Adobe Ultra is a software application for creating chroma keys and virtual sets. It is intended for use with green (or blue) screens. Adobe Ultra CS3 software allows users to transform keying into a practical daily production tool for all types of video projects. Create highly realistic background composites with drag-and-drop simplicity, even from marginal video sources; customize virtual sets with convincing effects like virtual shadows and reflections; and output in broadcast quality to a wide range of advanced file formats.

Top features

Quick, effective keying
Transform keying into a practical daily production tool for all types of video projects with Adobe Ultra CS3 software. Create highly realistic background composites with drag-and-drop simplicity, even from marginal video sources. Ultra includes 12 virtual sets with alternate angles, motion tracking, and scaling to put your subject in the set, not just in front of it. Output in broadcast quality to a wide range of advanced file formats.

Ultra Virtual Sets Libraries
Use included virtual sets (additional libraries are sold separately) for dropping keyed footage into realistic-looking composites, and customize them with a wide range of effects including virtual shadows and reflections.

Flexible output options
Enjoy a wide range of output options,including DV, QuickTime, image sequence, and 24-bit or 32-bit AVIs with alpha channels for later compositing with Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects software.

A virtual set has one or more image source files that are normally hidden. To determine the names of the files that you want to revise:

1. Load the desired virtual set.
2. Switch from the standard set of thumbnail controls for User-Defined sources to those for the Pre-Defined sources for virtual sets by choosing View > Displayed Inputs > PreDefined or by pressing Alt+P. The top thumbnail is for the virtual set just as it is for the standard controls. Below it is a thumbnail for each layer in the set. ( To return to the standard set of layer thumbnails, choose View > Displayed Inputs > User-Defined or press Alt+U.)
3. Click the thumbnail for the layer that you want to modify.
4. Check the Current Source field below the Input Preview Monitor to find the name of its source file. You can check the full path in the Look In field of the dialog box that appears when you click the Browse button.

The files that you just identified are stored in the Elements folder in the Master Set folder for the selected virtual set.

1. Browse to where the virtual sets are stored. The default path is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Ultra CS3\Content\Virtual Sets\[Master Set name].
2. If you want to keep a version of the Master Set in its original form, copy its entire folder.
3. If you don't see the Elements folder in the Master Set folder, choose Tools > File Options in Windows Explorer, click the View tab, and then select Show Hidden Files And Folders.
4. If you did not copy the entire Master Set folder, then Adobe recommends that you either make a copy of the Elements folder before starting to edit any images, or save the changes by a new name. Failure to do so could necessitate reinstalling the Master Sets Library to return to the original images for the virtual sets.
After you access the Elements folder, the .png and .jpg files are available for you to open and edit in an image-editing application.

How you incorporate customized graphics into an Ultra session depends on whether you save the revised graphics by their original file names or by new names. If you used the existing file names, then assigning the associated virtual set loads the images. If you saved with new file names to preserve the original image files, then you must assign the new sources through Ultra as follows:

1. Assign the appropriate virtual set.
2. Switch to the Pre-Defined Sources view (Alt+P).
3. Select the thumbnail for a layer that you want to change to your version of the image.
4. Assign the desired image source as you would any other source.