Hi,

This thread is for the Reallusion Guys but other members are welcome to read it and reply.

Reallusion Folks,
I need to make videos with transparent backgrounds like the ones you have on your homepage showing the floating robotic spider etc:

http://www.reallusion.com.

1.
Now, which software do I need to be able to create such transparent backgrounded video clips ?
iClone 4, WidgetCast, PopVideo Convertor, Adobe Premiere Pro ?

My requirements:
I need to have transparent backgrounded video clips playing both on my computer's desktop and on my website.
End of requirements.

2.
According to this following Reallusion tutorial, I need Adobe Premiere Pro because the tutor is using that software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhFZNeJE6sg&NR=1

But, isn't this tutorial supposed to be a Reallusion product's tutorial ?
So, how come your video tutorial is teaching us how to use a third party software Adbobe Premiere Pro to make transparent backgrounded vidoes ?
This means, I don't need any reallusion products to convert my normal videos files to transparent backgrounded videos ?
I am confused now so please explain.
I am at a loss to which software(s) to buy as a minimum to be able to convert my natural videos to transparent backrounded videos.

3a.
In order to convert my natural video files to a transparent backgrounded video files, must my original video footage always be in a green background ?
If so, then does that mean that, I can't convert my videos to transparent backgrounded videos if they have backgrounds in other colours ?

3b. If so, then how to fix this problem ?
I mean, how can I convert all my AVI files' background's multi-colour backgrounds to green coloured backgrounds with a click of a button ?

3c. Do you know of any freewares/shareware video editors that will batch convert my videos' multicolour backgrounds to the green coloured background on all the frames of my video files ?

3d. Technically and usually, how do you people make green backgrounds ? I can't be painting my wall green nor can I be plastering green wall papers all over my walls.
I prefer a virtual green studio and not a physical one.


4. What is the difference between WidgetCast and PopVideo Convertor ?
It seems they both have one function and that is to take-out the character (foreground) from one video file and put it into another video file (into another background). And, if I can do this with iClone 4 then what's the use of buying WidgetCast and PopVideo Convertor ?
I am totally confused here.


5.
Anything else I need to know ?


Ladies & Gentlemen,
kindly read all my threads and make your valuable posts there.
My posts can be found here:
https://forum.reallusion.com/Search1-1-2.aspx?SessionID=pptlcxvofujmwaaeru5s1a45&SortBy=2&SortOrder=1

Hi Master Ali,

I'll briefly try to answer your questions for you. For more information I would take a look at the product pages of each title. They will explain much more than I can tell you here.

1) If you are looking to work with real people rather than avatars then you will want popVideo Converter 2.0. This allows one click alpha channel creation using green or blue screen backgrounds. For creating widgets like those on the home page you will want to look at WidgetCast which is used for this type of output when used in conjunction with iClone4.

2) The YouTube tutorial you refer to was posted before the release of popVideo Converter 2.0. Now you can achieve the same thing in popVideo 2 with just one click.

3) Creating a popVideo is only really possible if you have either a green or blue background and the person in the video isn't wearing any green or blue (depending on which one you use). This is an industry standard practice and is used in movie and television production all the time. Sadly you can't just take any piece of video with a normal background and make a popVideo or transparent background from it.

4) To find out all about the individual features of popVideo Converter 2.0 and WidgetCast please visit the product pages. You should find everything you need to know there.

Thanks.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

I just wanted to follow up on this topic. I've searched throughout the forum and can't seem to find a clear answer. According to the product description for popVideo:
For Web & Desktop-

"You can also output in .iWidget format to produce synced playback files for creating WEB or desktop flash pop-ups in WidgetCast. Create professional looking pop-ups to automatically increase your website's online traffic."

This seems to indicate that you need widgetcast in order to play the pop video. And it states that you can place it on your desktop or a web page. 1) It can't play on it's own as just a video file? You need this widgetcast?

2) It still comes down to ppt for me. Can popvideo converter after removing the green screen background create a video of a "live actor" that can be placed in a power point presentation (without this widgetcast)? Some have mentioned converting the ppt using one of the other programs. But that's not what I want to do. So just to reiterate, can I (just using popVideo Converter) create a video of a live actor (making it a pop widget?) with transparent background that can be inserted into a powerpoint presentation? (One of the other posts indicated that you can output as .avi, but then it has the white mask so it's not really transparent unless I misunderstood). And just to be clear, I am not using crazy talk or the iclone program.

Thanks!
Susan

Hi Susan

The main purpose of popVideo Converter is to remove the green or blue screen background of a video to allow it to be used with iClone, CrazyTalk Animator or WidgetCast. The file format used is .popVideo which is not compatible with PowerPoint.

popVideo Converter does also allow you to export a "Mask" avi video which can then be used along with the original video to remove the background in a video editor. This way you could use the final outputted video, with background removed, in PowerPoint.

Hope this helps. :)

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Is Widgetcast dead?
I bought it a while ago with Pop Video Converter and iClone5.  Now that Flash is dead, is there any possibility of a product like Widgetcast coming out that utilizes HTML5?
I want to be able to create website live actors, but now that Flash is dead, I can no longer use Widgetcast / PopVideo Converter.
Any plans?  Any suggestions or alternatives? I do NOT want to use other companies as an alternative.  I have my own chromakey setup, so I just need the software to convert
to HTML5.  I liked that Widgetcast live actors could be moved around the screen.
Thank you for a reply.
Mike

Hi Mike,

WidgetCast has been discontinued for quite some time now and unfortunately we don't have any immediate plans for a successor that uses HTML5.

I'm sorry I can't bring you better news.


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com