Reccomend me some free/cheap software for green-screening

February 19, 2021 3:35 PM

I finally bought a portable backdrop with a green screen for video calls. When I use it with Zoom, it works fantastically. But my son would like to use it with Omegle and other similar programs, and I don't know which software would work best.

Ideally I'd like something free or cheap that will allow him to video chat with a background, whether it is a still photo or a video clip. But I have never looked into this kind of software, and the Internet has way too many options and I'm wary of free software that includes malware.

What do YOU use for green-screen streaming from a webcam? Someone suggest OBS in a related Askme, but that advice might be out of date now.

posted by tacodave to Technology (2 answers total)

If you have an Nvidia graphics card, Nvidia broadcast does this very well without having to do any special background setup. It actually uses the processing on the graphics card to do background removal (as well as auto zoom if you want it) and then exports that as a "virtual webcam" you can pipe into Omegle or anything else.

OBS Studio will also do this, but it doesn't handle complex backgrounds very well. But if you have a real green screen it should work, you need to set up "Chroma Key" and then hit the Virtual Camera button to make a fake webcam you can pipe into other things. I've not done this personally but if you search youtube you should find a few tutorials.
posted by JZig at 5:11 PM on February 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

Ditto NVIDIA Broadcast. I use it quite well with Zoom.

OBS is best for Picture in Picture shots, compositing your face on top of your other screen, for example.
posted by kschang at 6:16 PM on February 19, 2021 [1 favorite]