Pleasantville effect for Avid Media Composer

If you are a seasoned Avid Media Composer or Avid Xpress user, you probably remember the old legacy Chroma Key effect.  If you're like me, you remember that it was a tortuous process of trying to obtain a good key.  Most of us ultimately gave up and used a third party keyer like Ultimate or After Effects . Finally, those days are over with Avid Media Composer's new Spectra Matte keyer. 

If you're still stuck using Avid Xpress, you are out of luck.  I highly recommend that you upgrade from Avid Xpress to Media Composer while Avid still offers an upgrade program.  The new Spectra Matte keyer is worth the price of the upgrade.

Also, I noticed in the latest revision of the 3.5X series of Media Composer software, you can now promote the old chroma keyer to the new Spectra Matte keyer.  Click on the promote to Spectramatte button in the lower right corner of the effect editor to use the new keyer. 

It also seems the old legacy Chroma Keyer is now using the same Algorithm as the new Spectra Matte code which produces excellent Chroma Key results with minimal adjustments

The new Spectra Matte keyer has been out for awhile, but there's one key element that seems to be missing. The ability to invert the key is mysteriously missing from the Spectra Matte keyer.  This may not sound like much, but it's a critical function if you want to create the Pleasantville effect. 

Ahhhh.. Certainly this cannot be the case.  As it turns out, it's not really missing.  It's in a strange place.  After promoting your keyer to the Spectra Matte keyer, click on the promote to 3D icon in the lower right corner of the effect editor.    

This promotes the Spectra Matte effect into a 3D warp effect. Twirl down the disclosure triangle for the foreground category.  Towards the bottom of the category, you'll find the invert key option.   

 

 

If you are used to using the old style Chroma Key effect to create the 'Pleasantville Effect', it's essentially the same exact steps, but you'll enjoy a higher quality precision in creating the key.