Blackmagic Ultimatte12 User Manual Advanced Ultimatte Controls

This section contains information about all the settings in Ultimatte Software Control and how to use them to operate your Ultimatte and refine and improve your composite.

Adjusting Matte Controls

Matte Density

As described in the previous section, the matte density setting lets you strengthen the general opacity of the black areas of the matte, preventing areas of the background to show through the foreground. This setting should always be adjusted first when perfecting your composite after applying screen correction. The steps below include the additional steps of switching between the monitor output and the program output so you can see both the matte and the combined composite.

To adjust the matte density:

1. Select ‘matte’ in the main menu buttons.

2. In the ‘monitor out’ section, click on ‘combined matte’. You will see the foreground subject appear as a black silhouette on a white field.

3. Using the control knob, decrease the matte density until you see details within the black start to become gray. Now increase the setting until the gray areas change to black.

4. Select the program output in the monitor out settings.

Any show through that was present prior to adjusting matte density should now be almost, or completely, gone.

Black Gloss

Sometimes there may be dark areas of your foreground that have bright highlights which are reflecting the backing color. These highlights can appear gray in your matte, which will cause those areas in your foreground image to become transparent in your composite. The black gloss setting helps to remove these areas from the matte.

Increase the black gloss setting while observing the combined matte output until these reflective areas are no longer visible in the matte.

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TIP If the matte is already opaque and there are no highlights showing, it’s worth decreasing the black gloss level until you see the highlights, then increasing and stopping as soon as they are no longer visible. This is because the lowest setting that can be achieved will result in the cleanest, most convincing composite. This is true for many of the matte controls.

Red, Green and Blue Density

As matte density and black gloss settings are increased, dark edges can form around foreground objects. To compensate, the density of the color channels surrounding the edge of the foreground objects can be adjusted.

For example, if your backing color is green, the colors available to adjust are red and blue. If your backing color is red, the adjustable colors are green and blue. Adjusting these fine color density controls can help clean up dark edges.

Matte Reset

Click this button to restore all the matte controls that affect the foreground elements to their default settings. The matte settings that affect the green screen area, for example clean up and veil settings, will not be changed.

Clean Up Settings

Imperfections in your blue or green screen such as scuff marks, seams, unwanted shadows, electronic noise, and screen residue are visually the same as fine details in the foreground. As a result, these imperfections will also be visible in your final composited picture.

Adjusting the following controls will electronically clean your screen, but at the expense of the finest detail on the edges of the foreground elements. We recommend using these controls sparingly as they can produce a hard edged, cutout look to the final composited image. To determine the best settings, switch your monitor view between combined matte and program out as your make adjustments.

To adjust the clean up settings:

1. While viewing combined matte, the screen area is represented as white. Adjust the clean up controls so that the screen area is as close to white as possible without eliminating important detail.

2. View program out to make sure that you haven’t eliminated too much of the fine detail.

The goal is to set these controls to the lowest possible value while ensuring the final picture is not missing subtle details such as fine wisps of hair, shadows, or reflections.

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TIP Don’t get too focused on getting a perfect clean matte. Some imperfections like slight scuff marks or electronic noise might actually look appropriate in the final composited image, particularly if the background scene is a computer generated, pristine image.

The clean up settings are interactive. Therefore, increasing one might allow you to decrease one or more of the others. You’ll notice the greatest effect in the green screen area, but you might also see a slight effect on the foreground elements.

Veil Settings

At this point while you are optimizing your matte, you may notice a fine white haze over your final composited image. The haze can sometimes appear as a general haze, or localized in patches corresponding to the screen area of the foreground source.

The white haze is known as ‘veil’ and you can minimize it by adjusting the veil settings. As you make adjustments, switch your monitor view between fill output and program out to determine the best veil settings.

Veiling can become more pronounced over the course of the day as your blue or green floor gets dirtier or dustier. We recommend wearing slippers when not shooting if crew and talent are walking on the blue or green screen. Repainting of the screen may become necessary to remove permanent dirt and marks.

Shadow Level and Shadow Threshold

If you want your shadows in the foreground source to be more or less pronounced in your final composite, increase or decrease the shadow level. The shadow threshold setting is used to help separate unwanted dark screen areas from shadows.

Matte Process/Screen Correction

Depending on the conditions of your green screen, the backing color may not be consistent which can reduce the effectiveness of the matte. If you are seeing noise or artifacts in your matte that you can’t solve using the general matte settings, and you have access to an image of just the green screen without foreground objects, then you can use screen correction to improve the matte.

To set screen correction:

1. Remove all the foreground objects in your scene so only the green screen is visible.

2. Click on the ‘screen capture’ button so Ultimatte can store a snapshot of the green screen.

3. Now replace all the foreground objects in your scene.

4. Click the ‘screen correct’ button.

You should now see a general improvement in your matte and final composite.

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NOTE Screen correction only works with static camera shots. This feature is the best choice for improving areas in the backing screen, and clean up controls can be used as a last resort if areas still need improvement.

Matte Correct Horizontal Size

‘Matte correct H size’ analyzes all horizontal matte transitions, based on the size selected in number of pixels, and applies the appropriate amount of correction to the horizontal transitions which may need modification.

Unlike regular matte sizing, which slightly reduces the overall size of the matte, the ‘matte correct’ control selectively corrects only transitions which are not optimally corrected.

The ‘matte correct H size’ setting indicates the number of pixels within which the system will analyze every transition. When the size is set to 0, no correction is applied.

Matte Correct Vertical Size

‘Matte correct V size’ analyzes all vertical matte transitions, based on the size selected in number of lines, and applies the appropriate amount of correction to the vertical transitions which need modification.

The ‘matte correct V size’ display indicates the number of lines within which the system will analyze every transition. When the size is set to 0, no correction is applied.

Screen Sample

When Ultimatte creates the matte for the foreground, it automatically samples the backing color in the foreground image to achieve the best matte. If varying shades remain visible in the matte, you can set your Ultimatte to use single or dual sampling which can help achieve better results.

Single Sampling

Single sampling lets you manually select a single area of the foreground green screen with a small box cursor. Ultimatte then assesses the color in that region and optimizes the sampling of the backing color using that region.

To use single sampling:

1. Go to the screen sample settings in the ‘matte’ menu.

2. Click the wall cursor position button. Your view will change to the foreground input and a small box cursor will appear on the screen.

3. Adjust the cursor horizontal and vertical position using the control knobs to move the cursor to a spot on the wall near important detail. This can often be hair. Be sure to avoid areas that contain detail that you want to retain.

4. Click the ‘sample wall’ button to save these screen values as your new reference. Your view will switch back to the monitor out setting you were last using.

Dual Sampling

Depending on the lighting conditions and your green screen, the floor area may appear at a different luminance or shade of green compared to the walls which may affect the quality of your matte when using the default auto sampling or manual single sampling.

To help Ultimatte achieve the best matte, you can select dual sampling and position two separate cursors.

To use dual sampling:

1. Go to the screen sample settings in the ‘matte’ menu and click on ‘dual cursor’ to enable dual sampling mode.

2. Click the wall cursor position button. Your view will change to the foreground input and two small box cursors will appear on the screen.

3. Adjust the horizontal and vertical position of the first cursor using the control knobs to move the cursor to a spot on the wall near important detail. This can often be hair. Be sure to avoid areas that contain detail that you want to retain.

4. Click ‘sample wall’. Notice that ‘floor cursor position’ is now enabled and the floor cursor position is automatically available for you to adjust. Make your desired changes to the second cursor position. For best results, select an area on the floor where you see lighting glare or veiling, and avoid shadow areas that you want to retain in the matte.

5. Click on ‘sample floor’. Your selection will save these screen values as your new reference and the view will switch back to the monitor out setting you were last using.

Filter

The filter settings let you remove ringing artifacts that may appear in the transition edges, plus provides noise reduction and noise generation settings to help blend foreground and background elements together.

4:2:2 Correction level

In a Y,Cb,Cr 4:2:2 video image, objects with high contrast and sharp transitions can exhibit a small edge artifact when used for green screen compositing. This is due to the reduced bandwidth of the Cb and Cr color difference channels.

For example, a dark colored foreground object with sharp transitions shot against a bright green screen will show an overshoot and an undershoot at the transitions. This is known as ringing. These ringing artifacts are shades of black and white and will be treated as foreground objects when processed, similar to gray strands of hair. When the green screen color is removed and replaced by a dark background, a dark foreground object will show bright gray edges at the transitions.

The 4:2:2 correction feature eliminates or reduces the ringing artifacts. No foreground object detail is lost in this process.

4:2:2 correction is set to 100% by default. To make an adjustment, decrease the setting while monitoring the program output until you notice the ringing artifact appear in the composite, then gradually increase until it is no longer visible.

Noise Reduction/Generation

All video recorded using a video camera will contain a minor level of noise in the image. When composited with pristine, noise free graphics generated by a computer, the difference between sources can be noticeable.

To help blend elements, Ultimatte has noise reduction and noise generation settings that let you clean noise from the foreground, and add noise to the clean areas of your composite. For example, noise can be generated in the background or layer source, or areas of the foreground that have been masked by a garbage matte.

There are two types of noise reduction. Median, and average.

To reduce noise:

1. Toggle between the average and median noise reduction types by clicking the selection button on the left side of the functions section.

2. Now click the corresponding setting next to the selection button to set a noise reduction level. Click multiple times to gradually increase the level. There are four levels of noise reduction to choose from.

To generate noise:

1. Click on the ‘noise cursor’ button in the functions section to enable the cursor on the foreground source.

2. Using the cursor position controls, place the cursor on an area of the foreground that displays the most prominent noise.

3. Click on the ‘noise select’ button.

4. Click on the ‘noise gen’ button to enable noise generation.

5. Increase or decrease the amount of noise generation using the ‘noise gen level’ control.

Matte Reset

The matte reset button restores all matte controls, including matte density, black gloss, color density, and shadow settings to their default settings. These default settings could be factory set or user set values. For more information on customizing your Ultimatte, refer to the ‘saving and managing presets’ section.

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NOTE Matte reset does not sample the backing for new reference color values. The current values are used to recalculate spill suppression with any adjusted background settings.

Matte Button

Click this button to disable or enable the matte generation and flare settings. The default setting of this button is ‘enabled’.

Cursor Position Last

When this button is enabled, the cursor will return to the horizontal and vertical positions where it was last used. This mode is helpful when studio cameras are mounted on robotics systems and could be programmed to go to the same starting position, thus allowing the same exact sampling locations to be used again. When you save a preset file, cursor location is also saved.

When disabled, the location of the cursor will always return to a default horizontal and vertical position toward the top left hand corner of the image, regardless of the previously used sampling location.

Auto Screen Sample

Auto screen sample is the default method of scanning, analyzing, and determining reference backing color levels. Using this method, the matte signal is analyzed to detect the most predominant highest level, which will correspond to the brightest and purest area of the backing. Auto screen sample will also be performed during all of the functions listed below:

Main unit power up, system reset, backing color select, and auto key.

Adjusting Foreground Flare Controls

Your Ultimatte automatically analyzes the backing color reflecting onto foreground objects and removes the effect of the bounce color in the final composite. This is called spill suppression. The process of spill suppression can affect certain colors in the foreground. The colors affected will vary depending on the backing color you are using. If you need to make color adjustments to restore the original color of foreground elements, the results of spill suppression can be adjusted using the flare controls.

Flare 1 Settings

Cool

Restores cooler colors, such as blue, green and cyan.

Skin Tone

Restores the color of natural skin tones that may have been changed by spill suppression.

Light Warm

When advanced flare is enabled, this setting recovers lighter, warmer colors, such as red, yellow and orange. This setting interacts with the skin tones setting.

Black, Gray and White Balance

Use this setting to color correct the spill suppression in the tonal regions of the foreground, such as the shadows, mid tones and highlights.

Flare Level

When advanced flare controls are enabled, this setting adjusts the overall amount of spill suppression for certain foreground colors.

Holdout Matte Flare Button

When a holdout matte is used to stop the compositing process in portions of the foreground scene, spill suppression on the foreground becomes slightly more complicated. In some situations, removing spill suppression from the entire scene would result in a more convincing look. In other situations, no spill suppression in the holdout matte area would be the best choice.

When holdout matte flare is disabled, spill suppression is not performed in the holdout matte region. When enabled, spill suppression is removed from the entire foreground scene.

Flare 2 Settings

Flare Correct Horizontal or Vertical Size

Flare correction analyzes the spill suppression in the transition areas and lets you make subtle corrections. For example, neutralizing small color discrepancies, or luminance variations that may be affecting fine edges in the transition area.

You can adjust the size of the area around the pixels of interest that Ultimatte will use to analyze the spill suppression. This area is defined via pixel width and line height. When the size is set to 0, no flare correction is applied.

Dark Warm

When advanced flare is enabled, this control can help to restore brown colors, for green screen, and purple colors, for blue screen. This control interacts with skin tones settings.

Flare Reset

Click this button to reset all flare controls to their default settings, depending on the backing color selected.

Advanced Flare

Click this button to toggle the advanced flare controls on or off.

Adjusting Foreground Ambiance Controls

To make a composite more convincing, it is important that the foreground subject fits seamlessly into its new background environment. The ‘ambiance’ feature in Ultimatte analyzes the colors of the background and foreground layers, and automatically adds subtle color influences from the background into the foreground layer. This feature is enabled by default.

The ambiance controls also allow you to set the amount of influence that the background has on the foreground layer, and finesse the color balance.

To make foreground ambiance changes:

1. Select ‘foreground’ in the main menu buttons.

2. In the ‘groups’ section, click on ‘ambiance 1’ or ‘ambiance 2’ to access these menus.

Ambiance reset

Click the ‘ambiance reset’ button to reset all ambiance controls to their default settings.

Ambiance

Use this button to disable or enable the ambiance feature. The default setting of this button is ‘enabled’.

Ambiance 1 Settings

The ambiance controls will add very subtle amounts of color from the background, simulating reflected ambient light from the background source.

Ambiance Level Red, Green, Blue

Adjust these settings to increase or decrease effects of the red, green and blue components of the background ambiance that will influence the foreground color levels.

Ambiance Level Master

This setting adjusts the overall level of the ambiance that will influence the foreground color levels. When adjusting this control, the relative difference between the ambiance red, green, and blue components will be maintained.

Ambiance Strength

This setting adjusts the strength of the ambiance that will influence the main area of the foreground subject, compared to the transition areas from the foreground subject to the background scene. At its maximum setting, the ambiance will have full influence on the main area as well as the transition region, while at the minimum setting, the ambiance will have no influence in the main area while having a stronger influence in the transition regions.

Direct Light Mix

This setting controls the proportion by which the foreground subject will be influenced by the ambiance colors and user adjustable direct lighting. At the maximum setting, the foreground subject is influenced entirely by the direct light controls, and at its minimum setting, the foreground subject is influenced entirely by the ambiance colors.

Vertical Blur

This setting determines the number of averaged lines in the background used in ambiance calculations. Depending on the background scene, reducing this control could introduce streaking on the foreground layer.

Ambiance 2 Settings

The direct light controls will make more aggressive changes to the foreground image, simulating light that is directly from a position in the front of the foreground subject.

Direct Light Red, Green, Blue

Adjust these settings to increase or decrease the impact of red, green and blue components of the direct light that will influence the foreground color levels.

Adjusting Brightness, Color, Contrast and Saturation

As you build your composite, you will likely want to make adjustments to the luminance, color, contrast, and saturation levels for your sources which can help improve your composite. For example, if the foreground, background and layer elements seem to differ in levels compared to accompanying composited layers, you can perform an independent color adjustment using the master controls for each source. All the same luminance, color balance, contrast, and saturation settings are available for each source.

White Level Master

If a source seems too bright or too dark for the adjoining scene in the composite, adjust the white level control to alter the brightness of the source rather than adjusting the original input source level. Altering the level at the input source, for example the camera exposure, can adversely affect the generation of the matte signal.

The default setting of the white level control is neutral at 100%. The range of the control is from 0% to 200%. When adjusting the white level master, the relative difference between the white level red, green, and blue components will be maintained.

In normal white range mode the main unit will clip the output so the signal cannot exceed standard limits. All Ultimatte models, except Ultimatte 12 also feature an extended white range mode, in this mode all signals exceeding 100% will pass through unclipped. For more information on output range, refer to the ‘settings’ section.

Black Level Master

The master black control adjusts the level of black in the source image without altering the white level. Adjusting the black level can often produce a more convincing composite image, if the black levels in the background scene differ from those in the foreground.

When adjusting the black level master, the relative difference between the black level red, green, and blue components will be maintained. Ultimatte will clip black levels at zero so they do not exceed standard broadcast limits.

Contrast Master

The contrast master control adjusts the overall contrast level of the source in the composite without affecting the quality of the composite. For example, if the lighting contrast in the foreground scene does not match that of the background scene, adjusting this control may produce a more convincing composite image.

The contrast setting does not affect the strength of black and white levels, but only changes the contrast of the gamma, or mid level gain, in the source image.

When adjusting the contrast master, the relative difference between the contrast red, green, and blue components will be maintained.

Saturation Master

The saturation master control adjusts the saturation level of the selected source colors without affecting the generation of the matte signal. For example, if the saturation of the colors in the background scene does not appear to match the saturation of the foreground colors, adjusting this control may produce a more convincing composite.

The saturation master control can completely remove all color from the source image and produce a monochrome, or black and white, foreground composited with a color background image.

When adjusting the saturation master, the relative difference between the saturation red, green, and blue components will be maintained.

Advanced Contrast Crossover Master

When the ‘advanced contrast’ button is enabled in the functions section, contrast adjustment characteristics will acquire an “S” shape curve. The crossover point of the “S” shape can be moved by the source ‘contrast crossover’ master control.

Fade Control

A fade control is available for the foreground, background and layer sources. This setting lets you fade the foreground or layer source, if enabled, until it is no longer visible.

When the primary matte is disabled in the matte settings, you can use this feature to fade between the foreground source and background source to line up props or set items in the foreground with the background source.

When adjusting the fade or fade-mix control from 0% to 100%, the selected source will gradually fade until no longer visible.

Color Correcting Black and White Levels

The ‘black/white level’ menu for each background, foreground and layer source lets you make specific color corrections to the black level and white level. By adjusting the respective red, green and blue color correction controls you can adjust each respective color level without altering the overall gain.

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TIP Any adjustments to color for the black and white level will only occur after the matte signal generation and will not affect the source.

Adjusting Color Contrast and Saturation

The ‘contrast/saturation’ menu provides controls to adjust contrast for each color channel in the selected source. Adjusting the contrast control for each channel will increase or decrease the amount of contrast in the gamma, or mid level gain.

When the ‘advanced contrast’ button is enabled in the functions section, contrast adjustment characteristics will acquire an ‘S’ shape curve. The crossover point of the ‘S’ shape can then be moved by the source ‘contrast crossover’ control. This gives you greater control over how contrast affects the gamma tonal region.

Color Reset

If at any time you want to restore the color correction back to its default state, simply click on the color reset button in the functions section.

Source Freeze Button

If you are working with still graphics as your sources, this feature allows for greater flexibility. You can take a still image from each source by clicking the respective ‘freeze’ button in the functions section. This stores a still frame in temporary memory which you can use as the source.

The freeze feature can be helpful if you have limited playback equipment. For example, you can save a still from a playback source graphic, then on the same playback deck, load a different source and plug it into a different source input on your Ultimatte. This effectively doubles the amount of sources you can use with your playback equipment.

Additional Background Settings

Background Filter

In many situations, particularly with computer generated backgrounds, the graphics will appear too sharp compared to the foreground subjects. Sometimes, this sharpness can cause aliasing artifacts if the antialiasing filters are not set properly in the background rendering system.

Advancing the background filter control will gradually apply a horizontal low pass filter to the background scene, minimizing aliasing artifacts.

Background Gradient

Enabling this button will replace the background video with an internally generated horizontal gradient signal. This gradient signal can be used to better demonstrate the impact of background color controls on the background image.

Test Signal

This setting lets you use a colored field as the background in the final composite.

Background Switch

If you have still sources assigned to both backgrounds one and two in the media pool, clicking this button will switch between them.

Additional Layer Settings

Test Signal

This setting lets you use a colored field as the layer source in the final composite.

Lighting

Green screens are best optimized when lit flat in neutral light so there are minimal changes in color and brightness. This can add interesting challenges if you want to create lighting effects on the set as the lighting can spill onto the green backing affecting the strength of your key.

As a helpful and convincing alternative, you can use the lighting feature to simulate lighting effects in your composite. For example, you may have pillars of atmospheric spotlights shining down on your talent. By using an image connected to the layer input that is designed for a spotlight effect, you can blend that image into the foreground layer. You can even create an animated image that lets you create dynamic moving lighting effects that are very realistic.

The lighting feature is most realistic when the lighting image used for the foreground lighting effect is also integrated into the background layer when designing your background image. This lets both the foreground and background share the effect which makes the overall simulation more convincing.

To enable the lighting feature, select ‘layer’ from the main menu and then ‘lighting’ from the ‘groups’ menu. Now select ‘lighting’ from the ‘functions’ menu.

Lighting Control Knobs

Minimum Level

This control determines a mixture of the level of the ‘lighting’ input and an internal lighting level setting. The range of the minimum level control is from 0% to 100%, with the default setting at 25%.

At 0%, the lighting of the foreground subjects is entirely controlled by the ‘lighting’ input image. At 100%, the lighting of the foreground subjects is entirely controlled by the lighting level R/G/B and Master Controls settings.

Color can be added to the Minimum Level by adjusting the Lighting Level Red/Green/Blue and Master controls.

Lighting Level – Red/Green/Blue

This controls the red/green/blue components of the ‘minimum lighting’ as it is applied to the foreground subjects. The control range is from 0% to 200%, with the default setting at 100%.

Lighting Level – Master

The master control adjusts all three ‘minimum lighting’ level R/G/B controls simultaneously while maintaining their individual setting relationships.

Layer Color Controls

When the ‘lighting’ feature is enabled, the ‘layer white level, Black Level, Contrast, and Saturation controls will make corresponding adjustments to the Lighting Input image.

For a detailed description of these controls, see Adjusting Brightness, Color, Contrast and Saturation section of the manual.

Layer Input

Enabling this function allows the layer elements to be added to the composite scene.

Layer Input Realistic/Linear/Additive

This function selects between three modes of combining the layer input elements with the foreground objects and the background scene in the composite image.

Realistic

Most accurate method of combining colored transparent and semi transparent layer elements, as well as opaque layer elements, with the foreground objects and the background scene.

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NOTE When using a layer source graphic in realistic layer mode with semi transparent objects, the image source background needs to be 100% white. The RGB elements in the source layer should not be premultiplied by its matte. All feathering of transition regions along edges of the matte should be within the boundaries of the layer elements. For example, make sure feathered edges do not extend into the white backing region of the source image.

Linear

Traditional method of combining opaque layer elements with the foreground objects and the background scene in the composite image. This method will not produce accurate results with transparent colored layer elements. This method should be selected if the layer elements are not premultiplied.

Additive

Traditional method of combining opaque layer elements with the foreground objects and the background scene in the composite image. This method will not produce accurate results with transparent colored layer elements and should be selected if the layer elements are premultiplied.

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TIP Clicking the ‘auto key’ button will not change the layer input mode.

Layer Switch

If you have sources assigned to both layers one and two in the media pool, clicking this button will switch between them.

Matte Input Settings

Blackmagic Ultimatte can accept four different matte inputs, each assigned to a specific function.

These 4 matte inputs are:

• Background matte

• Garbage matte

• Holdout matte

• Layer matte

Background Matte

The background matte is associated with certain elements in the background scene that need to be treated as their own layer. By converting these background elements into layer elements, they can be moved in the layering order in front of the foreground objects. These background elements that are converted to layer elements can only be opaque elements.

Garbage Matte

The garbage matte is associated with the boundaries of the foreground screen. It is used to artificially extend the screen area, so that the background scene can be added in these areas. The garbage matte should have a large soft transition area, from black to white, so that the garbage matte blends better with the real screen area.

If foreground objects enter these soft transition areas of the garbage matte, these objects will gradually become transparent and mixed with the background scene until they are fully faded out.

In an alternate process, Blackmagic Ultimatte can gradually apply the garbage matte clean up function in the soft transition areas so that the foreground objects can still enter these transition areas without becoming transparent.

Holdout Matte

The holdout matte is associated with elements of foreground objects which have similar colors as the screen color. The holdout matte can be used to prevent these portions of foreground object areas with similar color as the screen from becoming partially or fully transparent.

Additionally, the holdout matte can be used to retain or remove the foreground object colors that are similar to the screen color.

Layer Matte

The layer matte is associated with the ‘layer in’ elements. The layer matte is used to determine the opacity of the corresponding ‘layer in’ source. The layer elements associated with the layer matte could be opaque or can have varying levels of transparency with different colors.

Window

The window setting lets you create internally generated mattes with rectangular proportions. The resulting window can be used as a rough garbage matte, allowing you to exclude certain areas from the foreground image. Enable window by clicking the ‘window’ button, then set the input source you want to apply the window to by clicking the respective matte button in the functions section of Ultimatte Software Control.

Adjust the positioning of the window edges using the following controls:

Window Position Top, Bottom, Left and Right

These knobs adjust the position of the top, bottom, left and right edges of the window. The default position is beyond the edge of the frame. As it is dialed in, the edge moves into the frame and goes all the way to the opposite position of the frame.

Window Softness Top, Bottom, Left and Right

Sometimes you may want to reduce the harshness of a window edge in the garbage matte. To do this, increase the softness control for the window edge you want to adjust. The default position is beyond the edge of the frame. As it is dialed in, the edge moves into the frame and goes all the way to the opposite position of the frame.

Window Skew

The window skew function allows you to create an internally generated window matte with non-rectangular proportions. Using the skew controls, you can tilt and rotate each edge of the window independently to create a rough garbage matte, to exclude certain areas from the foreground image.

Enable window skew by clicking the ‘window skew’ button, then adjust the skew for each edge using the control knobs.

Adjust the skew of the window edges using the following controls:

Window Skew Top, Bottom, Left, Right

These knobs adjust the skew of the top, bottom, left and right edges of the window.

Window Skew Offset Top, Bottom, Left, Right

As it is dialed in, the skewed window edge moves into the frame and goes all the way to the opposite position of the frame.

Transition Rate

This control sets the rate, in number of frames, by which the objects in the background scene, defined by the background matte and the layer input elements, will move in front of or behind each other in the composited image.

When the transition rate is set to 1, the changes in the layering order will be an abrupt cut. When the rate is increased, the transition will be a smooth mix dissolve. The maximum transition rate is 120 frames.

The transitions are initiated by selecting one of up to six different layering orders defined in the functions section.

Setting the Layer Order

In the functions section you will see buttons that indicate the layer order. These buttons determine the order of how the foreground source, background source, and the layer source elements are arranged in your composite. The buttons available will depend on which mattes you have enabled.

The first name in a button is the top element in the layering order, and the last name is bottom element. For example, you’ll notice that the background is always the bottom element in the scene.

When both background matte elements and layer source elements are used, the 6 possible combinations are:

FG / LY IN / BG LY / BG

Foreground source as the top layer, followed by the layer source elements, followed by the background layer elements separated from the background source, then followed by the background source.

LY IN / FG / BG LY / BG

The layer source is the top layer, followed by the foreground source, followed by the background layer separated from the background source, then followed by the background source.

LY IN / BG LY / FG / BG

The layer source is the top layer, followed by the background layer elements separated from the background source, followed by the foreground objects, then followed by the background source.

BG LY / LY IN / FG / BG

The background layer elements separated from the background source are the top layer, followed by the layer source, followed by the foreground source, then followed by the background source.

BG LY / FG / LY IN / BG

In this combination, the background layer elements separated from the background source are the top layer, followed by the foreground source, followed by the layer source, then followed by the background source.

FG / BG LY / LY IN / BG

In this combination, the foreground source is the top layer, followed by the background layer elements separated from the background source, followed by the layer source, then followed by the background source.

When only the background layer is used via a background matte, the 2 possible combinations are:

FG / BG LY / BG

The foreground source is the top layer, followed by the background layer elements separated from the background source, then followed by the background source.

BG LY / FG / BG

In this combination, the background layer elements separated from the background source are in the top layer, followed by the foreground source, then followed by the background source.

When only the layer input is used, the 2 possible combinations are:

FG / LY IN / BG

The foreground source is the top layer, followed by the layer source, then followed by the background source.

LY IN / FG / BG

In this combination, the layer source is in the top layer, followed by the foreground source, then followed by the background source.