Green Screen
The term Virtual Set has become blurred somewhat after a while, originally meaning to utilize a computer and a camera tracker to develop a background in realtime to chromakey talent into, Virtual Sets now encompass both live and post, tracking and trackless solutions, which is even used to talk about simple blue/greenscreen work where talent is keyed into a studio. There are many different sorts of virtual sets; I'll explain how these are commonly used:
Standard Definition, Hd, and 4K are used with Post Production programs like editors and compositors. They are offered as layers helping you to create the illusion that this talent is standing behind a desk knowning that video is playing inside monitors.
Green Screen
NewTek's Tricaster SD and Tricaster XD versions run on their proprietary hardware, but make operating an active virtual set very simple, scaling the talent in to the set, placing the B Source into the screens and adding reflections. The main difference between the two is resolution, the XD to be able to produce in Hd and that the XD are able to do virtual camera moves like zooms.
The 3D Studio MAX version is optimized for realtime rendering, it's actually a 3D version uniquely situated to be used with realtime rendering platforms however with it's lighting baked into the textures, it's not very editable.
NewTek's Lightwave 3D version is the most powerful and flexible, but also the most technically demanding to make use of giving you full control of every aspect of the set and a true 3D environment for assist tracking markers.
Virtual Set Production falls into two main categories, Live and Post. The former giving you feedback in realtime in regards to what your greenscreen composite appears to be, the later giving you more flexibility and control to make decisions at your leisure. The other main difference being price, you may get into virtual set post production for 100's of dollars vs. thousands of dollars for live productions.
Live Production
Long the domain from the six figure budgets virtual sets took a surprise turn in the late nineties while using release of Play’s Trinity. With a built in chroma keyer and some unusual virtual set features it turned the industry’s perception of what a virtual set was on it’s ear. Years later NewTek released it’s Video Toaster system which in version 5 had similar functionality, allowing for realtime keying, scaling, and reflections of talent and a B source. That technology followed onto their Tricaster line and matured using their XD products; an HD switcher with virtual set abilities together with a trackless zoom. The Tricaster products are already very popular due to their comparatively low pricing, multiple functionalities, and unique virtual set abilities not present in other products at any price.
Post Production
Any program with a chroma keyer can create the illusion of the virtual set at the far lower cost than live production. These include a few better editors like Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas, and other. These can be as simple as keying your talent over the background, or as complex as tracking markers and layering together a complicated scene with camera motion. www.videovirtualsets.com also offers virtual set design services to change any of their existing library of virtual sets or create a virtual set custom over completely from scratch, examples and pricing is available on their website. Some productions require changes to the set, or the client prefers to have a unique identity, whatever the need the ability to modify sets to your client’s designs is available.
With amazing network quality productions taken from garages and classrooms as a result of modern computing power, innovative software, and cheap virtual set backgrounds it’s difficult to imagine what will come next. Now in beta testing, intensiKey's post production virtual set software intentions to offer the power of the true 3D program minus the complexity.
Green Screen
Standard Definition, Hd, and 4K are used with Post Production programs like editors and compositors. They are offered as layers helping you to create the illusion that this talent is standing behind a desk knowning that video is playing inside monitors.
Green Screen
NewTek's Tricaster SD and Tricaster XD versions run on their proprietary hardware, but make operating an active virtual set very simple, scaling the talent in to the set, placing the B Source into the screens and adding reflections. The main difference between the two is resolution, the XD to be able to produce in Hd and that the XD are able to do virtual camera moves like zooms.
The 3D Studio MAX version is optimized for realtime rendering, it's actually a 3D version uniquely situated to be used with realtime rendering platforms however with it's lighting baked into the textures, it's not very editable.
NewTek's Lightwave 3D version is the most powerful and flexible, but also the most technically demanding to make use of giving you full control of every aspect of the set and a true 3D environment for assist tracking markers.
Virtual Set Production falls into two main categories, Live and Post. The former giving you feedback in realtime in regards to what your greenscreen composite appears to be, the later giving you more flexibility and control to make decisions at your leisure. The other main difference being price, you may get into virtual set post production for 100's of dollars vs. thousands of dollars for live productions.
Live Production
Long the domain from the six figure budgets virtual sets took a surprise turn in the late nineties while using release of Play’s Trinity. With a built in chroma keyer and some unusual virtual set features it turned the industry’s perception of what a virtual set was on it’s ear. Years later NewTek released it’s Video Toaster system which in version 5 had similar functionality, allowing for realtime keying, scaling, and reflections of talent and a B source. That technology followed onto their Tricaster line and matured using their XD products; an HD switcher with virtual set abilities together with a trackless zoom. The Tricaster products are already very popular due to their comparatively low pricing, multiple functionalities, and unique virtual set abilities not present in other products at any price.
Post Production
Any program with a chroma keyer can create the illusion of the virtual set at the far lower cost than live production. These include a few better editors like Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas, and other. These can be as simple as keying your talent over the background, or as complex as tracking markers and layering together a complicated scene with camera motion. www.videovirtualsets.com also offers virtual set design services to change any of their existing library of virtual sets or create a virtual set custom over completely from scratch, examples and pricing is available on their website. Some productions require changes to the set, or the client prefers to have a unique identity, whatever the need the ability to modify sets to your client’s designs is available.
With amazing network quality productions taken from garages and classrooms as a result of modern computing power, innovative software, and cheap virtual set backgrounds it’s difficult to imagine what will come next. Now in beta testing, intensiKey's post production virtual set software intentions to offer the power of the true 3D program minus the complexity.
Green Screen