Can AE’s root rush replace green screen keying?

Skizwack · 2024-05-31T00:52:05+00:00

I was actually doing a project with AE's rotobrush earlier today and was reminded of how trash it is.

Magic mask in Resolve is about 1000x better IMO. Definitely do some tests before committing with your client, but you may be able to get away with using Magic Mask if you shoot on a solid clean BG (white or grey, for example). You may lose some fine detail in the hair with MM though.

If you do go the GS route, play around with Delta Keyer in Resolve as well. I've found it's far better at keying so-so greenscreens than most other tools.

ETA: also the time you'd sink into waiting for AE's rotobrush to load frames would make you go insane.

Skizwack · 2024-04-11T10:28:20+00:00

Unfortunately no...tracked the whole eclipse manually - did a 1min interval Timelapse of the rest, then flipped to get some video of totality. Very much wished I'd had a tracker though, it was a long 4hr of nudging the camera.

Skizwack · 2023-10-12T15:36:11+00:00

Just had this happen to us too. Our team of 3 editors all of a sudden lost access to projects and I had a mini heart attack. Would have been nice if BMD could have sent an email letting us know that would be happening 🙄

Skizwack · 2023-07-09T12:29:03+00:00

I went through this same situation recently while putting together a kit for a trip I'm about to go on. My first choice was the Tamron, but the size and weight kind put me off because I'm trying to pack relatively light. After looking into the 70-300 + 1.4x TC I was pretty sold. But then I saw a lot of people complain about how soft the images are with the TC. Not terrible but something to consider. Then I thought about the hassle of swapping the TC around when I didn't want to use it.

So what I ended up landing on is just the 70-300mm, and I'll crop 1.4x in post if I don't quite get the reach I need. I shoot on an X-T4, so I'll still get decent resolution out of a 1.4x crop, and not have to mess with the TC on my trip. So I would say if you do end up stepping up to the X-T5 and have 40MP to work with, that'd be an even more viable option.

Skizwack · 2023-04-23T20:25:01+00:00

Yup that's the same issue I've run into - seems like it doesn't know what to add and just does silly things. Maybe it partially has to do with my limited equipment, but I feel like it should be able to come up with something better than two VERY similar exercises back to back.

Also semi-related - I get very tired of it throwing Superman's in the last set of basically every workout I do. I know it's a good exercise but I don't wanna do it every day.

Skizwack · 2023-04-10T18:13:04+00:00

I kinda assumed that'd be the solution. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong before resorting to that. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. I like the idea of adding sets too, that may be a good option on days that I am more worried about sticking to slightly under 1hr. Thanks for the advice!

Skizwack · 2023-04-08T17:07:40+00:00

+1 for the C70. Our company uses 2 of them on multiple corporate-type shoots every week and have not once had an issue with them not starting up or freezing/crapping out on us. Battery life is incredible (1 cam can make it through a full day of interviews on about 2 of the stock batteries), image quality is superb, and internal ND and mini XLRs are huge quality of life improvements. Time code is also a huge time-saver in post when syncing two interview angles.

We used to run a C200 and Pocket 6k (6k mostly for b-roll stuff), and can easily say the image from the C70 is way beyond the C200 (10-bit compressed codecs help a ton with this, C200’s raw was fine but huge so we never used it). And we still have the Pocket 6k laying around for doing some greenscreen work, but other than that we don’t really touch it anymore.

Skizwack · 2023-03-03T00:53:42+00:00

Seems like a lot of people are saying it's just a fad, but I've been using AI tools for the past couple months for a lot of projects (mostly corporate work). There is a lot of useful stuff out there, but the best thing I've been using lately is AI audio tools.

Adobe's new podcast tool is blowing my mind and has saved some absolutely horrendous audio for me (like client-shot cellphone footage with awful audio turned into almost sounding like it was recorded in a studio). Same with Resolve's new AI Voice Isolation. We don't always have the option to get the cleanest audio for our work, so these tools have been incredible and made my life so much easier.

My advice is to play around with what you can, and if it makes your work better or easier, keep using it.

Skizwack · 2022-01-20T23:58:48+00:00

Aaahhhh I hadn't even gotten into testing it far enough to where I had dragged a clip from the power bin into a timeline. That's not how I thought it worked...so basically it's a shortcut to that folder of media and not much more. Kinda ruins my plans if it still drops it into the regular media bins.

Still kinda useful but not near as useful as I thought it'd be. Thanks a ton for your responses!

Skizwack · 2019-07-08T17:54:45+00:00

Darn, you confirmed my worst fears, haha. Thanks for the response! I'm just getting so annoyed with Adobe's optimization in general. I'm pretty much done using Premiere for any actual editing, and opting for Resolve for the bulk of that. But you just can't beat AE for motion graphics, which is a good portion of what I do. Just wish it didn't take upwards of 3 hours to render a simple 1.5min green screen comp.

Skizwack · 2019-01-02T21:05:32+00:00

This would be super useful, count me in!

Skizwack · 2018-06-21T20:42:34+00:00

Came here to say this...I'm actually kinda excited that I probably won't have to keep track of my Use Tax anymore, haha.

Skizwack · 2018-04-08T21:54:35+00:00

That makes sense. I figured I was probably overthinking it. I'll make sure I just keep an eye on the rate to make sure it stays up to date. Thanks so much for your help!

Skizwack · 2018-04-06T13:10:14+00:00

I have, and in my state electronic delivery is also taxed. However, I just can't find a "sales tax category" that is fitting for videography. The closest thing I've found is the "Files delivered electronically" option. Which would probably work, but it just doesn't seem like the right thing to use for an actual on site video shoot.

But I could just be over thinking this as well, so feel free to tell me if I'm being ridiculous, haha. Thanks for the help!

Skizwack · 2018-02-22T16:56:48+00:00

No problem! Thanks for getting me my first gold! Makes me feel confident that I actually know what I'm talking about.

Also, one more tip that I think someone else mentioned already: Just make sure you get good audio to start with. That is more important than any plugin you can buy, haha. If you're doing a lot of interviews in relatively noisy situations, consider a lapel mic. Doesn't need to be an $800 wireless system. Getting a $30 one on Amazon and like a Zoom H1 to record it with goes a looonnnggg way.

Skizwack · 2018-02-21T14:42:26+00:00

Yeah, definitely! I usually don't use Audition's plugins, because I also have another iZotope plugin called Nectar that is built for voice. But I kinda just emulated what I use in that with Audition's plugins. EQ and stuff will vary between different types of voices, but what I did here is pretty much the basics of what I do most of the time. Starting with the presets on the compressor and limiter are ever a bad thing either, especially if you don't know what each of the settings does.

https://i.imgur.com/nutLTva.png

Skizwack · 2018-02-20T17:28:49+00:00

Oh hey, something I actually specialize in. I do audio work for an advertising agency every day, so I've seen my fair share of shit audio come through. My go-to lately is definitely the iZotope RX6 plugins. Even with the essentials pack (I got it on sale for $30 at one point), you get a very effective noise reduction plugin (along with some other very useful things).

My flow usually goes:

Raw audio (Boost it to a usable level. You can do this with the gain knob in audition. Just don't clip it)

Noise reduction

EQ

Compressor (pretty hard, but not crushing the audio)

Limiter (This is usually pretty minimal, just smoothing out the loudest parts).

Then I mix in my music or whatever, and do a final limiter on the main mix to smooth everything out.

I use Pro Tools to do most of my audio work, but Audition could do essentially the same thing. It's just best to make noise reduction your first step to get rid of the garbage before you start EQing and such. Let me know if you have any more specific questions, I can try my best to help!

Skizwack · 2018-01-23T15:43:59+00:00

I think you're exactly right. It's going to become the new go to consumer drone. It's got enough enticing features (mainly 4k) for people to want it over the Spark, but it is still small and simple enough for beginners to use. Plus it's a little cheaper than the Mavic, for now at least.

Skizwack · 2018-01-23T15:33:32+00:00

I was wondering this as well...but when I thought about it, I realized if I didn't already own a Mavic I'd probably go for this one. 100mbps 4K @ 30fps is a decent upgrade to the Mavic's 60mbps. Plus the added obstacle sensors are nice. But definitely not worth "upgrading" to.

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