Instead of buying a green screen I am making my own. Here is my question.......... I will be dyeing some white fabric using rit dye. What color green should I use?
Should I use Kelly Green
http://www.ritdye.com/Color+Chart.4.lasso
Or a color from the customs chart
http://www.ritdye.com/Create+Custom+Color.9.lasso

Billy D.

Hey Billy,

I have purchased my screenies online. Dyes might not work. If your going to do it yourself, you might want to just buy the fabric already colored. Remember There are blue screens, red screens and greens screens. It depends on what your subject wears. If your subject is wearing green, you need to use a blue screen and visa-versa. Kermit would disappear in front of a green screen...just an example. They use a blue screen for that. When using a colored screen the chromakey effect blocks out that color to whatever background you apply.

I have 2 green screens that have different shades. One is more of a light hunter green and the other is a chartruse, fluorescent green. Both work nice but the brighter green lights up better. On your movie editor, you can adjust the color for chromakeying, but its tricky.

I think that using dye might not be that consistant for chromakey. Either buy a few big yards of green fabric at the local fabric joint or check online for a 9' x 6' or 9'x12' Those are common.

Hope this helped ole' buddy ole' pal

Thanks Sonny  I may just buy some from the fabric store. I noticed all the ones on EBay are made of muslin which is a heavier type fabric. Will a lighter fabric like cotton work or will the light effect things.

Billy D.

Just make sure that the fabric is opaque and that light does not pass through it. Although I know many people need to do green screen on a budget, the better the quality of the material you buy and the closer your colour is to true chromakey green, the better your results will be.

Thanks Andrew............. that was kind of what I was thinking  but it is good to know from someone who has had some experience.

Billy D.

here is all the info you need on this subject.

http://www.indymogul.com/backyard-fx/episode/BFX_20081215

Thanx Onath................ I love this guy but have'nt seen this one. Saved this to my favs.

Billy D.

That was cool...entertaining just like Beakman's World..lol

I'm weighing my options here and just wanted ask a question. It is my understanding that if you have wrinkles in the fabric or green screen they will show up or effect the ending result of the picture.
Here is my question.................. If I decide to go with fabric and I am wanting a 10' x 15' green screen. The fabric is 60" wide and if sewn together will the seam in the middle of the screen show up in the effects of the final product? Will the lighting make the seam stand out more?

Billy D.

Good night Billy.
God Bless you and family.

Look this:

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=w6brdwY-dvU
How to make awesome green screen (Chroma key)

Thanks Cicero and Nice...................... I emailed you.

Billy D.

proper lighting on the chromakey is the important thing.  If you have a seam or winkle the fabric is still the same color the problem is shadow.  If you light the backdrop evenly and in a way that that doesn't cause shadows a seam is ok.  In fact, in really large sets, I've seen where there has been seams in the chromakey and it still worked.

Thanks Jon 

Billy D.

proper lighting on the chromakey is the important thing.  If you have a seam or winkle the fabric is still the same color the problem is shadow.  If you light the backdrop evenly and in a way that that doesn't cause shadows a seam is ok.  In fact, in really large sets, I've seen where there has been seams in the chromakey and it still worked.

It's also really, really important to light the green screen separately from the puppets and avoid casting shadows.

I have a question about working out the green... I heard on the video on youtube they use Final Cut Pro to remove the green color. I'm working under windows XP and I understand that Final Cut Pro is a Mac program. Does anybody know a program for win that can remove the green color?

Thx Johan