When To Use Digital Key vs. Chroma Key

As high-grade recording equipment becomes more affordable and non-linear editing software becomes more robust, even grade-schoolers can now post high quality video content to YouTube on a regular basis. The improvement in the technology and its affordability has also enabled video producers, at every level of expertise, to incorporate special effects into their videos. One of the more popular special effects techniques is called "keying." Keying, or compositing, is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all of those elements are parts of the same scene.

The technique requires the use of a uniformly-colored keying backdrop such as a "green screen" to achieve the effect. Through the magic of keying and compositing, the green colored item/s in the scene (i.e., the keying backdrop) becomes transparent, enabling an editor to select a different background in its place (e.g., a street scene, a mountain, etc.)

Keying backdrops come in two main types and colors:More...