Making characters-screenshots and transparency

[Maximum]

I'm getting set up to shoot my vids sometime over the next month or so.

I'm using real characters and cutting them out of video, frame-by-frame (30 frames per second). But I want to do this by taking screenshots of the characters running.

I need to know a few things:

Screenshots and cutting

*What program is best for taking screenshots of video and automatically making each screenshot a .gif or .png? I'll be needing a program that allows me to take 30 screenshots per second (minimum).

*Would it be best to take the screenshots in full screen in order to reduce size changes during conversion? (screenshots usually resize, at least in my experience).

OR...

*Should I scrap the idea of using a screenshot program entirely, and just use a video program like Sony Vegas... then just move Vegas' cursor frame-by-frame manually and take a screenshot on each frame using PrintScreen on my keyboard?

Making a transparent image:

This part is imperative. I'll be going with .png format for this.

But of course, I'll have to cut out the background around the characters. I'm not good at cutting things out cleanly. I have Corel, but I'm wondering if there are any tools that would make cutting out easier?

-If I shot the character scenes on a solid green background, I'm wondering if a program like Photoshop would allow me to just cut only the green and make the background transparent without me having to do precision cutting work (which I'm not good at) on hundreds of frames?

-Would a PC Pen/Tablet be a good option to help me with precision cutting?

-If no to the previous, do you know of any places that have some good photoshop talent for hire?

Any tips on making transparent images and advice in relation to tools in MMF2, are welcome.

[xor]

If you have a green screen, you can use the magic wand tool (in either Corel Photopaint or Adobe Photoshop) to automatically do most of the cutting. I have done this and it works well. However, the subject must be far enough away from the green screen (so as not to cast shadows on it), and the subject and the green screen need to be well lit. The feet will probably require some manual work, because even if the subject is standing on a green screen, s/he will cast shadows on it. You can use the clone tool in Photopaint to remove the shadows.

After cutting the object out, you can even apply some feathering to the edges, then when you open the PNG in MMF2, the edges will be anti-aliased (requires at least MMF2 standard, because this technique uses an alpha channel). Also, if you want to use anti-aliasing, you have to save the file to PNG using the correct program (Adobe Fireworks will work), otherwise you will get a halo around the object, due to a difference in the way MMF2 and most image editing programs handle alpha channels.

I don't have much experience dealing with video, but you need a program that will convert a video to a sequence of image files (it would be better than trying to use print screen). I did a quick search and found a few programs that do this (one of them is called Mplayer) but you are on your own with that.

[Stephen]

I use Adobe After Effects for this kind of work. It's expensive, but can do almost anything related to video and/or green screen.

stephen1980

[Maximum]

Thanks guys.

But what do you think about getting a Pen Tablet? My cutting ability is not good, I'm looking for something that can help me be more precise.

Any thoughts? Any recommended Pen/Tablets?

[Maximum]

I think FRAPS video recorded will work and I may not even have to pay for the full version.

It says that it records for 30 seconds and then you have to hit record again in the trial version. This should allow me to get all of my sequences since 30 seconds will be more than enough time per running sequence.

FRAPS has an export function to export to .png which is of course perfect for making transparent images... I'll just have to see if this function is available in the free version. If not, $37 is not a bad price