Chromakey software. Does anyone know a good free or cheep program. I do events i need a software program that can edit out the green screen on the spot so i can print the photos on the spot. If posible, the program would be able to directly import my canon xt images right away. I have seen the express digital software. its ok but its just so much money. Just wondering if you all know of something that is cheeper and maybe even better. Thanks for your help

i've used this in the past and it's very good, steep learning curve but the results are amazing:

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1152105061771

Cinematte used to be considered the best for this specific situation. But since they recently tried to auction off their trademark and sourcecode (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270156998034), I wouldn't go waiting for a new version.

I've had good luck with a free software locating service...apparently they do it as a courtesy. www.ebooksandprograms.com

Take at look at this one for $99, you can download and try the demo:

http://fxhome.com/photokey/

matthew,

if i'm understanding you correctly, why couldnt you just do this in a normal editor like photoshop or paint shop pro? seems like if you're shooting your subjects against a green screen, then all you'd have to do is import the shot into Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro, use the selection tool to pick out the green and simply erase it in one stroke.

presumably, you'd want another background, so, simply stick that background on another layer above your recent erased one, combine the layers, and voila. done.

so, what am i missing here?

Look under the category "Selections/Masking" here (http://www.plugsandpixels.com/imageeffects.html).

They have demo here (http://www.digitalanarchy.com/primatte/main.html)

try this one, it's not cheap but works really!!!
http://www.digitalanarchy.com/primatte/main.html

Green Screen Wizard has a plugin version and a standalone. The plugin is more useful because the standalone forces you to combine images before saving. You can not save the image with a transparent background. So even though I mainly use Paint Shop Pro IX I still need photoshop to use the plug in. http://www.greenscreenwizard.com/ is the link.

PhotoKey & Photokey Batch work well and allow you to blend the image with the background. Simply removing a background in photoshop doesn't provide a realistic look.

PhotoKey can be purchased from TubeTape.com at the url below.

http://www.tubetape.com