In this article, you'll learn how to remove a video background without a green screen online and for free. Removing the background, otherwise known as a video effect called Chroma Key, allows you to boost your creativity when building your videos. Video background removal is commonly associated with green screens and as a video editing effect called Chroma Key. Chances are you see video Chroma Key effects everyday but don't even realize it, from special effects in movies to online video ads to your local weatherman's 7 day forecast. Green screens and Chroma Key - they're awesome. But what if you don't have a green screen? Do you have to have a green screen? And why even bother removing the background from a video? Well, I'm gonna tell ya. First and foremost, background removal effects add a heightened sense of production value to your video, it makes your content stand out, it's a "Wow Factor." So by having the ability to remove the background from your videos, you open up a whole new range of creativity for content creation, I mean really, the sky is the limit on this one. So whether you're making green screen memes, reaction videos, special effects or any other customized video content, our friends at Kapwing have got you covered with their Chroma key and green screen editing capabilities. For those of you who aren't in the know, Kapwing is an online video creation and editing platform for modern creators. And you can try out this Chroma Key effect online and for free by clicking here to sign up for Kapwing for FREE. When you sign up for a free Kapwing account by clicking here it removes all watermarks! And save 10% when you upgrade to Kapwing PRO using promo code AFFILIATE10. The Chroma Key effect inside Kapwing can be broken down into three creative tasks - removing the background from your videos, removing the background from an existing green screen video, as well as, if you have a green screen, how to remove it inside Kapwing with Chroma Key. I'll touch on each task so you understand exactly how to use the effect. Now, once you're logged into Kapwing, you'll be in the My Workspace panel which will display all of your projects, to get started simply click on New Project. Next, it'll ask you what kind of project you want to create. In this case click on Start with Studio which is where all the magic happens. Now, you'll upload your recorded video clip. You can simply drag and drop a video file or paste a URL from a video online, like a YouTube link. Once your file has been uploaded or video link converted, it'll load the clip into the Studio. There is certainly a lot of functionality inside the Studio, but for the purpose of the task at hand you only need to work inside the Chroma Key effects. Select your video layer and then navigate to the upper right corner of the Studio displaying three tabs for Edit, Animate and Effects. Click on the Effects tab to reveal a set of options for background removal. First, I'll show walk you through the standard Remove Background option, which when clicked will put Kapwing to work removing all major background elements from your video clip, while only keeping the subject in frame. Should you need to adjust the clip, you can do so with the slider for Threshold to decide how much or little of the image you're removing. Once you have it where you want it, use the play button to playback your clip. You might notice that the edges are a little choppy, but certainly it's perfect for meme culture and social media content. Also, should your new video clip not playback smoothly, just know that all frame rates will be corrected once you export your final product. It's important to note that this Remove Background effect works best for single subjects in your video frame, with ample lighting available. With your background removed, you can source another background to place behind it. This additional background element can be an image, video or GIF. You can add a video background by clicking back on the Upload button and locating your video file. Or you can simply perform a search for GIF's or images to insert directly into your canvas. Whichever background you choose, you'll first want to click on the Lock Ratio button so the media element remains intact when scaled up and down in size. Now you have your video clip with the removed background on top of your new background. If you're reacting to a funny video clip or simply providing instruction for a new application how-to video, this effects allows you to move and position your clip anywhere on the screen. Pretty cool, but let's take this effect one step further and learn how to incorporate existing green screen video clips into your project. Let's jump over to YouTube and in the search bar, type in anything you want to include in your video and place the phrase green screen behind it. Seriously, there is an immense library of green screened video clips available for consumption that can be pulled directly from YouTube. Perhaps you'd enjoy a cameo from Doggface208, let's search doggface green screen, open up the video and click on the Share button, copy the video URL then jump back over to Kapwing, click on the Upload button and paste the video URL into this field. The clip will be processed and placed on your canvas. You'll notice that this clip has a green screen which needs to be removed. Let's click on Effects, then onto Chroma Key. And boom, it instantly removes the green screen background enabling Doggface to now be inside the scene. This feature allows you to remove traditional Chroma Key colors like green and blue, but it also allows you to key out just about any other solid color found on video and images online. You can even search for special effects on green screen like hungry great white sharks or massive explosions, if it has a solid color background on it, the background can be removed in Kapwing and placed anywhere throughout your video content. Additionally, it can serve as a new way to incorporate animated motion graphics like social media icons, cool subscribe buttons, and lower third name plates. Now, using an actual green screen for your on-camera elements will produce a better cut-out compared to the standard remove background effect. I personally use a green screen that attaches to the back of your office chair, click here to check out the WebAround green screen. But the same green screen effect can be achieved by purchasing a green table cloth from your local dollar store and mounting it on a wall. With your green screened clip recorded and uploaded into Kapwing, click on Effects and Chroma Key. The effect, by default, will do it's best to remove the green background; however, to get exact I recommend choosing the option to Key to Color, which when clicked allows you to pre-select any color from the wheel or use the eye dropper to manually pick the color. Simply hover your mouse over the color you wish to remove, you'll see a preview of the color you're about to pick, then click and Kapwing will remove that color from the background. The sliders allow you to fine tune the Chroma Key to achieve the best results. If you do a side-by-side comparison from using the Standard remove background effect without a green screen versus the Chroma Key effect with a green screen, you can definitely notice the difference in quality with the edges and overall transparency of your footage. Between these three options for background removal, you can start to see how this could revolutionize how you create your content and how others experience it online. Once you're done tinkering with your project simply click the Export button and Kapwing will begin processing your video for you to download and share. Watch Video: How To Remove Video Background Without Green Screen Sign up for Kapwing for FREE! Disclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links where I'll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
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