Keying group

As its name suggests, the Keying group is where all of the keying functions are located. There si a primary section of Keying options, along with four subgroups of Keying parameters.

Primatte 5.1 has three automatic tools that give you more choices. Auto Compute is now an easy-to-access button with an improved algorithm and spot-on default settings. Adjust Light is brand new tool that evens out background colors for accurate background removal. Another new feature, Smart Sample, generates great results using smart foreground sampling and a histogram pass. The power of Primatte now comes in fewer clicks.

Auto Compute button

Runs a smart algorithm that figures out and eliminates the background color. When you click this button, Primatte automatically analyzes the original image, determines the background screen color (typically blue or green), and sets it as the central color. Auto Compute uses that information to automatically eliminate the background color and clean up any noise in the foreground object and the back screen area.

If the Smart Sample checkbox is turned on, then Auto Compute does this process using the new Primatte 5.1 foreground detection algorithm.

Ideally, if you are using Auto Compute, you should only have to do some spill removal afterward. If you are making use of the new Adjust Light feature, you will also have to apply that separately. However, there are many things in a foreground clip that can interfere with getting a good result. If the initial result is not an almost-clean key, then you should click the Reset button and start Primatte over using the standard four-step operation (Select BG, Clean BG, Clean FG and Spill).

Adjust Light On/Off checkbox

Artificially adjusts the lighting in your footage to give you a better key by eliminating the wrinkles and shadows in the background. Turned off by default.

When Adjust Light is turned on, this function will even out the background screen by blending similar colors in the screen. It looks at a wider range of the selected color (like more shades of green) and cleans the alpha and transparency. Adjust Light lets Auto Compute see more of the imperfections and often eliminates the need for a garbage matte.

Light Strength slider: Adjust Light is adjustable with the Light Strength slider in the Keying> Refinement> Advanced group.

Adjust Light View: You can clearly see what Adjust Light does by turning on Keying> View> Adjust Light Background in the View pop-up.

NOTE: Before applying Adjust Light, you have to determine the screen color by using the Auto Compute or Select BG buttons. Then click the Adjust Lighting checkbox. Primatte will internally generate an artificial backing screen without the foreground object and use it to generate the pre-processed image that has an evenly lit backing screen behind the foreground object.

At left, Adjust Light is turned off. At right, Adjust Light is turned on. Both views in Comp mode.

At left, closeup of the original shot. At right, the shot with Adjust Light applied, viewed in Adjust Light Background mode.

Sample On/Off checkbox

Lets you quickly disable Primatte without having to deselect the plug-in. Turned off on default. You must have one of the four Select tools active for this checkbox to work.

When Sample is turned on, Primatte automatically samples color when you click in the Comp Window. A simple rule of thumb: Unless you have a specific reason to disable this checkbox, leave it on.

When Sample is turned off, your clicks behave like a mouse. When you click in the Comp Window, you will move the Primatte-treated layer instead of sampling it. Keep Sample turned off in situations when you might accidentally sample your image, for instance, if you are using the Hand or Magnifying Glass tool in After Effects.

NOTE: Usually when you click and drag on a layer, you reposition that layer. To prevent the layer from moving, Primatte must be highlighted in the Effect Controls palette. If your image moves when you click to sample, this means Primatte has been deselected in the Effect Controls palette.

Above, the Sample On/Off is turned off. Click-dragging on the footage will reposition it instead of sampling its color.

Smart Sample On/Off checkbox

Activates the new foreground detection algorithm in Primatte 5.1. Turned on by default.

When Smart Sample is turned on, the Primatte 5.1 algorithm is used for color sampling, which adds a histogram pass. This means that a histogram of the image is created internally by Primatte and the background color and its removal are based on this histogram. (The histogram is not viewable on the user side.) The Smart Sample operation will generally produce better results in fewer clicks. Smart Sample affects the Sampling tools in the Select group: Select BG, Clean BG, Clean FG.

When Smart Sample is turned off, the Primatte 4.0 algorithm is used for color sampling, which does not include a histogram pass.

NOTE: We suggest that initially you leave Smart Sample turned on and use the new Primatte 5.1 algorithm. If this does not produce desired results, then turn off Smart Sample to try the Primatte 4.0 algorithm.

Sampling Style pop-up

Selects an area of the composite with the mouse pointer. You can either click once to select a single pixel, or click and drag the mouse to select multiple pixels in a single operation. Choose between two sampling modes.

- Point: The default setting. When you drag it creates a dot trail, so you can custom sample an specific area. This lets you be more flexible and accurate with what you designate as the sample area. You can get a broader spectrum.
- Rectangle: Drags out a rectilinear shape that sets the sample. Each point is the result of taking a 3x3 region around the point the user clicked and then applying a median filter. This is a median sampling option that can potentially filter out and reduce noisy pixels.

Left to right, Point and Rectangle sampling.

View group

The View group is used to designate what image mode you see in your composite window, and enable you to split the screen to see your keyed footage in various states simultaneously.

Selection group

The Selection group is the heart of Primatte Keyer. They contain the tools which you will use to perform all of Primatte’s main matte extraction functions.

Correction group

Once you have generated your matte, the Correction group will tweak it to a great composite. These tools perform most of the same functions as the Fine Tune tools, but they do so with a greater degree of automation.

Refinement group

The Refinement group lets you attenuate and thicken the existing matte density.