Remove background color (Green Screen or Chroma Key)

Remove background color (Green Screen or Chroma Key)

You can easily remove the background color of your screencasts, webcam video recordings, and image overlays using our green screen feature. This feature is available from the Customize page, which is accessed from the screen recorder.

In addition to webcam recordings, you can use the greenscreen effect on imported video and image content, as well as the previous recordings created using our app.

Open the Customize page by completing these steps:
1. Open the recorder.
2. Select Camera or Both.


3. In the upper right corner of you webcam preview window, click the Webcam Options button (  ).



This opens the Customize page:



4. Use the following controls to set up your recording using your green screen:



I have a green screen - If this is selected, then the background color is removed (the green screen effect is on).  Your selection applies to the entire length of your recording.

Color - Use the dropper icon to select the color that you would like to remove.  The application will look for this color, remove it, and replace it with transparency.

Tolerance - Use this slider to increase or reduce the effect based on the similarity of colors to the one you chose with the color dropper.  For instance, increasing the Tolerance slider will create more transparency, as the application removes additional shades of the selected color.

Recorder Setup

To get the best effect while removing the background color from a webcam recording, we recommend the following:

  • Consider using a high quality webcam.  A crisper video capture will lead to a cleaner removal of the background color.
  • Acquire a physical green screen.  Build or purchase a background that will fill the area that is being captured by your webcam.  Since the green screen effect optimizes for the color green, you will often get the best effect from green.  You may also see good effects from bright versions of colors like blue or purple.
  • A good lighting setup will help keep the background color uniform.  We have found that a well-lit room from indirect sunlight on a sunny day also works well.  The goal here is to keep shadows to a minimum.
  • Wear clothes in colors dissimilar to the background color (unless you are trying to remove your body as well).  For example, don't wear a green tie or earrings if you are removing a green background color, as they will most likely disappear!

An example of the green screen effect applied to an image can be seen below.  The green screen background is present on the left image and when the effect is applied, the background color is removed and replaced with transparency, displayed here as grey and white squares.   





 

Start your Recording

Once you have the green screen activated, click OK to close the Customize page.

You can now begin your recording with green screen enabled by clicking Rec on the recorder.

Note: While the webcam preview screen shows the green screen effect in realtime, it will not show during the time that you are recording your presentation. 

Video Editing with Green Screen

Our video editor allows you to add, modify, and remove the green screen effect from screen recordings or imported videos and images. This can be useful when you need to import a video or image that requires color removal, to apply green screen to any previous recordings, and can be used to adjust settings to get the optimum color removal effect with your background and final video.  

How to Add, Adjust, or Remove the Green Screen Effect in the Video Editor

Within the editor, click on the video recording or image that you would like to modify.  In the case below, the webcam recording with the green screen effect applied has been selected. 



Next, click Options on the Main Video dialog that is displayed to the right. This opens the Customize page within the Video Editor.

Select the check box for I have a green screen.  The application guesses which color to remove, based on your background, as seen here:



Manually select the filter color (Chroma Key) and adjust the Tolerance slider

Sometimes your background will include uneven lighting or variations in color, which results in the filter being unable to successfully detect the color to remove from your background.  We provide some simple tools to help make adjusts and get the best results, based on your image or video.  With the I have a green screen selected, you can click the eye dropper icon () to select different colors from your background.  With the eye dropper activated, click within the area of the image or video whose color you are removing.  

Once you have selected a color, the color next to the eye dropper will update with the selection. 

You may change the selected color again by clicking on the eye dropper and repeating the selection process and achieve the best effect.

After selecting the color to be removed, move the Tolerance slider to the right (to increase transparency) or to the left (to decrease transparency).  By modifying the tolerance slider, you should be able to find a "sweet spot" for maximum removal of the chosen color.


Finishing Up

When you are finished, click OK to save your changes and return to the Video Editor.



For creative ways you can use green screen in your videos, please see this article.


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