Screen Equalizer
  • Howard WaddellHoward Waddell
    Wow! I could not BELIEVE how much this improved my keys! I would put this on the MUST HAVE list for all indie filmmakers. Many, many thanks!
  • Florian ThomiFlorian Thomi
    Is there any chance in a quick update for black and especially white backgrounds? Right now it only works with green, red and blue. Thank you very much for an answer :-)
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    Is there any chance in a quick update for black and especially white backgrounds? Right now it only works with green, red and blue. Thank you very much for an answer :-)
    Florian, thank you for checking out our product. Unfortunately, the algorithms used in Screen Equalizer to do what it does are based on color channel math and operations. Doing this on black or white backgrounds could become problematic and would probably not work. It's not something we've really looked into doing, however, now that you have brought it to our attention, it may be worth looking to the possibilty.  Thank you.
  • Jonathan HooperJonathan Hooper
    What if you get some footage that has someone onscreen straight away so you can't make a clean plate from for the script to reference?
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    What if you get some footage that has someone onscreen straight away so you can't make a clean plate from for the script to reference?
    Jonathan, thanks for your interest. Screen Equalizer does indeed require a clean plate to perform it's functionality.

    Another option you could try, would be to use a content aware fill on a still frame in photoshop to attempt to build a clean plate. You can see a demo of this in the Quick Start Guide video on the product page. 

    If the person walks side to side in frame, you might also be able to pick pieces of different frames and reconstruct a clean plate. 

    However, if none of those will work, I'm afraid there isn't much that can be done. Equalizer needs a clean plate to perform its magic.
  • David O'NeillDavid O'Neill
    Jonathan,

    Has anyone tried this on CS4 and if so, did it work?
  • Lloyd AlvarezLloyd Alvarez
    Has anyone tried this on CS4 and if so, did it work?
    Please check the COMPATIBILITY tab, it requires CS5 or higher as it's a 64-bit plugin.
  • matinciel arkirormatinciel arkiror
    Hello, I've seen the video of Screen equalizer, it's seems to be exactly what I need :-).

    I would like to test it (before buying) and wonder what are the limations of the demo version ?

    Thanks.
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    Hello, I've seen the video of Screen equalizer, it's seems to be exactly what I need :-).

    I would like to test it (before buying) and wonder what are the limations of the demo version ?

    Thanks.
    Matinciel,
    The only limitation is the red X that is visible over the frame. It is a watermark that goes away after the plugin has been registered.
  • Alex PrimehdAlex Primehd
    +1 on what Florian said.

    It'd be fantastic to have a perfectly lit white (or black) background as a function of the plugin.

    IMHO, it is harder to evenly light white background (especially in the real-world, constricted spaces) than a green screen... any help would be welcome!
  • Ian DurstonIan Durston
    Why isn't this compatible with CC 2014 when your spill slayer is?
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    Why isn't this compatible with CC 2014 when your spill slayer is?
    Ian, Screen Equalizer is indeed compatible with CC 2014 :)
  • James LewisJames Lewis
    I'm getting an error when loading the effect in CC 2015.

    "A plugin is attempting to do an invalid operation: modifying a locked project."
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    I'm getting an error when loading the effect in CC 2015.

    "A plugin is attempting to do an invalid operation: modifying a locked project."
    James,

    We have just uploaded the updated version of Screen Equalizer that is CC2015 compatible.  Please re-download the zip file from the product page and use the plugin from the CC2015+ folder and it should work correctly.  

    The documentation has a note about the need to click an additional button to sample the screen color but that is the only difference between the previous version and the updated version that supports AE CC2015.
  • Jeremy WoodJeremy Wood
    My question is - what happens when you don't have any pre-roll with no one in the shot?  How do you create the clean plate then?

    Thanks, Jeremy
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    Jeremy Wood said:
    My question is - what happens when you don't have any pre-roll with no one in the shot?  How do you create the clean plate then?

    Thanks, Jeremy
    Jeremy,

    Sorry for the delay in my response.  At this time Screen Equalizer does require a clean plate for the plugin to function properly.  There are several methods for creating a clean plate from footage that does not have one, however for the absolute best results a clean plate from the time of shooting is preferred.
  • Mark ParsonsMark Parsons
    Hello,

    The green screen I use does not cover the full frame so I have to mask out elements outside of my greenscreen that are still in the frame.

    "I am getting the error "Clean plate must be the same size as the source plate"

    I am not sure if the masking is causing this issue or not. How do I get around this?

    Thanks
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    Mark Parsons said:
    Hello,

    The green screen I use does not cover the full frame so I have to mask out elements outside of my greenscreen that are still in the frame.

    "I am getting the error "Clean plate must be the same size as the source plate"

    I am not sure if the masking is causing this issue or not. How do I get around this?

    Thanks
    Mark,

    That error occurs when the clean plate layer that is selected from the drop down list is a different size then the source.  In order for the math to work correctly both the source and clean plate must be pixel for pixel the same same.  If it is the masking that is causing the error than if you precomp the masked clean plate layer into a new comp and set the new comps dimensions to be the same size as the source layer then it should work I am thinking.

    - Jonathan
  • Arthur WoodArthur Wood
    My parents had made me the gift of screen equalizer+spill slayer, but the problem is in order to create a clean plate (because I don't have any) I erased the character with "inpaint" program, and the result is this:

    but now, when I use keylight+spill slayer (to the pre-comp (to which I have the screen equalizer) the results are this:

     there are black dots/stains (I create a mask to the comp to erase the big dots/stains) but my question is: The unique solution it's to clip more black (with keylight) and therefor lose hair details?

    Thanks
    P.D: Any suggestion to make best clean plate? (I try aware fill and clone in PS but doesn't work better)

  • Daniel BroadwayDaniel Broadway
    Arthur Wood said:
    My parents had made me the gift of screen equalizer+spill slayer, but the problem is in order to create a clean plate (because I don't have any) I erased the character with "inpaint" program, and the result is this:

    but now, when I use keylight+spill slayer (to the pre-comp (to which I have the screen equalizer) the results are this:

     there are black dots/stains (I create a mask to the comp to erase the big dots/stains) but my question is: The unique solution it's to clip more black (with keylight) and therefor lose hair details?

    Thanks
    P.D: Any suggestion to make best clean plate? (I try aware fill and clone in PS but doesn't work better)

    Hi, Arthur.  From looking at your clean plate, it would appear your footage has noise/grain/compression artifacts, or that the greenscreen itself has a texture.  Hard to say just by looking.  Screen Equalizer can only fix lighting and color hue/saturation variances. It cannot clean up the video signal fed into it. If your footage is noisy or has compression artifacts, these artifacts will still make it through Screen Equalizer. This is what causes the black dots after the key.

    You can run your footage through Neat Video or some other noise reduction plugin and THEN feed it into Screen Equalizer for best results.  This is also a good practice for just keying anyway. The less noise in your footage, the better.

    As for painting your own greenscreen, you can try to clone stamp areas or use inpainting. Neither of those is a perfect solution, but it's better than nothing. Actual clean plates are ideal.

    Hope this helps!
  • Arthur WoodArthur Wood
    Hi Daniel, thanks for your reply! I have more than 140 clips (camera different position), I already have erased the character creating 140 cleans plates, then I have to re-create the clean plates once the noise reduction is fix, correct?,  I wonder if can I reduce noise within AE with some third plugin?


    P.D.: A last thing, please, do you thing what this guy make in this video from minute 1:36 to minute 2:13
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woZflhiwJ6Y wil work to me, in order to reduct noise? 
  • Daniel BroadwayDaniel Broadway
    Arthur, you might have to recreate the clean plates after desnoising, yes. The best denoising plugin I know if is Neat Video.  As to the clip you linked on YouTube you could try that.  You can also do a very similar thing with Spill Slayer BEFORE keying actually.  

    Apply Spill Slayer to your clip before keying.  Then, use the replace color box and make it  R:0 G:255 B:0.  Then take the supression slider from 100% down to 0%.  This will boost the green staturation on your footage and then you can apply Keylight. 
  • Arthur WoodArthur Wood
    I will try it then!  screen green (replacen clean plate) then pre-comp, then to this precopm put: spill slayer+keylight+again spill slayer (for spill supression)+remove color matting

    correct?
    THANKS!
  • Arthur WoodArthur Wood
    It's best, but appears this alo arond: (and "removed color matting does not fix it:
    http://i.imgur.com/XAsFSOa.jpg

    How to fix it? Thanks
  • Mark ParsonsMark Parsons
    I am having trouble getting screen equalizer to work with my unique situation, I have to mask out non green screen covered areas from my work area and can not find a way to get screen equiliver to work.

    I have provided a link with a screencast video so you can see exatly what I am trying to do. I am sure there is an easy solution but I can not figure it out. Here is the link to the video.

     


    Thanks. Your help is greatly appreciated.
  • Daniel BroadwayDaniel Broadway
    Mark, we cover this very thing in the documentation PDF.  You are onto the right idea by precomposing and masking the green solid. However, don't make it darker, just use the color picker to make the green solid the same color as the screen.

    I think where the problem is happening is that BOTH pieces of footage need to be precomposed with a green solid for it to work.  Then take them both into a third composition to run use Screen Equalizer on them. Hopefully that works.
  • Andreas HohlAndreas Hohl

    Back to what was somewhat discussed before, it would be nice if one could use masks between the clean plate and the footage understanding that the masks would be exactly the same on both. I tired to do this, but no luck. I actually copied the mask from on to the other which according to adobe should be exact. So the error "Clean plate must be the same size as the source plate" really doesn't make sense in such a case. No?

  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    Andreas, while I do agree that it would be ideal, unfortunately Screen Equalizer must a use pixel by pixel comparison of a foreground plate and a clean plate in order to equalize the screen. Using a mask or any other such operation interferes with the pixel comparison operation and prevents Screen Equalizer from working correctly.  The best thing to do when using Screen Equalizer is to either precomp it and then do your keying and masking in a different comp, or to simply render the equalized footage out to a movie file or image sequence and re-import it to work with it directly. In fact, in most cases, rendering the equalized result out to its own image sequence before keying is probably the best method to use for speed and efficiency.
  • Wesley BurrowsWesley Burrows
    This plugin dosen't seem to work correctly in After Effects CC 2017.   The lock sample check box doesn't seem to lock anything.  Causing chattering in the background.
  • Jonathan CrosbyJonathan Crosby
    Wesley Burrows said:
    This plugin dosen't seem to work correctly in After Effects CC 2017.   The lock sample check box doesn't seem to lock anything.  Causing chattering in the background.
    Wesley,

    I have been unable to replicate the reported issue in After Effects CC 2017 locally.  Would it be possible for you to file a ticket through aescripts so that we could get additional information about your computer/ae/etc to better replicate your setup to see what might be happening for you?
  • Zach PrichardZach Prichard
    I'm getting the same thing. Just an immense amount of chatter (AE 2017). Makes it totally unusable.  
  • sebastian bohlingsebastian bohling
    I'm getting the same thing. Just an immense amount of chatter (AE 2017). Makes it totally unusable.  
  • sebastian bohlingsebastian bohling
    Plz make a CC2017 update!!!!
  • sebastian bohlingsebastian bohling
    Plz make a CC2014 update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • sebastian bohlingsebastian bohling
    Plz make a uptdate!
  • sebastian bohlingsebastian bohling
    Update!!!
  • sebastian bohlingsebastian bohling
    Plz make a update!!!
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