Green Screen Effect

[bilc]

I am using Video Studio 11 and have been playing around with green screen effect. Here is my question : Other than video taping the subject in front of a green screen and then layering that clip on top of the original scene producing a clip know as the weatherman effect, I'd like to know of a procedure or software to fill in arround the subject green color so that I now have an individual frame that can be over-layed on the original scene. I've attempted this feat with very good results using an old program ( MSI Photo Suite ) outliining the subject in green and then filling the entire frame. The only problem is that it is extremely time consuming and each frame of the clip must be done individually. Example : for a one second shot approximately 15 to 30 frames must be processed. I know our Hollywood effects people experts in CG do it, but I'am sure they have some special software or technique to accomplish it. My question is, has anyone in our forum attempted this or is aware of software that can speed up the process. Thanks for any replies.
bilc

[Mug Funky]

you mean rotoscope? there's pretty much only one way to do it reliably, and that's frame-by-frame.

if your camera doesn't move you could use difference-matting though - this has drawbacks, but may be good enough to produce a black-and-white mask clip that you could edit with a bit more ease than the method you're describing above. but if the camera is moving you'll be stuck with plain old frame-by-frame roto.

our friends in hollywood do it this way too, and though there's programs for doing it more gracefully, the principle is still the same - painting a mask for every frame. that's what young graduates on minimum wage trying to get into the industry are for... sad but true

[foxyshadis]

I'd get a tool with a minimum of a magnetic lasso (gimp, an old photoshop 6+, or psp 7+ will work, psp calls it smart edge, gimp calls it fuzzy select, photoshop elements 3 and ps cs3 also has a spiffy brushed lasso).