– In the Keylight properties window, View: Combined Matte is a good way to view your keylight during editing. drag this layer underneath your footage and you will see that there are artifacts left over from the shadows on your green screen: – Go to Layer > New> Solid and make it a bright red or pink. Now much of the green screen will be removed. On the effects properties panel click the little colour dropper, then choose a midtone green from the greenscreen. – With your video layer selected, choose the Effects > Keying > Keylight 1.2. For older versions of after effects, use Effects > Keying > Hue and Saturation to boost the greens. Choose cyan and yellow and take them up to 100, and magenta down to 0, to boost your greens and eliminate a lot of the shadows. In Effects and Presets, choose selective colour. click on your video layer, then click the pen tool, then draw a selection around your object, but still inside the border of the green screen. The first step is to mask out all the non essential parts. Make a new composition at the same size and frame rate as your source video, then drag in your footage.

For this example we are just practicing techniques, but for a real shot you need to angle and light each piece of footage correctly so they blend together correctly. Know in advance what your shot should look like and film each element accordingly. Use keylights on people to match the lighting with their intended background, and use backlights on the green screen itself to eliminate any shadows which might interfere with the keying.

Shadows appear as a slightly darker hue and therefore do not get removed. – Keying works by removing a particular hue from a piece of footage and making it transparent. – Stretch your green screen and hold it in place with duct tape to help Eliminate any wrinkles, which can cause shadowing, making the keying process more difficult. You have a bigger range of motion when your screen is larger. When using green screen techniques, we film actors in front of a large green cloth screen then use a technique called keying to remove the green portions of the image. A more recent one with newer information is available here:

Keylight 1.2 effects