Green Screening a toy car?

[brian9271]

Hey guys, I've been wondering, whether you could film yourself pushing a toy car across the table, then using green screen, making it look as if your driving it, any suggestions on how this could be done would be great, thanks.

[bimmzy]

Green Screen is notoriously difficult if you are using a format like DV or HDV.

the codec does not allow for 4:2:2 colour recording, it instead only offers 4:1:1 or 4:2:0

you will get a result, but it wont look pretty ;)

[ChemiosMurphy]

Green Screen is notoriously difficult if you are using a format like DV or HDV.

the codec does not allow for 4:2:2 colour recording, it instead only offers 4:1:1 or 4:2:0

you will get a result, but it wont look pretty ;)

bimmzy is RIGHT ON THE MONEY. Most places either do it with expensive cameras or do it analog with a mixer before it is recorded to tape..

You're edges will come out blocky. I've done green screen stuff over DV and there are very visible blocks. A toy car is really small... Your mileage may vary...

[brian9271]

I just tested this, I wasn't able to get up to green screening myself, cuze when I did green screen on the car, there were too many reflections and plus you could see black dots, I filmed this with my Mac's Isight which wasn't too good, then I did the rest on Final Cut, unfortunately it was quite hard to get it just right, it was fun shooting some shots anyway.

Edit: Btw, do you guys know what's a good green screen software?

[LethalWolfe]

Good green screening pretty much starts and ends w/proper lighting. Making sure the green (or blue) screen and the subject are properly lit is the most important thing. If the lighting isn't right you are going to have an up hill battle no matter what software you use.


Lethal

[tri3limited]

Edit: Btw, do you guys know what's a good green screen software?

Adobe Ultra for Windows is amazing, otherwise things like After Effects, Shake, Final Cut, Premiere, Vegas, Avid... In fact they're all pretty much the same. Ultra is great for me but then so is Shake.

Final Cut does as good a job as any, but practice makes perfect at the end of the day. Why not try layering up various shades of green from the backdrop and see where that gets you.

It's not the software but the lighting techniques and camera quality that comes into play the most.

[brian9271]

It's not the software but the lighting techniques and camera quality that comes into play the most.

Bam you got it there, spot on, what good positions would you suggest for good lighting?

[tri3limited]

position the object far enough away from the green to avoid any shadow fall off appearing on the backdrop. you also want to keep the object well lit.

i suggest two lamps from the left and right a little bit higher than the car. i would also recommend a back light from the right side going across the car to the near left and finally, if needed, a light on the left side aimed at the green to dispose of any different colours. The light on the green screen needs to be done carefully though as if the light is too strong the backdrop will have a white/lighter patch. I would recommend doing this from a high angle at a bit of a distance.

If you need a picture, im sure i could draw one up for you at some point today :D

[brian9271]

If you need a picture, im sure i could draw one up for you at some point today :D

That'll be great, tyvm :cool:

[tri3limited]

Hear you go, this should help you out a fair bit.

[LethalWolfe]

Bam you got it there, spot on, what good positions would you suggest for good lighting?

If you Google green screen lighting (http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=green+screen+lighting&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) there are a ton of hits.


Lethal

[aloofman]

A couple more tips:

Try to put as much space between the subject (the car) and the green screen as you can. This helps to prevent shadows from the subject and the lighting for the car from creating any hot spots on the green. This basically means having a bigger greenscreen, which isn't always possible, but with something as small as a toy car it should be easier.

If you have access to a waveform monitor, definitely use it. It's much more helpful than a light meter. You want the screen's lighting to be as flat and even in brightness as possible.

Be careful about spill from the background. If light reflects off the green and onto the subject, then you'll have portions of the car that end up green too. This especially tricky with something shiny like a window or metal.

Personally, I think shooting the car moving would be difficult, as you'd need a lot more green screen area for the bigger background. Maybe move or zoom the camera instead?

Also, if you wanted to superimpose yourself driving it in the seat, you'd need a way to mask out part of the interior of the car too! That gets complicated.

[brian9271]

A couple more tips:

Try to put as much space between the subject (the car) and the green screen as you can. This helps to prevent shadows from the subject and the lighting for the car from creating any hot spots on the green. This basically means having a bigger greenscreen, which isn't always possible, but with something as small as a toy car it should be easier.

If you have access to a waveform monitor, definitely use it. It's much more helpful than a light meter. You want the screen's lighting to be as flat and even in brightness as possible.

Be careful about spill from the background. If light reflects off the green and onto the subject, then you'll have portions of the car that end up green too. This especially tricky with something shiny like a window or metal.

Personally, I think shooting the car moving would be difficult, as you'd need a lot more green screen area for the bigger background. Maybe move or zoom the camera instead?

Also, if you wanted to superimpose yourself driving it in the seat, you'd need a way to mask out part of the interior of the car too! That gets complicated.

I've already smashed out the plastic windows, and um, I was actually moving the camera instead of the car.

Also I've recorded with my Mac's Isight which isn't too good, I have got a HD camera but I'm thinking about using my Logitech Webcam to film for different angles, like on top of car, then at side windows and front, plus I'm planning to stuff my Logitech Webcam inside another toy car (rc car).

Oh and now I've filmed some clips inside my black hawk heli with my Logitech Webcam, I had to take off the cover of my Webcam and now its only got the chip with Webcam, looking good so far.

Btw thanks alot for info, especially you tri3limited for the diagram pic.

[P-Worm]

I've already smashed out the plastic windows, and um, I was actually moving the camera instead of the car.

So the car is going to move without the wheels spinning? ;)

I think the best thing that you can do is to take a high quality picture of the car, cut out the frame and the wheels in Photoshop or something and animate the whole thing. With your set up, it is going to be REALLY difficult to get perfect results, but I think animating a still picture will be both easier and give you better results.

P-Worm

[brian9271]

So the car is going to move without the wheels spinning? ;)

I think the best thing that you can do is to take a high quality picture of the car, cut out the frame and the wheels in Photoshop or something and animate the whole thing. With your set up, it is going to be REALLY difficult to get perfect results, but I think animating a still picture will be both easier and give you better results.

P-Worm

Good idea, infact, I had a look at this flash site (http://www.flashvista.com/details/item/1474/), I really like how simple it is. Although I really don't know what software was used.

[AviationFan]

Another idea might be to find a model of a toy car for one of the 3D graphics renderers (such as Blender) and use that instead of a recorded "real" toy car.

- Martin