If you are a VFX artist, it is probably safe to say that screen inserts make up a part of your daily work. Often times however on set, you may find that screens get shot without any preparation that would help out on the VFX production side.
[pullquote]We just need to put greenscreen / bluescreen / tracking markers on the monitor – how hard could it be?[/pullquote]Usually screen get shot with nothing on them, making them difficult to track or replace. This is why London-based VFX Supervisor, Compositor and Motion Graphic Designer Richard Frazer put together a simple little tool that can change all that.
VFX ScreenFiller
VFX ScreenFiller is a small and simple Windows and OS X application that will cycle through various green and blue screens, some with and some without tracking markers.
There are even some black screens, checkerboard, a color reference Macbeth chart, and a basic website screen. VFX ScreenFiller even has a video simulator that is designed to throw moving light onto a subjects face (when shooting a reverse of the computer user rather than the screen itself).
VFX ScreenFiller is free to download, both in Windows and OS X versions. Of course, you still have to put the app on the computer and run it while on set – but it does make things much more convenient! Visit Richard Frazer’s site for more information and download for VFX ScreenFiller.
