Hello Roy, that is fine. I have sent you an email with my email. TV presenters seem to be the same all around the world :-) Cheers Rolf

Hi Rolf, Michelle If the reader comes in again with the red jacket I will get a snapshot of this so I can send it on yo you Rolf. We have a DD35 2ME & P/P Standard def, running on software version 4.01 We always use Foreground Fade as it is more forgiving of slight variations in Greenscreen and we don't want to see any shadows. We can not produce a decent key without a black edge in the transition area when using DYNACHROME...possibly camera detail ?? So this is another reason we use foreground fade. We have also found that foreground fade gives you more options if you need to adjust the key quickly ... i.e. If you recall a snapshot and find that the reader is transparent or that the background needs to be CLEANED up, you can grab a HANDFULL of DENSITY or CLEANUP knowing that the key will not deteriorate too much. Our Tech says that the cameras use Green for detailing and I can see a definite edge on the readers jacket in the transition area between grenscreen and the reader. We don't use much detail as the readers don't want to reveal any wrinkles :) Cheers Roy

Hi Roy, different brightness has also an effect on the saturation of the greenscreen. The higher the saturation, the better the result you can achieve. Different cursor position?: If your talent casts a shadow and you want to keep that then put the cursor into the shadow and if you do not want the shadow put it on a bright spot. Michelle's comment on detail of the camera are correct. Depending on your model you may have more options than just reduce the detail level, e.g. frequency(make it high) or which color is used (some cameras use green only some also red and some give you the choice) for the detail. You will need to experiment. Also the remark on reducing the spill is absolutely correct. I may be able to make other suggestions if I'd see your source. btw. what switcher model do have? cheers Rolf

We have a DD30 at the station I work at and although I don't know if you have the same situation but the detail of our cameras are up kind of high and if you look at the camera source .ie solid jacket directly over a solid background like the chroma wall you will see an edge. Probably nothing you can do about it unless you lower the detail of the cameras. Maybe ask video to lose all the skin detail during downtime to try running an experiment. Our anchors do not appreciate low skin detail so alas we compromise. Recently our lighting guy added added some yellow backlights to lessen the spill on the talent. I think it helped. It does give a fuller look. I was even able to see the wxman's shadow the other day. I'm sure it is a different set up on your switcher but there are a couple of other choices in the Dynachrome section of the keyer. Gain/clip and also density/clean (this is available on the LCD screen only) and there is always fgd fade! Let me know.

Hi Rolf, Scotty Regards your replies. The Greenscreen is evenly lit. I always adjust SEL R & SEL L first before adjusting DENSITY or CLEANUP. I try to keep both DENSITY & CLEANUP at their minimum. We have tried P/S/S in the past without success, it tends either end up with the keyed subject having a green halo or cut into the subject too much, ie the person ends up without ears etc. I have only played with the SEL MASK, not actually used it, but I am not sure I would like to use the MASK situation in our live News TX scenario, ie Camera snapshots for single, 2 shot and 3 shot and different SEL MASK positions for each one, providing the cameraman lines up the shot in the same position. Rolf, when you said try different areas of Greenscreen if the screen is not lit evenly, are you saying that if I lower or raise the light level on the Greenscreen that I may achieve a better key? We can easily adjust the light level on the Greenscreen if needed. But as I have said earlier the Greenscreen is lit evenly. Thanks for your input Roy

Hi, without seeing the Chromakey source it is not easy to find out what it is and tell you exactly what to do. (btw. does your switcher have a RAMREC? If so then you could export a still or a clip and send it to DD experts at techsupportswitcher@thomson.net). So here are some more general tips, what you can do after an AUTO with Cursor: - if your greenscreen is not even, try different cursor positions, where it is dark or bright or average. - before making big changes on Density/Cleanup, try the selectivities SEL R and SEL L first. The autosetup is very good in most cases, but there are cases where a human can do better. - Scotty suggests SEL MASK, where you can have different selectivities inside and outside a mask area. That is very helpful, e.g. you have a person wearing a purple shirt befor bluescreen. You then can have a tigher selectivity where the shirt is and a wider where the face and hair is. - Look at your source, what detail/contour processing does your camera do? - Try P/S/S (Position/size/softness), you can make the hole cut smaller and get rid of the contour that way. hope that helps. Rolf

Hey Roy, I had this same problem with the DD35 once... I had to spend a lot of time adjusting all of the key parameters in order to get it to key they way I wanted it to. Try adjusting the "Set outer" and "set inner" options in the Chroma Key menu. This may help. Good luck! Scotty A.