Blackmagic Ultimatte12 User Manual Quick Guide to Building a Composite

This is a basic introduction to performing a fast composite. You will notice while reading this section that occasionally a feature will be specific to a particular Ultimatte model.

With all sources connected to the main unit, the first step is to make sure the backing color is correctly set. The default backing color is green, but you can set it to red or blue, depending on which color you are using on set.

If you are using a green screen, you don’t need to change the backing color as green is already set by default. Clicking the ‘auto key’ button will perform an automatic composite and generate a matte from your green screen.

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TIP An automatic composite will also take place when power cycling your Ultimatte.

Setting the Foreground Backing Color

The backing color defines the color Ultimatte will use to generate the matte. Typically, the color used for most screens for compositing is green, and this is why green is the default backing color. However, there are occasions on set where red or blue may be a better choice based on the color of the foreground objects. In this event, you will need to tell Ultimatte to use a different backing color.

To set the backing color:

1. Click the ‘settings’ menu button to open the settings.

2. In the functions section, choose the red, green or blue backing buttons to select your desired backing color. You will now see the backing color indicator in the status bar change to the corresponding backing color.

   

   Select a red, green or blue backing color from the functions area.

When the backing color is set, Ultimatte will perform an automatic composite and you will see the results on the program output and Ultimatte’s front panel LCD. In the monitor output area, select the program output and the image will appear on the monitor connected to the monitor output.

Setting Screen Correction

Screen correction can be helpful if there are strong variations in your backing screen, or the lighting on the backing screen is uneven.

If your camera is static and you can remove all the foreground objects from the scene, you can perform a screen correction. This shows Ultimatte what the screen looks like by itself, and then once all elements are replaced, Ultimatte can then analyze what has changed in the foreground and will generate an optimized matte. This can help tidy up any areas that are not behaving in your matte.

To perform a screen correction:

1. Remove all the foreground elements in your scene so only the backing screen is visible.

2. Select the ‘matte’ settings from the main menu buttons.

3. In the ‘groups’ section, select ‘matte process’.

4. In the functions area, click the ‘screen capture’ button. This stores a snapshot of the green screen which Ultimatte uses to generate the screen correction.

5. Now replace all the foreground elements into your scene.

6. Click the ‘screen correct’ button.

Your Ultimatte will now analyse the foreground elements against the captured image and determine the optimized matte.

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NOTE When using the screen correction feature, it’s best to perform this function once the camera is set and in place, because once the camera moves, screen correction will no longer be effective and you will need to reapply the screen correction.

Setting the Matte Density

If the matte needs some refinement, the first step is to adjust the matte density. This improves the black areas of the matte so it is opaque. Any gray areas inside the black matte will cause the background to show through the foreground in those areas.

To adjust the matte density:

1. Select the ‘matte’ menu button to open the matte settings.

2. Rotate the matte density control knob counterclockwise to decrease the matte density until you start seeing the gray areas inside the black silhouette.

3. Now increase the matte density setting until the gray areas are no longer visible. Be sure to stop adjusting as soon as the gray areas disappear. This is because the least amount of adjustment will result in a more convincing composite. This is true for most controls when refining your composite.

You should now see a near perfect composite on the program output. Now you can use the additional matte settings, foreground, background, and layer settings to refine your composite.

Perfecting your Composite

After your initial key is generated, you may want to add further refinements to make your composite even more convincing. Ultimatte’s advanced keyer has powerful tools to let you enhance the composite, perfect the matte edges, color correct each layer, plus blend backgrounds, foregrounds and layers together in very realistic ways. The tools are there for you to use and we encourage you to investigate them and experiment so you can make the most of your Ultimatte and achieve extremely realistic composites.

This section includes a brief outline of the prominent keying and compositing tools available and the order in which they are often used. It’s worth mentioning that when adjusting some controls, the smallest change can make best results and you may need to make minor readjustments to some settings as you change others. Achieving the perfect key can be an art form using finesse and dexterity.

1. Matte Adjustments - Further perfect the internal matte using the black gloss settings for eliminating highlights that are keying in the darker areas of the foreground. As you adjust the matte controls, you may notice a fine white haze over your composite. This is the result of tiny changes to the environment, such as dust accumulating over time, or scuff marks occurring as crew make changes on set. Use the ‘veil’ settings to help remove the white haze, if the details are too prominent you may also need to clean the set or repaint patches of the blue or green screen.

2. Clean Up Adjustments - Use the the clean up settings to remove imperfections in your blue or green screen such as scuff marks, seams, unwanted shadows, electronic noise and screen residue. Adjusting the clean up settings will electronically clean your screen, we recommend using these controls sparingly as they can produce a hard edged, cutout look to the final composited image if used broadly.

3. Flare - Ultimatte performs spill suppression automatically when keying the foreground. Spill is when the green screen reflects onto the foreground elements, causing them to shift their color in unpleasant ways. The flare controls can help refine the spill suppression to further restore the foreground items’ original color.

4. Ambiance - Adjust the ambiance controls to add subtle color influences from the background to the foreground layer, helping the foreground subject realistically blend into its environment.

5. Color Correction - Independently adjust brightness, color, contrast and saturation for the different layers in your composite to increase their realistic blend. It’s best to make color, brightness and saturation changes to the foreground image using Ultimatte’s color correction settings rather than changing camera settings such as lens aperture. This is because any change to the camera will also affect the key.

6. Additional Background and Layer Settings - Use the additional background and layer settings to add elements such as lighting effects to your composition. For example, you can create spotlight effects that shine down on you talent by using an image connected to the layer input that is designed for a spotlight effect. You can then blend that image into the foreground layer.

7. Additional Matte Input Settings - Add additional mattes to your composition, for example a garbage matte to remove unwanted foreground elements from your composition, or a hold out matte to tell Ultimatte to ignore areas of the foreground you don’t want to key. You can build a rough window using Ultimatte’s ‘window’ controls in the matte input settings, or assign a custom matte image loaded in the media pool for more precision. There are many more advanced settings and tools you can use to improve the mattes, strengthen the key, blend layers and generally build and finesse your final composite. Details on how to use all the tools are provided throughout the rest of this manual so you can explore your Ultimatte with confidence.