The Ultimatte to achieve its superb results uses multiple processing paths.
The first processing path is for the Background and internal matte.
The second processing path is to provide the Foreground image over black .
With its ability to process five levels of matte, one internal and four external the Ultimatte has a depth of live production capability not available from any other live compositor.
Colour Correction to both FG and BG.
In built delays between FG and BG.
Paragraph
The Ultimatte uses the key colour to generate a linear matte signal with the key area represented by white, the high level part of the signal and the action area represented by the lower levels or black.
As the matte generated is linear it allows the reproduction of shadows, net, glass and smoke.
The linear matte is used to modulate the Background creating an image with black where the Foreground action will be and any detail such as shadows etc.
The foreground processing cancels the R.G.B. levels in the keyable area to zero so that the foreground action is over black.
Flare i.e. the key colour contaminating the Foreground action is sorted by the Ultimatte removing the key colour across the whole Foreground. When the key colour is a component of the Foreground colours the controls can be set to allow them to be reproduced faithfuly but the spill colour is still removed.
This depth allows far higher production possibilities including the combining of keyed and live sets in the same shot.
Background Matte used to force selected BG elements to become FG, defined by matching matte.
Garbage Matte used to cover the area of from frame where the keyable area does not cover.
Holdout matte protection of the key colour from keying in foreground objects.
Layer matte addition of extra graphics layer using Layer matte.
Ultimattes contain two comprehensive colour correctors one for the foreground channel and one for the background. Both correctors control the Master, Reds, Greens and Blue levels for Whites, Blacks, Saturation and Contrast.
These controls allow the matching of Foreground and Background to complete convincing composites.
Control of Saturation allows the matching of Saturation levels between the two images. Contrast control helps matching shadow density in low key scenes
All the elements are drawn together to form the final composite. This allows the creation of complex composites.
To achieve the final composite the forefround is superimposed over the background by the Ultimatte.
The foreground processing cancels the R.G.B. levels in the keyable area to zero so that the foreground action is over black. The foreground action is then superimposed over the background image in an additive way. i.e. no keying is used. This is allows the complete foreground action to be used with no loss of detail.