Remove Green Screen in DaVinci Resolve: 4 EASY Steps

Davinci Resolve Green Screen/Chroma Key Guide

If you've been working with DaVinci Resolve for a few months, you might have come across a situation where you need to remove a green screen from your footage. To be honest, it might seem a bit daunting at first, but with a little guidance, you'll find it's not as complicated as it seems. In my opinion, DaVinci Resolve offers some of the best tools for this task. Let's dive into the details.

What is a 3D Keyer?

The 3D Keyer is a tool in DaVinci Resolve that allows you to isolate color ranges in an image quickly. It's particularly useful for keying blue or green screen backgrounds. The 3D Keyer allows you to simply drag your mouse pointer over the parts of the image you want to key, creating a selection in a three-dimensional representation of all available colors. However, it might not provide satisfactory results if your initial samples aren't accurate, as it lacks fine-tuning options like the Delta Keyer in the Fusion page. Nevertheless, for well-lit subjects, only two or three samples are typically necessary.

Removing the Green Screen on the Edit Page

The Edit page in DaVinci Resolve offers a convenient way to remove green screens by employing the Resolve FX Key filters. These filters can be located within the Open FX category under the Resolve FX Key section in the Effects Library. For green screen removal, we'll be focusing on a specific Resolve FX called the 3D Keyer.

Here are the detailed steps to remove the green screen on the Edit page of DaVinci Resolve:

1. Organize video layers: Position the green screen foreground video on a track above your chosen background video to create the desired composite effect.
2. Enable Open FX Overlay mode: This mode allows you to interact with the effect GUI controls directly within the Viewer, providing a more intuitive experience.
3. Apply the 3D Keyer effect: This tool excels at quickly and accurately separating the background and foreground elements in your image, making it ideal for green screen removal.
4. Open the 3D Keyer controls: Click on the foreground video clip and access the 3D Keyer via the Effects tab in the “Inspector” from the top right corner, where you can find various parameters to refine your keying results.
5. Use the Pick eye dropper tool: In the Controls section, click the icon and drag it over the green screen in the Timeline Viewer. A blue line represents your selection, and the green screen should mostly disappear, revealing the background video.
6. Fine-tune your selection: Employ the Add eye dropper to remove any lingering green screen sections. Utilize the Subtract eye dropper to recover any erroneously transparent foreground parts, ensuring a clean composite.
7. Activate Despill feature: This helps in maintaining the realism of the composite by removing unwanted color casts.
8. Preview and make final adjustments: Scrub through the timeline to review your composite and ensure the green screen removal looks natural. Make any necessary final tweaks to the 3D Keyer settings for optimal results.

Using Matte Finesse to Create a Perfect Chroma Key

To achieve a sharp and flawless green screen removal, explore the Matte Finesse submenu and its various settings. The "Clean Black" setting eliminates noise in the black areas of the key, allowing you to fill holes in the background and erode translucent edges. By raising the Clean Black parameter, you can make the dark parts of the key darker and push dark gray areas toward black. The "Clean White" setting removes noise from the white parts of the key, filling holes in the foreground and eroding translucent edges.

Further Improving the Selection with Spill Removal Tool

The Spill Removal tool in DaVinci Resolve is another handy feature that can help you achieve a more realistic composite. This tool helps to remove any color spill that might have reflected onto your subject from the green screen. It's a great way to maintain the realism of your composite by removing any unwanted color casts.

In other words, removing a green screen in DaVinci Resolve involves a combination of using the right tools and understanding the process. It's not just about removing the green screen but also about ensuring that the final output looks natural and realistic. With the right approach and a little practice, you'll be able to master this process in no time.

That said, it's important to remember that every video is unique, and what works for one might not work for another. So, don't be afraid to experiment and try different methods until you find what works best for your specific situation.

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FAQ

Can you remove green screen in DaVinci Resolve?

Absolutely, you can remove a green screen in DaVinci Resolve. The software offers a variety of tools to help you achieve this, including the 3D Keyer, which is particularly useful for isolating color ranges in an image. You can find this tool in the Resolve FX Key section of the Effects Library.

How do I get rid of the green screen on my DaVinci video?

If you're working with a video in DaVinci Resolve and want to remove the green screen, the process is similar. You'll still use the 3D Keyer tool to isolate the green screen and then fine-tune your selection to ensure a clean composite. Remember to activate the De-spill feature to maintain the realism of your composite by removing any unwanted color casts.

How do I get rid of the green screen on DaVinci Resolve Fusion?

As for DaVinci Resolve Fusion, the process of removing a green screen is slightly different. Fusion offers a more advanced tool called the Delta Keyer for green screen removal. This tool provides more fine-tuning options compared to the 3D Keyer, allowing for more precise keying results. However, the basic steps of organizing your video layers, selecting the green screen area, and fine-tuning your selection remain the same.