Read: Best Note Taking Apps For iPad Pro 2019
Green Screen Apps For iPad 2019
1. iMovie
Recently, Apple added the green screen feature in iMovie. And, when you have an app made by Apple for their own OS, it’s always better than the rest. I would put iMovie somewhere in between the advanced video editors and basic ones.
In order to apply the green screen effect, you have to select the option at the time of import. As of now, you only have the option to cut out green/blue color. There is a 4-point polygon for you to select the area that has to be included in the green screen. You also get a strength slider which lets you toggle the impact of the green screen cutout. If you are new to green-screen and just want work to be done, iMovie is a good choice. For those advanced controls, you might wanna skip this one. What’s missing?
Color Picker in the Chroma Key color chooser. Advanced green-screen controls.
Download iMovie
2. Chromavid
For simple uses like previewing your Green Screen setup, Chromavid is a good choice. All you have to do is upload a picture which you would like to be the background. Well, this could be any other picture as we want to test the lighting and setup. After you select the Chroma Key color, you will get a live preview on the screen. You can either record the activity or just have a live preview of it.
The basic idea behind making the Chromavid app is to let you create short videos for social media. Suppose, you are making a green screen YouTube video or commercial and want to share a short glimpse of things on Instagram or Snapchat. You can quickly edit the green screen of the same setup and post it to Insta. Chromavid lets you choose between 4 different chroma colors namely Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow. Chromavid is a handy green screen utility but could have been more awesome if you could do chroma keying for existing videos. There is a paid variant of Chromavid which lets you chroma key existing videos. What’s missing?
Green Screen Replacement for existing videos. Basic video Editing tools like cut, trim, etc.
Download Chromavid ($4)
3. Green Screen By Do Ink
Now with more advanced uses like editing out the green screen of an existing video will require a rather powerful tool. As we step on to that ladder of advanced tools, you will be greeted with “Green Screen by Do Ink”. It is built for educational purpose and aimed towards students. But, the support to edit existing videos makes it a pretty good offering.
To apply the green screen replacement, you just have to drop your video in the middle layer. It automatically cuts out the green color and you have a solid black background. You can fix the hardness of the green screen or choose custom colors as well. The sensitivity slider under Chroma menu lets you increase or decrease the hardness. Green Screen by Do Ink has the most intuitive interface but lacks some advanced video editing features like Transitions, color filters, etc. Considering the fact it is made for students, don’t expect it to be a powerful app. What’s missing?
Advanced Video Editing Features like Transitions, Color Effects, etc.
Download Green Screen By Do Ink ($4)
4. WeVideo Movie Pro
After “Green Screen by Do Ink”, we have the WeVideo Movie. Although the free version doesn’t support green screen or chroma keying. If you have ever seen a professional mobile editor like KineMaster or Luma fusion, this one is slightly different. You don’t get an exact timeline to place your media, it’s kind of a placeholder. But, drag and drop still work and you can organize the timeline using it.
You have to drag and drop your green screen clip on the timeline-sorta placeholder. Click on it to open the editing section. At the bottom, you will see certain icons which are different editing tools. The fourth one is “Chroma Key”. Once you are in that tab, you can choose the color to be replaced. Good thing that, WeVideo Movie Pro has a color picker tool which makes the job easy instead of typing in the #hex code or choosing colors. WeVideo is an excellent editing tool for iPad considering the fact it is built to work with touch displays. You also get a web version which has a typical video editor vibe. The only complaint I would have is too many steps to do small things. Like for example, If I have to edit a video it takes me to a separate screen. Now if I want to come back and edit the other one, it takes 2 clicks. It would have been better if the editing options were embedded on the main page. What’s missing?
UnPolished User Experience.
Download WeVideo Movie Pro ($5 yearly)
5. KineMaster
KineMaster is an extremely popular video editing app for Android. Little known that it also exists for the iPhone and iPad. Back in the days when I started YouTube, I edited a couple of videos on Kinemaster and in retrospect, I didn’t have any complaints. The video editor is a replica of how most advanced video editors look on PC. You have a timeline at the bottom, a video player on the right, and effect controls on the left.
In order to apply the Chroma Key effect, you need to upload the background image first. After that, upload the video with the green screen and select it. On the top right side, you will see the effect control section. There you will see an option called Chrome Key, once you tap on it you get the various chroma keying tools. You can select your Chroma color by either keying in the RGB number or through the color palette. What I really liked is the “Show Mask” feature. Once you tap on it, it converts the image into a black & white picture where the subject is isolated from the background. You can now access the curve, hardness and opacity sliders to finetune the corners. To have such an amount of controls in a tool is just remarkable. Kinemaster is an ideal video editor for an iPad available for free. The only caveat is you get a watermark on the video which I believe is totally justified. You can get rid of this watermark by subscribing to KineMaster Pro. What’s missing?
Color Picker in the Chroma Key color chooser.
Download KineMaster ($6 monthly)
6. LumaFusion
One of the best video editors on iPad and would be top on my recommendation list if you want to take video editing seriously. Luma has a couple of video editors and the full suite is called “LumaFusion”. It is a paid app where you will have to shell out $20 as a one-time payment. Time and again when I have used the app, it makes me wonder how close editing on an iPad has come compared to a full-fledged PC setup. No doubt the latter one is better but with tools like LumaFusion, you don’t have an excuse of making a sub-par video.
Now, the green screen is just a small utility in LumaFusion. To do chroma keying, you have to drag and drop a media in your sequence. By the way, Luma Fusion supports multiple tracks so it’s easy for you to place clips and pictures above each other. Now, when you double tap on the clip, it takes you to the edit menu. Tap on the “Color & Effects” tab at the bottom. You will get a Key icon at the top-right corner which will provide further options for Green Screen Keying. You get a Hue Range, Saturation Range, and Brightness Slider which can be used to precisely key out the green screen. In case you have a particular green-screen and lighting setup, you can create a Preset of these Green Screen Settings. Next time you can just select the Preset which will save you from all the manual efforts. Luma Fusion is the ultimate video editor to be used on the iPad. With the added functionality of Apple Pencil, it functions as a Mouse for the iPad. One little complaint would be that Apple Pencil gestures support could have been provided. Download LumaFusion ($20) Read: Best File Manager For iPad Pro 2019
Wrapping Up
In case you want just a green screen viewer, Chromavid is a good choice. If you want a simple tool just for green screen editing, stick to iMovie or WeVideo Movie Pro. Apart from Green Screen editing if you want a powerful editing tool, you can try KineMaster for free. And if you want to step up your video editing game, paid version of Lumafusion is a worthy bet. For any queries or issues, let me know in the comments below. Also Read: Best Green Screen Apps For Android, iPhone, and iPad
