Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 5, 2005. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The new Primatte version 4 is expected to appear toward the end of the year. The exact start of delivery has not yet been determined, but the public beta phase is to begin in a few weeks.
The keyer, which is integrated into many other programs such as Nuke, Nucoda Film Master and Thomson Bones, will be expanded with several features for version 4. The most important advance will be the switch to 32-bit float, which makes it possible to address a considerably larger color space. Primatte 4 is also to continue to be offered as a stand-alone version, as a plug-in for Premiere and After Effects, and in the OpenFX standard.
The new features in detail:
- With the “Autocompute” command, the first three steps in pulling a key should be completed with a single click. The new algorithm will automatically identify the color to be keyed and adjust the spill accordingly, so that this automatic process alone produces an optimal key.
- A degrain filter can additionally be switched on when marking the color ranges. The idea behind this new function is that areas in film material never have one continuous color, but always consist of lighter and darker pixels because of the grain. Because the color picker always selects only the color of one pixel, it is easy to catch a pixel that has a different color from the one actually desired. The degrain filter prevents that.
- Inward Defocus make it possible for users to retain the edge of the mask and soften the mask inward. Previously, only a general mask blur was available, but its effect worked both into and out of the mask.
- The three options for Spill Replacement (“Solid”, “Compliment” and “Defocus”) are present in all versions of the software.
Further Links:
- Further information (manufacturer website)
