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Adobe 25510629 User Guide - Page 21

Product overview, Overview

UPC - 883919067353

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CHAPTER 3 Product overview 3 Overview Adobe® Ultra® CS3 is a stand-alone keying and compositing application designed to use many kinds of video sources. The keying process starts with loading a virtual set, video clips, or both. You then calibrate the keyer, change any settings as needed, and record the output to a video file for use in an editing application, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects. Ultra is compatible with many standard video formats and has been fine-tuned to provide high-quality output and smooth performance, even with DV clips. You can immediately see any changes to the keyer quality settings. Ultra exceeds other tools in many ways. One of the most noteworthy and powerful ways is that Adobe offers a wide range of virtual sets that provide background and, in many cases, foreground elements for video clips. Virtual sets come in collections known as master sets that have a variety of camera angles for the same virtual 3D environment. Available in packages known as Master Sets Libraries, most master sets have at least one set with virtual camera motions that use the Adobe VirtualTrak camera tracking system. You can use your own videos, digital images, and graphics as backgrounds, foregrounds, and insets for composited movies created in Ultra. Ultra contains advanced features and innovations that separate it from conventional chroma keyers (color keyers). With Live Preview, you can adjust the lighting, camera placement, angle, and zoom to fit the set that you are using before you shoot the source footage. Dynamic controls let you adjust the size, position, and orientation of the source video and other layers in the virtual set. Up to four independent overlays let you easily customize virtual sets and add dimension to composited movies. The pan and zoom features let you add virtual camera moves and zooms to scenes. The GPU Boost feature substantially speeds up keying and compositing. 21

Section	Page
Contents	3
Getting started	9
Installation	9
Installing the software	9
Choosing PAL or NTSC video format	9
ReadMe	10
Resources	10
Adobe Help resources	10
Adobe Video Workshop	11
Extras	12
Adobe Design Center	12
Adobe Developer Center	12
Customer support	13
Downloads	13
Adobe Labs	13
User communities	14
Essential features	14
Quick-start session	17
Step-by-step workflow	17
Tutorial	18
Product overview	21
Overview	21
Layers, inputs, and virtual sets	22
Active layer	24
Virtual sets	24
User interface	27
Input area and Input Preview Monitor	28
Layer thumbnails	29
Controls under the Input Preview Monitor	30
Tool buttons	30
Output Preview Monitor and previewing the output	31
Magnifying and repositioning the view in the monitors	33
Sliders	34
Grid controls	34
Timecode fields	34
Tabs	35
Keyer tab	35
Colors tab	38
Scene tab	40
Pan & Zoom tab	41
Input tab	42
Shadows tab	44
Output tab	45
Libraries	47
Application menus	48
File menu	48
View menu	49
Tools menu	50
Play menu	50
Help menu	51
Right-click context menus	51
Text and number boxes	51
Background and Input Clip thumbnails	51
Overlay thumbnail	52
Output Preview Monitor	52
Grid controls on the Scene, Input, and Pan & Zoom tabs	52
Items on the Virtual Sets, Backgrounds, Output Clips, Sessions, and Browse library tabs	52
Blank spot on one of the library tabs	53
How to	55
Creating and managing Ultra sessions	55
Creating a session	55
Opening a session	55
Saving a session	56
Working with a session on a different computer	56
Creating and assigning sources and virtual sets	57
Shooting video for Ultra	57
Live Preview	57
Setting up the camera	58
Controlling the lighting	58
Framing the subject	59
Optimizing the color screen backdrop	60
Reducing spill	61
Choosing the subject’s wardrobe	61
Choosing the background or virtual set	62
Directing on a virtual set	62
Improving the quality of the source footage and facilitating recording	62
Assigning content to layers	63
Assigning source content to a layer	63
Matching the aspect ratio of a basic set’s background with a session	65
Matching input clips and virtual sets	65
Adding overlay layers	66
Using a still image as the input clip	66
Supported input formats	67
Creating elements for a set or individual layers	68
Backgrounds	69
Overlays	70
Finished, composited scene	71
Advanced compositing tasks	72
Customizing a virtual set	73
Editing virtual set images	74
Moving virtual sets to an alternate location	75
Copying a single virtual set	75
Setting the key	76
Keying methods	76
Improving a background in the input clip	77
Set Key	78
Setting Key Points (Apply Points Method)	79
Single Key Point Method (One Color Pickup)	79
Multiple Key Points Method (Color Spread)	80
Keeping the shadow in an input clip	82
Cropping and spot masking the source clip	83
Cropping the edge of a frame	84
Painting a mask	84
Fine-tuning the Keyer settings	84
Viewing the key	85
Basic keying workflows	85
Saving and applying Keyer settings	88
Positioning layers and performing virtual camera moves	88
Differences between sets of Position controls	89
Adjusting the framing	90
Setting the size, position, and orientation of a layer plane	91
Changing the position and scale of a layer plane	92
Changing the orientation of a layer plane	93
Positioning insets in custom virtual sets	94
Moving and scaling an input within the layer plane: Input Offset controls	95
Moving and flipping the input vertically and horizontally	97
Rotating the input	97
Changing the scale of the input	98
Returning all grid settings to the defaults	99
Panning and zooming	99
Grid control	99
Adding and setting a pan and zoom point	101
Changing a pan and zoom point	102
Programming a continuous virtual move with multiple points	103
Programming multiple moves with pauses	103
Panning and zoom with different aspect ratios	103
Viewing a session without virtual camera moves	103
Achieving the correct timing for video clips	104
Trimming the In and Out Points in a video clip	104
Looping the clip	105
Specifying when a video clip begins playing in the session	105
Setting a pause point for a VirtualTrak effect	107
Adjusting the volume of a video clip	107
Fine-tuning the appearance of the video	107
Correcting colors	108
Making color corrections	109
Saving and applying color settings	110
Adding shadows and reflections	111
Enabling a shadow or reflection and making it the active one	111
Changing the position of a floor shadow	112
Changing the position of a wall shadow	116
Changing the appearance of a shadow or reflection	116
Saving and applying settings for a shadow or reflection	118
Defocusing a source	119
Saving the finished video	119
Outputting still images (Frame Sequence)	122
Outputting clips or stills with an alpha channel	122
Troubleshooting and getting help	123
Updating software	123
Technical Support	124
Symptoms and solutions	125

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CHAPTER 3

Product overview

Overview

Adobe® Ultra® CS3 is a stand-alone keying and compositing application designed to use many

kinds of video sources. The keying process starts with loading a virtual set, video clips, or

both. You then calibrate the keyer, change any settings as needed, and record the output to a

video file for use in an editing application, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After

Effects. Ultra is compatible with many standard video formats and has been fine-tuned to

provide high-quality output and smooth performance, even with DV clips. You can

immediately see any changes to the keyer quality settings.

Ultra exceeds other tools in many ways. One of the most noteworthy and powerful ways is

that Adobe offers a wide range of virtual sets that provide background and, in many cases,

foreground elements for video clips. Virtual sets come in collections known as

master sets

that

have a variety of camera angles for the same virtual 3D environment. Available in packages

known as

Master Sets Libraries

, most master sets have at least one set with virtual camera

motions that use the Adobe VirtualTrak camera tracking system. You can use your own

videos, digital images, and graphics as backgrounds, foregrounds, and insets for composited

movies created in Ultra.

Ultra contains advanced features and innovations that separate it from conventional chroma

keyers (color keyers).

With Live Preview, you can adjust the lighting, camera placement, angle, and zoom to fit

the set that you are using before you shoot the source footage.

Dynamic controls let you adjust the size, position, and orientation of the source video and

other layers in the virtual set.

Up to four independent overlays let you easily customize virtual sets and add dimension

to composited movies.

The pan and zoom features let you add virtual camera moves and zooms to scenes.

The GPU Boost feature substantially speeds up keying and compositing.