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Hands-on Keying and Rotoscoping with After Effects CS5 – Jeff Foster

Build your compositing toolkit. Learn best practices for creating good greenscreen composites and creating masks and mattes with After Effects CS5. Using Keylight, you can composite complex scenes with both foreground and background elements. Plus, get tips on how to work with problem footage and how to extract a clean roto-matte using the new Roto Brush tool.

Monday, October, 25th, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm [SOLD OUT]
Tuesday, October, 26th, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm * seats now available!
Wednesday, October, 27th, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm [SOLD OUT]

We will also be raffling off a copy of “The Green Screen Handbook” at the end of each session!

Hope to see you at MAX!
Jeff

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Michael Ray Dresser for his online radio program “Dresser After Dark” to discuss my book, “The Green Screen Handbook”. Mr. Dresser is known to interview experts and authors over a range of topics and took interest in my book for the technology.

The interview airs tonight at 7:00pm PDT on BlogRadio at his site Dresser After Dark, along with several other authors and topical experts.

You can also hear my interview directly here: Jeff_Foster-Dresser-Radio_8-4-10.mp3

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If you’ve never listened to this live streaming weekly show, be sure to check out the schedule from their web site here. Every Thursday night, Larry and Mike have a fantastic lineup of industry pros, leaders and educators to give you inspiration and knowledge. Highly recommended if you’re a student or a seasoned pro!

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In addition to my other conference sessions this year, I’m presenting a LIVE Green Screen shoot at my 1/2 day session for the NAB Post-Production Conference. Equipment and gear supplied for the shoot includes Panasonic, Kino Flo, Bogen, Reflecmedia, Ultimatte, Composite Components, iStockphoto, ScopeBox and many more.

*UPDATE: Ultimatte is providing an Ultimatte DV box so I’ll be showing some Live hardware compositing at this session as well as a guest appearance from Ultimatte President and Co-Founder, Paul Vlahos!

I’ll be sharing some lighting techniques, tips & tricks (including how to make your own portable low-voltage cool lights cheap!) plus materials and techniques not commonly known. Plus I’ll show you the importance of using a scope when setting up your shots to get the optimum quality footage for your green screen extraction software.

I’ll show you how to plan ahead for scenes and virtual sets and adjust your lighting accordingly. We’ll also look at some examples of productions from the past to the present and how compositing technology has changed over the years.

I’ll also be selling/signing my book “The Green Screen Handbook” immediately after the session. Make sure you stick around as I’ll be raffling-off a FREE COPY too!

I hope you can join us for this exciting event – as well as my other sessions at NAB this year!

NAB 2010 Post-Production Speaking Schedule at-a-glance:

• In Depth: Greenscreen/Bluescreen Lighting, Shooting and Post Production
Tuesday, 04/13/2010 10:00am – 1:00pm
Room N254
Link to Online Session Description

• Animating with Photoshop
Tuesday, 04/13/2010 3:30pm – 4:45pm
Room N258
Link to Online Session Description

• Stereo 3D Animation with Photoshop & After Effects
Wednesday, 04/14/2010 3:30pm – 4:45pm
Room N257
Link to Online Session Description

• Motion Tracking with Mocha and After Effects
Wednesday, 04/14/2010 5:00pm – 6:15pm
Room N257
Link to Online Session Description

[gigpress_shows]

“The Green Screen Handbook” (Sybex/Wiley, pub) is finally shipping from the warehouse and hitting the bookshelves. *Note that we are NOW accepting online orders from the PixelPainter Online Store at a 30% discount off retail!

A sneak preview of the book was presented in a live Users Conference session I gave at Macworld 2010 in San Francisco in Feb, 2010. A live green screen shoot is scheduled for the Post-Production Conference at NAB 2010 in April, where I will be sharing some of the material and techniques from the book.

Product Description

Make movies and videos with green screen composting technology with The Green Screen Handbook: Real-World Production Techniques. This unique guide is a comprehensive how-to of professional production techniques, step-by-step instruction, and tips that can save you time and money. Learn when to use green screens instead of blue, find out how the pros operate in professional studios, and get amazing results—even on a shoestring budget.

Topics include matting and keying basics; setups using fabric, portable background panels, or paint; lighting and digital camera essentials; broadcast TV hardware switchers; professional HD and major motion picture compositing; multiple-colored screen composites (background, foregrounds, and objects); directing storyboards and talent; working with virtual sets; motion tracking; and much more.

• See how to plan, set up, and execute your shots to reduce fixes in post
• Choose the right keying process for your project
• Master basic shooting setups and live broadcast keying
• Understand proper lighting and how to match subjects to the background
• Create a working storyboard and learn how to select and direct talent
• Composite your footage and fix problem shots
• Work creatively with virtual sets, motion tracking, and match moving
• Master techniques that apply to all compositing software and plug-ins

The DVD includes sample footage and all project files to accompany the chapters in the book.

(click on book cover thumbnails to see larger images)

Order your signed copy NOW from the Online Store and Save 30% Off Retail!

**UPDATE: Check out THIS NEW PAGE for more info about the book and to see the new 1-minute promo video!

This video segment is from “Learning After Effects CS4″ and shows you the difference between simple “chroma keying” and a real matte extraction/creation tool. Keylight is a plug-in that ships with After Effects CS4 and is an industry standard for compositing/VFX work done with After Effects. The example shown can be found in its entirety along with all the source footage and project files so you can follow along with the DVD.

Click the image below to view the video hosted on Adobe TV:

Check out the other Adobe TV videos from these DVD titles by clicking here and be sure to check out the DVDs in our online store and save 50%!

I’ve been busy wrapping up the final production on my latest book, The Green Screen Handbook (Wiley, pub.) – due out in Feb, ’10 – just in time for speaking at Macworld!

In the mean time, have a look around and be sure to check out the new PixelPainter Online Store! Just click the links at the top of the page and it will take you there… discounts on training DVDs, books, branded merchandise and coming soon – more downloadable training, tutorials, applications, content and much, much more!

Photoshop CS4 Video & Animation covers a lot of material that can all be done INSIDE Photoshop CS4 Extended. Techniques covered range from basic video editing and animation techniques, to rotoscoping, frame animation, video clean-up/retouching, masking, smart filters & FX, green screen compositing, 3D modeling and animation, and my favorite: 3D stereoscopic FX! (3D Glasses included in disk) – also includes all sample projects and source footage/image files on the DVD.

Sample movies will soon be up on the PhotoshopCAFE channel on Adobe TV.

Don’t forget the best companion DVD to this title is also at PhotoshopCAFE.com!

Learning After Effects CS4 is available by clicking the image above or in the “Published” panel to your right.

Some of the 3D stereoscopic materials I’ve been sharing with you in the recent weeks are included on these DVDs. Look for more info and samples to follow here in my Blog after NAB!

Cheers!
Jeff

“Learning After Effects CS4″ and “Photoshop CS4 Video & Animation”

Here’s my current session schedule:

4/20 Mon 3:30-4:45pm [N254] – Character Animation from Photoshop Layers with After Effects

4/20 Mon 5:00-6:15pm [N254] – 3D Stereoscopic Motion Graphics in After Effects CS4

4/21 Tues 2:00-3:15pm [N254] – Motion Tracking & Stabilization with After Effects CS4 & Mocha for AE

4/21 Tues 3:30-4:45pm [N264] – Green Screen Keying and Mattes in After Effects CS4

4/22 Wed 10am-1:00pm [N260] – Boot Camp: Photoshop for Video & Animation

4/22 Wed 3:30-4:45pm [N264] – Creative Titles with CS4 Production Premium

If you can’t make it to my sessions at NAB this year, then please check back here and I will be posting more info about articles and reviews that are upcoming, as well as more about my DVDs and other training seminars, workshops and conferences that I’ll be appearing.

Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of the projects I’ll be teaching this year… the first is from the Motion Tracking with Mocha & After Effects CS4 session (before & after)…

Motion Tracking – After Effects CS4 with Mocha from Jeff Foster on Vimeo.

This next sample is from the 3D Stereoscopic in After Effects CS4 session, which was really just a simple conversion of an existing single camera 3D animation, so it wasn’t originally designed to be a Stereo 3D animation (3D glasses will be provided at the session, but you can get yours for Free – info below)…

3D Stereo Convertion – After Effects CS4 from Jeff Foster on Vimeo.

Don’t have Red/Cyan 3D Glasses? Get ‘em here FREE!
Send me a self addressed stamped envelope (letter sized) and I will send you a pair!
(one pair per request)

Jeff Foster
PO Box 187
Ojai, CA 93024

I first needed to line-up the green screen footage layer with the background layers used in this composite, so I set a guide on the edge of the door and moved/rotated the green screen footage to line up the edge of the blue panel with the guide. I then create a large feathered mask around the live action portion of the screen footage as a “garbage matte”.

I then use the Keylight keyer filter on the green background and fine-tune the settings to get the best possible key of the Santa character. (Oooh… he looks a little pissed here, doesn’t he?)

Next I use the Keylight filter on the blue foreground panel and adjust to accommodate for the shadows from his hands, so the door shows through.

Lastly, I use the Levels filter to adjust the color of the keyed character to attain the best color and lighting for the composited scene.

You can see the before/after video of this process in the movie link below:
NOTE: YouTube screws up the first few seconds by over-compressing the video, but it clears up – just let it keep running!

To see this tutorial in step-by-step detail, you can get my new training DVD here: “Learning After Effects CS4″ from PhotoshopCAFE.com