MacroSystem Bluebox World - Manual (Page 7)

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Chapter 2
About Bluebox World
The term “Bluebox“ goes back to the origins of
a technology that enabled specific elements in a
video image, originally just the blue areas, to be
replaced with new video.
Imagine two photographs of the same size: the
first photograph shows an empty beach as a
background, while on the second photograph
someone is standing in front of a blue wall. (The
color blue is ideal as a background for people
because human skin has only very limited blue
components, making the differentiation between
foreground and background precise and easy.)
If these photographs are now placed one on top
of each other, with the photograph of the beach
underneath and that of the person on top, then
at first the beach photograph is entirely covered
by that of the person. However, as soon as we
reach for a pair of scissors and cut all the blue
parts out of the photograph of the person, we
have the impression that the person is standing
on the beach. The person, now free from the
original background, is then fixed on to the
photograph of the beach, so that the result is a
photographic montage with quite new contents.
The standard Bluebox effect from the
Casablanca series of devices is based on
exactly the same principle: two video scenes of
identical length are inserted into the storyboard,
and are combined throughout the length of
the scene using the Bluebox transition effect.
Here again the first (left-hand) scene is initially
entirely covered by the second (right hand)
scene. Instead of using scissors however, the
part of the second scene that is to be removed
is now specified by means of color selection.
Casablanca replaces the selected range of
colors, for the duration of the effect, with the
underlying video image from the first scene.
Bluebox World now goes far beyond the
standard Bluebox. To begin with, software
allows the ambitious amateur video film maker
to design professional Bluebox effects of first-
class quality with Casablanca according to a
very wide range of criteria. With Bluebox World,
you experience Bluebox to perfection:
• The selection of image regions can optionally
be made according to brightness values
(luminance key), according to color values
(chroma key), according to both brightness
and color (combined luminance/chroma key),
according to color saturation, to hue, or when a
specific black threshold is reached.
• An optimised Bluebox mode guarantees
realistic results, even when the light conditions
are not ideal.
• Soft, variably adjustable transitions between
the foreground and background avoid hard
edges at the transition region, so that even
complex image montages appear “genuine“.
• Any desired transparency value (alpha value)
of the foreground scene allows flowing
contours.
• Variable display and hide periods qualify
Bluebox World as a full-featured transition
effect.
• Masking and shifting foreground objects
allows individual image objects to be made to
fit precisely.
• Astonishing effects and effect variations offer
comprehensive tools for creative design.
• Live single-frame preview of all the effects
during the Bluebox design work saves time
consuming experiments.
• Successful Bluebox variations can be saved
permanently in the Bluebox World archive for
re-use in later projects.
• Several additional Bluebox World Image
Processing effects allow you to create
sensational video manipulations.
Thanks to its enormous range of functions,
Bluebox World can handle all the usual types of
application for Bluebox technology. With Blueb-
ox World you can:
• Achieve the“classic“ Bluebox effect of a
news reader in front of a blue wall in order,
for instance, for commentary to be spoken
against the background of a slide show or
documentary film.
• Put persons or objects in front of a different
background, so that, for instance, a rotating
globe in front of a monochrome background
can be included as a logo in your own video.