Green screens work incredibly well for the purposes of background removal. However, the application of green screen technology doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Inspired by MissMollyMakes, I incorporated green screen technology into my physical background. Here’s how you can do something similar!

What You’ll Need

• Neon green Bristol board
• Scissors or a box cutter
• Streaming software, such as OBS, Streamlabs OBS, or XSplit
• Lamp or other light source
• (Optional) Picture frame

Instructions

1. Cut your Bristol board to the desired dimensions. In my case, I cut the board so that it would fit inside my frame.

2. Mount the board to the wall. If you’re using a picture frame, make sure to remove the glass or plastic from the frame so that your camera gets a clear view of the green board.

3. In your streaming software, select your camera source. Add a chroma key filter to your scene. By default, your software will remove anything neon green. You might need to go into the settings to fine-tune the effect, but it should leave a grey hole where your green board would be.

4. Insert an image, video, or other media source underneath your camera source. Size it so that it fits your frame. Currently, mine is set up with a slide show and an emote wall so that viewer emotes scroll within the frame. Really though, from video guests to notifications, the possibilities are vast!

Troubleshooting

Q. My picture is very pixelated and flickering

In order for this effect to work, you’re going to need a lot of light on your green screen. If your room lighting or your regular stream lighting isn’t enough, use a desk lamp or a directional light source that you can aim at your green screen. With enough direct light, the image should appear solid.

Q. My wall is on an angle and my visuals are flat

If you’re using OBS, you’re in luck! There is a plugin called StreamFX that you can install that will give you an assortment of effects. In this case, you’ll want to add the 3D Transform filter to your visual sources. Tweak the pitch, yaw, and roll values until you line it up just right with the surface the image is mapped to.

Q. Other green objects in my room are negatively impacted when the chroma key is on

The unfortunate reality of chroma keying is that it will remove every instance of a colour from a specified source. Most of the time, green screens are green because that neon green hue doesn’t commonly occur in our day-to-day lives. Because of this, I’ve had to remove my Beast Boy and Yoshi plushies out-of-view. If I wore any green shirts, my chest would also get removed via chroma key.

If you really can’t live without green objects, you technically could chroma key out any colour. Instead of a neon green board, maybe a different colour would better suit your needs.

---

I take great pride in broadcasting within a physical space. Even so, there are a plethora of ways that I can incorporate digital elements into the real world. Give this technique a try and see what you can come up with!

---