
Click on the New Composition From Footage to begin import.
After you launch After Effects, click New Composition From Footage and select your green screen footage.
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- Green screen or blue screen video shoots can be game changers for creating live-motion projects involving custom backgrounds or for compositing in special effects worthy of Hollywood. Shooting with a green screen involves filming a person or adding visual effects in front of a solid color.
Step 2: Apply the Keying Preset
To begin applying the Key Presets, you’ll need to open Effects & Presets.
First, you need to open the Effects & Presets panel. Navigate to Window and select Effects & Presets to open the panel.
Using Green Screen In After Effects
Select Keylight + Key Cleaner + Advanced Spill Suppressor to drag and drop onto your footage.
Learn how to do Green Screen Removal like A Pro in After Effects.We'll go over keying & a bunch of other tips & tricks that will improve your work!#filmmakin.
Open the Animation Presets dropdown listed at the top. Toggle open the Presets folder, and then toggle open Image – Utilities. There, you’ll see a preset named Keylight + Key Cleaner + Advanced Spill Suppressor. Drag and drop this preset onto your footage.
As mentioned, this preset contains three separate effects that work together to get you the best possible green screen key. In order, the three effects are:
- Keylight: A chroma keyer that allows you to select the color of your background and make it transparent.
- Key Cleaner: An effect that cleans up the edges of your subject and ensures they are sharp.
- Advanced Spill Suppressor: This effect removes color spill from the background that might appear on your subject.
Step 3: Start with the Keylight Effect
Let’s start with the Keylight effect, which we’ll use the select the green screen background. For Screen Color, select the Color Picker and click on an area of the green screen close to your subject.
Pro tip: Hold CTRL while you click the green screen color to sample even more pixels. This will give you a better color average.
Next, change the View setting to Screen Matte. This shows a black, white, and grey matte view of your footage.
Now, toggle open the Screen Matte settings.
Adjust the Screen Matte settings Clip Black and Clip White until the background is completely black and the subject is completely white. You can also adjust settings such as Screen Shrink/Grow or Screen Softness, if needed.
Now, change the View setting back to Intermediate Result. This is important because if the view accidentally gets set to Final Result, artifacts will occur on your keyed footage.
You can now toggle the Transparency Grid to see that the background has been completely removed. You can also playback your footage now to see if there’s any unwanted noise on the image. If there is, continue to adjust the Screen Matte settings.
Step 4: Key Cleaner Effect
Unbeknownst to you, the Key Cleaner effect has already been working on your footage from the time you applied the preset. It basically works in conjunction with the Keylight effect, ensuring that the edges of everything are clean. At this point you might not need to adjust any settings with it, if everything already looks good.
Lowering the value of the Additional Edge Radius and enabling Reduce Chatter allows for better results.
Green Screen Effects online, free
Depending on your footage, there are two settings with Key Cleaner you may want to adjust. I found that lowering the value of the Additional Edge Radius yielded better looking results on my footage. I also recommend enabling Reduce Chatter, to reduce visible noise along the edges.
Finally, if needed, you can increase the Alpha Contrast. This will sharpen up the edges of your subject if they look too soft. Be careful with this setting, though. If you increase it too far, the edges can look overly sharp and pixelated.
Step 5: Advanced Spill Suppressor
At this point, your footage should have a clean key with the background removed. However, you may still notice some green color spill on your subject. This may show up on parts of their skin or clothing, or as a thin, green line around the edges of the subject. (Note, a blue screen will have blue color spill.)
You can see evidence of green color spill here, on the subject’s hair.
Enable the Advanced Spill Suppressor to remove color spill.
To remove this color spill, we simply need to enable the Advanced Spill Suppressor effect, which is off by default. To enable it, click in the empty box next to the effect name.
Here’s a close up of the hair after Advanced Spill Suppressor has been enabled. Notice the green edging and spill on the hair has been removed.
Here’s the subject’s hair with the Advanced Spill Suppressor enabled.
Advanced Spill Suppressor should automatically detect what color you want removed, and it usually has great results. However, if you get something unexpected, you may have to manually set the color. To do this, change the Method setting to Ultra. You’ll then see more options where you can set your Key Color and make other fine-tune adjustments.
Changing the Method setting to Ultra allows you to set your Key Color and fine-tune adjustments.
And that’s it! You should be left with a clean chroma key.
Step 6: Add a Background
To add a background image or video to your clip, simply drag and drop it below your green screen footage in your composition.
Extra Green Screen Tips
If your green screen doesn’t cover the entire background, you may need to use the Pen Tool to create a Mask around your subject. You can do this before or after you apply the keying preset. Select the Pen Tool icon in the top left tool bar.
Then, select your green screen footage and click to draw a mask around your subject. Close the mask by clicking back on the first mask point created.
If you’d also like to see a video tutorial using this green screen preset, check out the video below.
Learn more about green screen and must-have After Effects skills in these articles:
Motion graphics, VFX, VJ Loops, almost any video content can use Green Screen content. There are times when basic tools in After Effects do the job. But at other times you may need a more professional/powerful plugin. We are going to cover the best green screen plugins for After Effects. You can find a range of high-quality green screen footage at GreenScreenStock.com
Most video editing programs offer chroma or luma key effects for green screen. After Effects provides a keying effect that leads to more accurate keying. Compared to other programs in the market.
What is Green Screen (Keying)?
Ever wanted to use a person with a dynamic backdrop? Or put an animal on your video without the background? That’s where you use Green Screen footage. Color keying allows you to single out elements from your video. Giving you an alpha background that then allows you to add other effects/backgrounds. When you apply the keying filter and select a color usually green or blue. The program removes that color from the video, leaving you with an alpha background. Green Screen can be a very powerful way to add an object to your scene. Create stunning graphics around an object. High-quality green screen footage can lift up your video projects.
Here are the best Green Screen plugins for After Effects.
1. VFX Primatte Keyer (Red Giant)
Be it Green Screen or Blue Screen, Primatte Keyer’s Auto Compute Algorithm can often pull a perfect key automatically. The new user interface makes it easy to select your background and foreground. Making it super easy to key out perfectly. GPU optimized keyer gives you up to 3x faster render previews. VFX Primatte Keyer is one of the best green screen plugins for After Effects.
2. Chroma Key Pro (NewBlueFX)
Quickly key out your green or blue screens with a variety of presets or fine-tune your color keying with full controls. Add depth to your keyed out object/subject by adding drop shadows. You can make your subject glow or create outlines around them. A simple and effect chroma key tool for After Effects.
3. EFX Keying Alpha Plugin (ToolFarm)
This plugin is FREE to download and use. You get 3 free keying and alpha matte plugins for After Effects. EFX Alpha Select lets you select pixels based on their opacity value. EFX Despill is a despill filter that you can tell which pixel to despill and which to leave out. EFX Luma Select lets you select pixels based on their luminosity.
This handy free plugin can come in use when editing those tricky green screen footage.
4. After Keying (AEScripts)
An essential plugin to have in your toolset. After Keying can help you restore lost hair with Refine Details feature. You can also integrate any object to your scene by adding an Atmosphere in one click.
5. Hawaiki Keyer 3 (FX Factory)
Hawaiki Keyer is one of the most robust keying plugin for After Effects. A full suite keying system for green and blue screens. Featuring an innovative keying algorithm. A unique diagnostic toolset and unrivaled composting options. Designed to help you get the perfect key with minimum guesswork.
Summary
Usually, you won’t need a third party chroma key plugin. Native Adobe After Effects keying tool should be able to do the job. When using high-quality green screen footage, it’s easy to key out the background. But there are times when you need a more powerful tool. That’s when you can explore one of these amazing green screen plugins for After Effects.