Chroma Key Effects that DON'T effect the background???

[otisfunkmeyer]

Hey hey! I have chroma key working very well in 2 ways...

1) all on the same button with a PIP Webcam and a Slide Show

2) 2 different buttons -- 1 a PIP Webcam and 1 underneath it in the matrix a Slide Show

I am hoping there might be a way to put a Quartz Composer effect (like edge work or comic book) on the CHROMA'D WEBCAM SOURCE and have it *NOT* effect the background.. think those old iPod commercials with the dancers..

I know that the modul8 VJ software can do this and it seems like a logical thing to want to do...

is this possible now? if so, how? if not, is it a feasible feature request??

Thanks!

[FDRLive]

If there was a Video Source called "Saved Setup" which would allow the user to choose a previously composed setup (webcam + overlays + effects) as a source this could be accomplished (and potentially enable some more advanced compositions/effects).

[SteveG]

I'm working on something kinda like that.

[otisfunkmeyer]

Just to be clear with FDR's response, the problem is not that I can't have a composed setup. The problem is that the Quartz effects affect EVERY layer underneath them. So....

if I put an Edge Work effect on my PIP Webcam that is Chroma'd, it will ALSO put the Edge Work effect on all layers underneath that, including whatever background I have chosen to be under the key.

I would like an ability to have effects only affect a specific layer, or a specific button... maybe that is what you were getting at?

Just want to make sure I don't make a feature request that is misunderstood

Thanks Steve.. you make perhaps the most amazing software I've ever used in my entire life. Very appreciative.

Otis Funkmeyer

[Lee]

I had thought I had a proof of concept image to show, but I deleted it after realizing that although I could get a standard CT effect on a chroma keyed PIP isolated from the main screen background ... I couldn't isolate the effect plus the keyed image from the background within the PIP itself. Ah well. I'll be interested to see the final outcome on this endeavor.

[otisfunkmeyer]

Lee, if I am understanding you correctly, your proof of concept is good enough for me... I am not absolutely positive I understand what you mean when you say "isolated from the main screen background" but if you mean that you can key something out and put an effect on it in 1 button, and then in a different button have a BG image that does NOT have the effect on it, then you are our big winner

Let me know!
Otis

[Lee]

To clarify, Otis; what I meant was that I can apply effects to a chroma keyed PIP and those effects can be limited to just the PIP without also affecting any underlying material in the main CamTwist effects stack. Regardless, I'm sorry to report that it's just an experimental creation using third party Quartz Composer plugins in homemade CamTwist effects. The configuration is definitely unstable in CamTwist unfortunately, so it's not something that could be posted for distribution. In short, it's a non-viable hack. I probably shouldn't even have posted the original imagery, which I deleted for the other reasons that were stated above. Sorry for getting your hopes up unnecessarily. We'll just have to wait and see what Steve comes up with.

[FDRLive]

Otis, here's what I was suggesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5A0P7qv4M8

[Lee]

Really well done video, FDRLive. Nice! Agreed that the solution would need to somehow isolate the PIP+Effects. Your video explains that clearly. The trick I use(d) to do that isolates the PIP+Effects by placing them, undisplayed, at the bottom of the effects stack and then utilizes a third party QC plugin to send the hidden PIP+Effects out to where they reappear above any other selected imagery as an integrated overlay. It works, but the plugin can crash CamTwist under certain rather easily happened-upon configurations, so that particular method is obviously not acceptable. (My interest in the matter stems from using this bogus method over the course of several years while generating quartz composition collages in CamTwist).

I'm interested to see how Steve will handle this. As it currently stands, a Saved Setup in CamTwist Classic and a Button in CamTwist Studio are basically one and the same thing. I guess there would just have to be an additional unique category of Setups/Buttons? Anyway, yeah ... a viable solution would please me. I'm following with interest. Again, very nice video!

[otisfunkmeyer]

Hey FDR, does this actually work as shown in the video or is this a thought experiment???