Where can you find a VERY cheap but usable chroma key software?

Answer 1

Chroma key software is becoming very common with most video editing packages. Most operate reasonably well but the question refers to usability. Free video editing and manipulation packages tend to work reasonably well but often suffer with poor user interfaces. As one pays more for better software, the control interface improves and high quality professional systems will always have elegant and effective interfaces.

It is also worth noting that the more expensive systems tend to have a far greater range of controls for chroma keying with a great level of adjustment over chroma, luma and saturation levels for the filters among other things. For an experienced editor, the increased number of keyer controls is a definite advantage and gives him the tools he needs to set up a key quickly and efficiently even with less than optimal content and green screen backgrounds.

For the casual amateur user, this extra level of control might work against a simple and quick set up. In these cases, the lower cost and simpler editors may be more effective at delivering a reasonable chroma key filter than the high end ones.

So, to answer the question, take a look at trial several different products until you find one that is understandable, effective, simple to manipulate and within budget. It can be a challenge to find the right video or image editing software but it is worth pursuing until you have the right package. Spending time to find the system that works for you can save hours of work in the future.