Green Screen Video Editor

How the Green Screen Video Editor works

How the green screen video editor keys a clip

For every pixel the page measures how much greener it is than its red and blue parts. Pixels well above the tolerance are made fully transparent, pixels just above it fade out across the softness range, and everything else is kept. The background picture or video is drawn first and the keyed footage is laid on top, frame by frame.

Getting a clean key

Start with tolerance low and raise it until the backdrop disappears. If the edges of hair or clothing look hard, raise the edge softness. If parts of the subject vanish, such as a green shirt or plant, lower the tolerance or switch to a blue screen next time. Spill removal pulls the green tint out of skin and hair edges that picked up light reflected from the screen.

Lighting tips

The key works best when the screen is lit evenly with no deep shadows or creases, the subject stands a metre or more in front of it, and nothing they wear matches the screen colour. Even lighting matters more than the exact shade of green.

Backgrounds

Any image works as a still backdrop. A background video loops if it is shorter than your clip. Without a background file, the screen is replaced with a plain colour. Footage is processed at up to 1280 pixels wide so the key can run in real time.

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