Configure chroma keying
Add special effects to any video source in a custom channel with chroma keying. Add great looking effects such as animated lower thirds using a titler software or add a custom background using green screen. It's easy to get creative.
With chroma keying, you can choose a specific color in your video scene and replace everything of that color with a different image or video.
The most common color used for chroma keying is green. In this example, the original video source shows someone standing in front of a green screen. Using chroma key, an image of an office space replaces the green background.
White, grey, and black are not recommended colors for chroma keying. Those are treated as the same color with a different luminance value. The result is that the chroma keying affect gets applied to all shades ranging from white to black.
You configure chroma keying using the custom layout editor
**Performance considerations **
Chroma keying can impact performance depending on how many chroma key sources you add, if you scale the chroma key video source using the custom layout editor, and your frame rate.
For best performance, avoid excessive scaling of video sources that have chroma keying enabled. Cropping video sources that have chroma keying enabled helps reduce processing and optimizes the performance.
You can monitor performance from the Info tab using the Admin panel for the custom channel that has chroma keying enabled.
Observe the following:
The maximum resolution is 1920×1080 at 30 fps for chroma keying.
Avoid scaling a video source that has chroma key enabled.
Where possible, crop the video source that has the chroma key enabled to minimize the area to process for the chroma key effect.
Overloading the processor can cause frame drops.
What is upstream chroma keying?
Upstream chroma keying applies the chroma key effect to a specific video source before it's processed, switched, and broadcast.
For example, you could display the name of a guest using titler software on only the camera that is dedicated for close ups of that person but not on any of your other video sources.
To get an upstream key effect, create custom layouts for each video source using the custom layout editor. Then set up chroma keying on just one custom layout. Only the video source that appears in the custom layout with chroma key enabled has the chroma key effect applied to it.
To apply the chroma key effect to a video source that appears in several different custom layouts, enable the chroma key effect in each custom layout where that particular video source appears.
What is downstream chroma keying?
Downstream chroma keying applies the chroma key effect to all video sources you broadcast after they're processed and switched.
A common use of downstream keying is to display a persistent image, like a company logo, so that it always appears on screen.
To get a downstream key effect, enable the same chroma key effect on all your custom layouts. This way, the same chroma key effect gets applied to everything you stream or record.
Set up chroma key for a green screen video source
A common use of chroma keying is to use a green screen and then replace the green background with another video or still image.
Your chroma key source can come from a video camera or an effects computer connected to Pearl-2. The background you use can be from another video source, a still image that you've uploaded to Pearl-2, or from an effects computer.
This example shows two camera sources connected to Pearl-2. The green screen appears in the video source connected to HDMI-A and the office background is from HDMI-B.
Configure chroma keying for green screen using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin.
Follow the steps in Set up chroma key for a green screen video source to create a custom channel.
From the custom layout editor, click Add new item and select Video Source.
Click Source and select the video source that you want showing through the background of your chroma key colored areas.
In the layout editing area, click and drag to position the video. For best results, select the **Keep aspect ratio when scaling **checkbox from the **Source settings **box.
Click Add new Item again and add the video source that has the green screen image.
Click the Crop button and crop your green screen video source in the pop-up crop editing window. Click OK when your done to return to the custom layout editor.
Cropping the green screen video source helps optimize the performance of Pearl-2.
In the layout area, position the green screen video source over top the other video source. To optimize performance, avoid scaling the green screen video source if you can.
With the green screen video source selected, check Enable Chroma keying in the custom layout editor. The chroma keying options appear.
White, grey, and black are not recommended colors for chroma keying. Pearl-2 treats them as the same color with different luminance values. As such, chroma keying affects all shades ranging from white to black.
- Click the eye dropper and then click on a color in the thumbnail image to choose the chroma key color.
The background video image shows through all the colored areas on the chroma key video layer that match the color you select as the chroma key.
Adjust the chroma color selection and blend the edges to remove unwanted chroma effects or residual color.
Enter a number in the Key threshold field to adjust the color selection. A value of 0 equals the original color you selected. A higher value widens the range of the selected chroma color. A lower number narrows the range of the selected chroma color.
Enter a number in the Edge blend field to smooth out and adjust the color around the edges in your image.
Click Save when you're done.
Add chroma key titler effects using Microsoft Powerpoint slides
You can use the chroma key feature on Pearl-2 with Microsoft Powerpoint slides to add animated titles and other Powerpoint effects. The setup is really the same as using a dedicated titling software on an effects computer with Pearl-2.
This example shows an HDMI camera connected to the HDMI-A port on Pearl-2 and an effects computer that has a Powerpoint presentation loaded on it connected to the HDMI-B port. To the computer, Pearl-2 is treated just like an external display.
You can connect the effects computer with the Powerpoint file to any supported port that is available on Pearl-2.
Apply chroma key effect to a Powerpoint video source using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin.
Follow the steps in Configure a custom layout for a channel to create a custom channel.
From the custom layout editor, click Add new item and select Video Source from the drop down box.
Click Source and select the video source that you want showing in the background.
In the layout editing area, click and drag to position the video. For best results, select the **Keep aspect ratio when scaling **checkbox from the **Source settings **box.
Click Add new Item again and add the video source from your effects computer.
Click the Crop button and crop your Powerpoint video source in the pop-up crop editing window. Click OK when your done to return to the custom layout editor.
Cropping the Powerpoint computer video source helps optimize the performance of Pearl-2.
In the layout area, position the Powerpoint video source over top the other video source. To optimize performance, avoid scaling the Powerpoint video source if you can.
With the Powerpoint video source selected, check Enable Chroma keying in the custom layout editor. The chroma keying options appear.
Click the eye dropper and then click on a color in the thumbnail image to choose the chroma key color.
The background video image shows through all the colored areas on the chroma key video layer that match the color you select as the chroma key.
Adjust the chroma color selection and blend the edges to remove unwanted chroma effects or residual color.
Enter a number in the Key threshold field to adjust the color selection. A value of 0 equals the original color you selected. A higher value widens the range of the selected chroma color. A lower number narrows the range of the selected chroma color.
Enter a number in the Edge blend field to smooth out and adjust the color around the edges in your image.
Click Save when you're done.
A note about item positioning and sizing
There are multiple ways to position and size images, text overlays, and video sources in the layout area
Using the mouse.
Using the keyboard.
Using the manual positioning values with percents.
Using the manual positioning values with pixels.
Using the mouse
Click and drag to move the item. Click and drag the round, red and white handles to resize an image or video source (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Using this method you can make quick changes that are in increments of approximately 5% of the width or height of your layout area. For more refined movements, press the Ctrl key on your keyboard while dragging the item with the mouse.
Using the keyboard
Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the item up, down, left or right in the layout. Changes are in increments of approximately 5% of the height or width of the layout area. Press the Ctrl key while using the arrow keys to make more refined movements. To change the size of an image or video source, press the Shift key while using the arrow keys (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Press both Ctrl and Shift for fine-grained size control.
Using percents
Specify a whole number, followed by a percent sign (e.g. 4%) in any of the manual positioning fields.
Using pixels
If you need to specify an exact amount in pixels (rather than percent) you can type a pixel value in any of the positioning value squares followed by the characters px (e.g. 56px). You can mix and match pixels and percents changing only the boxes you want to use pixel values. At any time you can switch back to percents by typing a percent.
Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2
You can use Pearl-2 with titling software that provides chroma key output to add effects like animated lower thirds.
This example shows an HDMI camera connected to the HDMI-A port on Pearl-2 and an effects computer with titler software connected to the HDMI-B port. To the computer, Pearl-2 is treated just like an external display.
You can connect the effects computer with the titling software to any supported port that is available on Pearl-2.
Apply chroma key effect to an effects computer video source using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin.
Follow the steps in Configure a custom layout for a channel to create a custom channel.
From the custom layout editor, click Add new item and select Video Source from the drop down box.
Click Source and select the video source that you want showing in the background.
In the layout editing area, click and drag to position the video. For best results, select the **Keep aspect ratio when scaling **checkbox from the **Source settings **box.
Click Add new Item again and add the video source from your effects computer.
Click the Crop button and crop your effects video source in the pop-up crop editing window. Click OK when your done to return to the custom layout editor.
Cropping the effects computer video source helps optimize the performance of Pearl-2.
In the layout area, position the effects video source over top the other video source. To optimize performance, avoid scaling the effects video source if you can.
With the effects video source selected, check Enable Chroma keying in the custom layout editor. The chroma keying options appear.
Click the eye dropper and then click on a color in the thumbnail image to choose the chroma key color.
The background video image shows through all the colored areas on the chroma key video layer that match the color you select as the chroma key.
Adjust the chroma color selection and blend the edges to remove unwanted chroma effects or residual color.
Enter a number in the Key threshold field to adjust the color selection. A value of 0 equals the original color you selected. A higher value widens the range of the selected chroma color. A lower number narrows the range of the selected chroma color.
Enter a number in the Edge blend field to smooth out and adjust the color around the edges in your image.
Click Save when you're done.
A note about item positioning and sizing
There are multiple ways to position and size images, text overlays, and video sources in the layout area
Using the mouse.
Using the keyboard.
Using the manual positioning values with percents.
Using the manual positioning values with pixels.
Using the mouse
Click and drag to move the item. Click and drag the round, red and white handles to resize an image or video source (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Using this method you can make quick changes that are in increments of approximately 5% of the width or height of your layout area. For more refined movements, press the Ctrl key on your keyboard while dragging the item with the mouse.
Using the keyboard
Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the item up, down, left or right in the layout. Changes are in increments of approximately 5% of the height or width of the layout area. Press the Ctrl key while using the arrow keys to make more refined movements. To change the size of an image or video source, press the Shift key while using the arrow keys (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Press both Ctrl and Shift for fine-grained size control.
Using percents
Specify a whole number, followed by a percent sign (e.g. 4%) in any of the manual positioning fields.
Using pixels
If you need to specify an exact amount in pixels (rather than percent) you can type a pixel value in any of the positioning value squares followed by the characters px (e.g. 56px). You can mix and match pixels and percents changing only the boxes you want to use pixel values. At any time you can switch back to percents by typing a percent.