NEW TUTORIAL: Advanced Soft Keying
October 17th, 2011

In this tutorial we will go beyond basic keying techniques with new tips to help preserve small details like dirt and reflections. This tutorial covers several topics including a brand new method for green spill suppression, compositing with 32bpc, adding reactive lighting, camera shake, color correction and more!

Watch Tutorial (22 minutes)
Watch Behind the Scene Video

Andrew Kramer
POSTED:
14 years ago
105 Comments
10 years ago
Thanks So much, he is baaack!!
10 years ago
Huge Thanks to you!!!
13 years ago
Very nice but i have bad inglish
14 years ago
I Love tutorials with green screen
chakri
14 years ago
thank you sir..
Walther Bing
14 years ago
Excelente muy bacano!!! Tks Andrew!!!
Danish Poya
14 years ago
Hi Mr. Andrew your tutorials are great and superb but
i have a suggestion that is
if you can create like dinosaurs Actions and destructing the buildings.
it will be the most greatest and popular tutorial.



thanks!
frantz cineus
14 years ago
Master of Masters you are the best thank you for the new tutorial
touchsky
14 years ago
Miss "good,old" videocopilot!!!
Shawn
14 years ago
Patience, people, patience. The guy is busy. He has a family. He has work commitments. And he trains us for free when he can. As the Miracle Max said, "Don't rush a miracle man, Sonny, or you'll get bad miracles."
Timothee
14 years ago
i agree with u Shawn everyone is like turning on him because they arent getting what they want, Andrew will be back and we will welcom him back with open arms... has he not shared 100s of techniques with us over the years, so just relax and maybe while he is gone try figure stuff out on ur own, so u can learn a few things with ur own persistance... what happens when videocopilot does close down cause many people are cracking all the products and not supporting him, so be happy that he has taken or knowledge this far...
Tim
14 years ago
Patience is a virtue.
14 years ago
Instead of refreshing your browser all day and complain about nothing new being posted, stomping your foot on the ground like a kid in the supermarket at the candy section, get a newspaper route, wash cars, do whatever it takes to earn some money, and buy Element 3D when it comes out.
James
14 years ago
Hi Andrew..you said you gonna make several Tutorials about demon cam...showing us some techniques and Easter eggs....
we didn't see any bit until now.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mompremier
14 years ago
Yeah! im with u guy, so Andrew from this moment VIDEOCOPILOT IS DEAD.
14 years ago
he never left the trunk guys, and is probably why he hasnt been around
Albert DeLancey
14 years ago
he will be back....
Johnny
14 years ago
Hey! That is my joke!
Johnny
14 years ago
Andrew doesnot appear... GUYS this is SERIOUS!
He is still in the trunk of the car!!
14 years ago
Far be it for me to break with tradition, but why not let Sam Loya maybe do a tutorial or two?
14 years ago
find the tutorial and blog created. ... Sam loya where are you dude.. . .??? LOL
Redinou
14 years ago
Guys who want tutorials so fast : first AK have family and also business to run, so he dont always have time to come and ake tutorials everyday..if you cant wait so long for a tutorial, try do something by your own first, you will see how time goes fast! And you can follow him on twitter , he always tweet something about what he is doing.
sing
14 years ago
It's been 10 days,nothing new in here.
I miss you Man
Mompremier
14 years ago
Today nothing new on the blog...
14 years ago
Andrew, you are im sure really busy, but we expect training videos, your great training methods and the specialty plugins, and is why we come to VC. Your great at what you do and leave us wanting more. however, you need more of your own products to allow you time to create more of these tutorials. Keep up your passion and we will stay with you all the way my friend and good ole Sam too.
redinou
14 years ago
Sh*T!! China blocked videocopilot.net!! (wihtout reason)
vinit
14 years ago
VERY HAPPY DIWALI TO ANDREW AND ALL AMAZING GUYS OF VIDEO COPILOT TEAM!!!..... from INDIA
tom
14 years ago
Right! We waiting Optical flares for nuke. But mabye they don't want to be like autodesk guys, and want to release quality product.
Mompremier
14 years ago
Yeah! u see Andrew! all of us is waiting for ur answer, so u see our comments, i would like u to take care of us, i wish that Videcopilot is the biggest site in the world bout Tuts, and Andrew, what i wanna say u again is, i would like u to make DVD's training bout tuts in thece softwar Motion builder, Maya, 3ds max Adobe PS and AE. i dont know nothing yet but i would like to be a good Supervisor of VFX and CG too, i choose u to say u that, cause learn us well even im not american, i understand ur english well. Now i go to English School, u see the Super 8, wow! power nice, so u can make 3d tuts with CG Element like car, building, helico composite, like 2012 film, terminator, we live VFX, we love CG composite on real footage, absolute green screen too, that gonna give u money to, so This tuts is good the Advanced keying, but u can, i want u to be the best around the world. He! bout dvd training i mean like Gnomon'dvds, Eat 3d'Dvds ok, or visit Eat3D.com the Haitian Guy again Anyone can comment bout what i say if i wrong.... ok!
WHATEVER
14 years ago
Wow, you just took the words right out of my mouth! Actually I appreciate his latest tutorial on chroma keying because it's one of the most useful technique used in visual effects today. But yes, we are wanting to see the tutorials from Demon Cam, especially I want to see the one where the enchantress is made into a stone/statue and then destroying it, and also the whole process on doing the glass orb ;D....also we are waiting for Element 3D...right guys?
14 years ago
I personally think we should just be patient and thankful for all we get. And show appreciation by buying VC Pilot stuff
Mompremier
14 years ago
For this moment, nothing new in videocopilot, it seem like Andrew dont take care of us, there are many good tuts in the demon cam, he just do one then he finish, no! where is the 3d tuts, like the modeling house in 3ds max, the power scene, the disintegrate women, ah! you forget us, every baby girl know what is keying, the tuts the portal show advenced keying and the las again schow the same thing? only the reflection? ah!!!! u re the god of tuts but what i wanna say u is, try to do the awsome tuts, u can. Cause u're tha best, like DJ khaled's group, Now im talking to the VC's group, not only Andrew. Plz Help me to make thing rendering real in the real world, do not focus o n only two softwar 3ds max and after effect, the is Zbrush, Maya, Motion builder, make film tutorial. Sorry if i talk bad, but the team VC is the best for me, in tuts. ok! The Haitian guy hahhaaaa.
Grscfide
14 years ago
You are right ......Andrew totally forgot about demon cam.!!!!!!!
whatever
14 years ago
Wow, you just took the words right out of my mouth! I actually appreciate his latest tutorial on chroma keying because this is a very useful technique in today's world. But yes, all of us are really waiting for the tutorial from demon cam. I personally want to see how he did the part on making the enchantress into a stone and then destroying it and the whole process of making the glass orb ;D....also we are waiting for Element 3D...right guys?
14 years ago
sam is always awesome!
Timothee
14 years ago
hey ya obviously gna say thanks for the tutorial... bt u get so many of them so i thought i would let you know that i am in my final year of high school and due to your tutorials when i started watching them in 2008 i have been inspired to go into filming and visual effects im currently working on a project about longboard skating and ill be implementing every technique iv learnt into the production so thank you for being an insperation not only to me but to millions of other young and old ambitious visual effects artists
James
14 years ago
Hey Andrew,,,,,i watched super 8 yesterday and really i liked the train crashed scene.....are you involved in this scene?
And How was this ?
14 years ago
Any chance of seeing some sort of Halloween tutorial?
Tim
14 years ago
Ever since my hard drive crashed and I lost around 400 Gigabytes of videos and my portfolio; I lost my motivation to video editing all together. Then I saw this and your set extension tutorials. I'm now motivated to go out and start into editing again. Thanks man.
14 years ago
Nice tutorial. Very useful to have some info that goes beyond 'use keylight and click on the green bit'. There seems to be a lack of in-depth compositing information online, I guess it isn't as sexy a subject as creating explosions or other in your face visual effects or motion graphics, but please keep it coming. Cheers.
14 years ago
wow this is perfect timing
14 years ago
nice tutorial!
very helpful
Emerson
14 years ago
Very, very good !!! Congatrulation !!!
14 years ago
This is a very cool tutorial Sir Andrew. I'm expecting also another Demon Cam tutorial like the breaking of the glass ball, that would be great. Thanks and more tutorials to come.
edward
14 years ago
What can I say???? You rock. End of story.
Stranger92
14 years ago
great tuts as usual...
sjd
14 years ago
amazing as usual..
SamVCPfan
14 years ago
No mobile version!?!? Ak u are breaking my heart it aint evrn on m.videocopilot.net
Thomas
14 years ago
Very useful Thank you.
Frank
14 years ago
really helpful Andrew, thanks allot
Jerry
14 years ago
What kind of camera do you use?
SamVCPfan
14 years ago
Canon 5d mkII , used to use a 7d and sometimes uses red or such for lens compatibility
Haggai Nwokolo
14 years ago
Thanks a lot my Role Model...
14 years ago
What picture styles does VC use when they shoot with their 7D? The raw footage didn't look overly saturated with crushed blacks that you sometimes get with the default settings. Great tutorial btw!
Mompremier
14 years ago
Nice, but did u finish with the demon cam? there are many aresome tuts in, plz do not forget it all
14 years ago
I've been waiting for this! You always keep me coming back for more!

-Simon
Champ
14 years ago
Awesome Tut Man!!!keep the good work up, we luv those, hope the demon cam tuts will released soon
MHT818
14 years ago
..::|another great tutorial|::..
14 years ago
I have not seen the tutorial but, wanted my name on your site thats why this comment; I hope it would be helpful
Great one!! Thanks!
14 years ago
Finally.. I must say you do a lot of thinking for us visual effects folks and i really do appreciate the effort. Nice one again. Still waiting to see the day you disappoint me....
Wing Flanagan
14 years ago
I especially appreciate the tips for dealing with compression artifacts in the Canon 5D, since a lot of us, I suspect, are going to that camera as an inexpensive, high-quality capture tool.
mike
14 years ago
another tutorial with camera tracker please!
dwaine
14 years ago
Awesome stuff...I love it!
Bart
14 years ago
I do not quite understand what Ron meant to say, but most likely, he meant that the tutorials contain some violence and it is harmful to students... or something like this... I think he is a man devoid of sense of humor.
Personally, I like the way that Andrew presents his tutorials and important information they include. Moreover, one must be a really talented teacher to combine such difficult elements: education through humor and fun. This is quite difficult! Almost each Blog show well prepared in terms of script and direction. Andrew Kramer - a talented man and thanks him for it!
Saeid KamKar
14 years ago
Special Thanks TO U ! Very Nice Dear Andrew!
14 years ago
Great tutorial Andrew. I actually needed to know how to do this for an upcoming project. In a couple of shots we're going to be green screening the windows so we can change what's outside, and using the techniques in this tutorial will definitely help it to appear more realistic.
Nadeem Ejaz
14 years ago
I love you Andrew you are my best teacher
Tim
14 years ago
I think I saw Sam at a restaurant in Murrieta, CA a week or so ago. I wanted to say hey but I just wasn't sure if it was him. haha Anyhoo...Awesome tutorial as always! I can use this.
Ehsan Farokhi
14 years ago
yes! thats right...
hey andrew i can't see tutorial no.119. Demon Cam: Inside Look.
please check it.
tanks...
Dominic
14 years ago
Hey,
sorry for the link, but i think they watched some of you tutorials here

http://youtu.be/OPUvn5RwXOg

nice car, nice effects
14 years ago
nice, can't wait to try it out myself.
14 years ago
Just as a note, if you want to get the spill suppressed plate from Keylight without the alpha, you can also set Keylight to "Corrected Source" It's a bit easier.
14 years ago
Nice Tip!
14 years ago
Yes, and you can also choose "hard colour" on the screen matte option of KLight.
It will avoid your the pixels to be too much crunched by the spill suppressor of Klight.
14 years ago
very very excellent!
i think i need to write a post about this tutorial in my blog.
really amazing!
Tosha
14 years ago
YEAH !!! Sam rules!!!
14 years ago
thanks Andrew for share
venkatx5
14 years ago
Great one. Expecting more similar tutors.
buk
14 years ago
Cool tchnique! But ligh wrap is missing It could help integrate foreground to background more.
Grscfide
14 years ago
what about Demon cam Tutorials?
you let it go
Grscfide
14 years ago
nice andrew....the problem is my camera doesn't work with green screen....kinda noisy...it's panasonic sdr-45....
gonna buy sony f3 sooooooon
14 years ago
Greeeeaaaaattttt Broooww. . ....
Den Khruschev
14 years ago
http://www.youtube.com/user/DenKhruschev
I Use Andrew Kramer Tutorial. He my Favoritw!
Den Khruschev
14 years ago
Nice! Very Nice! Hello from Russia!))
Mark
14 years ago
I love all the new keying techniques I've learned from your tutorials. Thanks for all the free lessons Andrew!
Tomislav
14 years ago
Thx! Andrew and other Videocopilot people are the best people on the whole web!
roger
14 years ago
thanks for the tutorials Andrew
hi
thanks for tutorials andrew very nice and useable
ya Ali
Wimp
14 years ago
FINALLY! You rock!
14 years ago
It is excellent! Thanks! Are you use a RED cameras for similar work? Advise me please the correct decision... it is necessary to use RED for shooting on studios or camera like a 7d will always cope with this work? Thanks Andrew! From Russia.
Steve_E
14 years ago
dangit, no time to watch this one before work. but I swear to you all....I will....come back here.......alive. *epic exit*
MehranCG
14 years ago
it's Extraordinary!!!
Thanks ,AK.
Badhan Ganesh
14 years ago
I was always looking for it!
Great one!! Thanks!!
sing
14 years ago
That's owesome,This technic is very useful???
And by the way,What about the "Demon Cam"tutorials,That's only two tuts there,Man,I really like the ball shutter effect.Could you release the rest tutorial please,i still wait for that.
14 years ago
For anybody shooting Chroma stuff on a DSLR, it's really worth reading up on chroma sub-sampling. You will find you almost always get better results shooting on 10-bit 4:2:2 (or better) Video Cameras.

However, you can't beat DSLRs for the price!
14 years ago
Awsome,

Can't wait.... I like it more to do special effects, but at the moment I make intros so I can earn some money!

Homestudio29
Dmitriy
14 years ago
FINALY! Greenscreen is always fun!
14 years ago
wow really useful, i like the final mood so much
Yusuf Halal
14 years ago
What lens was this shot with? Sam is really sharp in this, but whenever I shoot with 5d mark 2, the quality isn't as sharp, even when I crank it up to higher apertures.

Great tutorial!
LoveVC
14 years ago
Hi Master Andrew
thank you so much, it's cool
14 years ago
Looks good, man!
Andiamo
14 years ago
Very nice tutoria, cool useful tips???
Thanks to Andrew and the crew behind!
Awesome
14 years ago
Awesome................
I AM NUMBER 7 !!!!!!!!
OddWord
14 years ago
Wow... Please post your Address, So we can all send you your gift's for being number 7 oops i meen 10
Next time you post, Please Be Smart, and ask a question or leave a good AE tip... Thanks P.S. Blue Sky works just as good as a green screen...
Awesome
14 years ago
Hey OddWord, I think I am already smart....you know why? Because at the time I posted my comment I was '8' so I re-commented on it saying that 'I am number 8' but that was not posted properly. And NOW my number has changed because there has been 'replies' given to other comments that are above me ;p
One AE tip: Stick with Video Copilot like a super glue if you want to be 'THE BEST' in after effects!
For the record I already am doing that and I recently made a very cool video. If you are reading this then please check that out at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riW7vY5wmHY

Thanks in advance!
OddWord
14 years ago
@awesome - I took a look at your "very cool video" from the link you provided. Looks like you took a bunch of other people's projects and precomp'ed them all together in a mashed up confusing way! Then changed all the words.Then rendered it without proof'ing first. For the record that is what your "very cool video" seems to be!!!
Awesome
14 years ago
Come on man...you should know that I am just a kid (16) who is learning after effects for about 6 months. Mostly, I learn from Video CoPilot and self-teach myself sometimes! I guess now you will think twice before replying :p
14 years ago
Dude... i am 14 and i can do better
OddWord
14 years ago
@Timothy Carr - Wow!!!!!!!!! You rock!!!!!! Your youtube channel actionvideostudios is fan-taz-tic!!!!!
Sam
14 years ago
yeah I'm 14 too, check this video out i was trying to match the physics of a golf ball and glass bottle and tell me what you guys think http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI2mrK59h-U
14 years ago
Sweet Love new tutorials
Mehmet
14 years ago
Andrew is a perfectly working and excellent tutorial.Thanks.
Joraph
14 years ago
Thanks Andrew.... But the download link is not working
Reza
14 years ago
Very very nice andrew.
Mayowa
14 years ago
Thanks Andrew. These tips are really great; I mean, AWESOME. Will try it.
ah shang
14 years ago
YEAH !!!!!!!!!!download now!
Naren
14 years ago
Great Job man ..
14 years ago
nice ,, gona watch it ,, thanks andrew for tips
Adnan
14 years ago
Hey Andrew
first of all...Thank you
but I want ask you one question...Is there a way where I can add rain effect on the windows of the car like in SUCKER PUNCH movie ?
a hint please?
thank u
Stephen
14 years ago
CC Glass

Adnan
14 years ago
I will try this...thank u
but the one in the movie seems very realistic like it was made in a 3d program !
14 years ago
Also, If you have the action essentials pack there's some rain on glass footage that you to composite into your shoot. You would just have to stick it between your footage and background.
Adnan
14 years ago
thank u Kuunami...
I don't know if u watched the movie but their the rain or the water combine to form a WORD then separate from each other again on the window of the car !
Sam
14 years ago
absolutely love that movie! I don't recall the actual scene but maya has a great fluid simulator and what I might do is have the water beginning then cut away then cut back and see the words formed. You form them by making text then using track matts and such with water material
Goher
14 years ago
No Update..! Where are you Andrew..!! No you.. No fun..
dummylupe
14 years ago
nice one again!
never got a really nice key with dslr footage, i gonna try this in my next project!