XD300 Unable to key against blue?

[Streaming Simon]

Having real issues with this one. We're using a PAL XD300 (which is great in many other ways) and 3 Sony EVI HD1's running in HD SDI. However hard we try we can't get a decent key on skintones when keying against a blue background. As soon as blue is chosen in the color picker, we get purple "burn thru" on some areas (forehead and cheeks are the usual problem) plus no control of spill suppression. Switch back to green and everything is great...spill supression is working fine as well. As an experiment we keyed against red - again no problem. Is blue a no go? We've got a LOT of blue curtain here!

[ted]

Wow, that's an odd one. Just to cover everything.
Did you use the color picker?
Did you select the color before you turned on the key?
Are you using the people from Avitar? OK, That was just for late night humor. :D

[Streaming Simon]

Ted
Yes, yes and no (but appreciate the humor).
Just tried it on some cardboard boxes in the studio too (sort of skintone I guess). Big patches of purple as soon as a blue key is selected.

[SBowie]

Big patches of purple as soon as a blue key is selected.Wow. You're right, there's something wonky here.

I'm not running exactly the same software as you are, but I can see the problem easily. I was quite confident I could come up with settings that worked, as I've tested with blue before - but something is busted. It looks to me like a blue key color somehow overwhelms the Spill Suppression.

Thanks for pointing this out!

[Streaming Simon]

Thank goodness it's not just my unit! As soon as you go anywhere near blue on the color picker all sorts of weird stuff happens. Yellows lose their saturation, bright reds turn sort of pink. Very unpleasant. The unit was new out the box at the end of last week so I assume it's got the latest patches...was something changed in the last revision?

[SBowie]

I can't say, I'm afraid. Later on in the day, I'll try to find time to roll back to an earlier build, but I suspect it's been there since release and you're the first to notice it. I distinctly recall testing blue way back in beta, but LiveMatte was updated a couple of times in that period. It pains me to say it, but seems possible to me that this was missed. :(

I submitted a bug report immediately after confirming your result, and will keep an eye on its progress.

[Streaming Simon]

Thanks for your help ... I look forward to using all these blue curtains!

[SBowie]

Engineering has been able to replicate this issue, which can usually be taken as a solid indication. It might be some time yet before this bears fruit, but I think you can safely be optimistic.

Thanks again, this was a great catch.

[Streaming Simon]

Good news - I'll hope that it's sooner rather than later. Thanks again for your help.

Meanwhile - anyone in the UK got a 30 x 9 green curtain we can borrow?!?

[SBowie]

Tried hitting it with a light with yellow or orange filters?

[ted]

I'm glad you caught this. We had a production a couple weeks ago where the talent, (who had already done one XD300 production) came in with a bright green shirt and tie. :devil:

I told him we could bring out a 12' wide roll of Blue seamless and rig it, but I suggested he get another shirt instead! :thumbsup:

I'm glad now, because if we killed 1/2 hour rigging the Blue seamless then found and played with this issue another hour it would have put the shame on us. :hey:
Very odd for simply picking another color??? And blue of all colors since that's the second most common key color.

[SBowie]

Very odd for simply picking another color??? And blue of all colors since that's the second most common key color.Odder still that no-one has run into it until now, since the XD300 version of LiveMatte has been out since almost this time last year. It seems blue must be a distant second to green these days.

[pro---studio]

Thank god it is blue. That color isn't widely used in chroma keying applications.

And I'm glad that I can still key against my red background.

;)

[BMW]

So does anyone know it there is a fix for this yet?

We use blue since Soldier uniforms are mostly green!

[SBowie]

This was fixed. I'm not 100% sure when the public release of the update is set for, sorry. (In an emergency, email me.)

[BMW]

our studio and my desk

[ted]

Nice setup BMW!

[ACross]

If you want to get the rev.2 beta, which includes a fix for this, there is a post on the forums on how to get it.

Andrew

[BMW]

Thanks - Ted

ACross - which post?

[ACross]

Gah ... for some reason I cannot find the thread now (I bet Steve knows where it is.) In any case, just email dfletcher@newtek.com and say I sent you :)

[SBowie]

Let's see if we can sort this out. :)

As the beta was drawing to a close (release approaching), I'd been asked to delete the original thread inviting participants. That said, there's no reason more can't participate, if they wish.

This particular instance being a bit of an exception, I had previously put BMW in touch with Dan, and he will hook you up with a download. Any questions, feel free to email either Dan or I. (Just for future reference, beta topics are covered by NDA, hence cannot be openly discussed, in the forum or elsewhere apart from approved channels.)

[BMW]

Sorry will be more careful in the future.