Parameters Reference

Complete reference of all parameters in Despill Maestro.

Main Controls

Despill Amount

Range: 0-500% | Default: 100%

Controls the overall strength of spill removal. Values above 100% provide more aggressive removal for difficult footage.

• 0% - No spill removal
• 100% - Standard removal
• 200%+ - Aggressive removal for heavy spill

Despill Color

Options: Red | Green | Blue | Custom | Default: Green

Select which color to remove from your footage.

• Red - Remove red spill (for blue/green screen shots with red light contamination)
• Green - Remove green spill (standard green screen)
• Blue - Remove blue spill (standard blue screen)
• Custom - Target any specific color using the Custom Color picker

Custom Color

Type: Color Picker | Default: RGB(70, 150, 70)

When Despill Color is set to Custom, use this to select the exact color you want to remove. Useful for non-standard backgrounds or specific color contamination.

Spill Refinement Group

Algorithm

Options: 10 algorithms | Default: Channel Average

Choose the spill detection method. Different algorithms work better for different types of footage.

Available Algorithms:

1. Channel Average - Best general-purpose algorithm
2. Largest Channel - Simple and effective for clean footage
3. Smallest Channel - Alternative approach for difficult spill
4. Spill Color Limited by Red - Preserves red channel (good for skin tones)
5. Spill Color Limited by Green - Preserves green channel
6. Spill Color Limited by Blue - Preserves blue channel
7. Limit Spill Color to 90% of Red - More aggressive red preservation
8. Limit to Exceed Channel Avg by 10% - Conservative removal
9. Double Green/Blue Average - Enhanced chroma preservation
10. Double Red Average - Best for preserving skin tones

See detailed algorithm explanations

Channel Bias

Range: 0-100% | Default: 50%

Only available for algorithms that use averaging (Channel Average, Exceed Channel Avg by 10%). Adjusts the weight given to reference channels when detecting spill.

• 0% - Favor first reference channel
• 50% - Equal weighting
• 100% - Favor second reference channel

Expansion

Range: 0-200% | Default: 0%

Expands the spill detection area by lowering the threshold. Higher values detect more spill but may affect colors that aren't actually spilled.

Use when spill removal is too subtle or missing edge contamination.

Softness

Range: 0-200% | Default: 0%

Controls the falloff curve of spill removal. Higher values create a gentler transition between removed and preserved areas.

• 0% - Sharp, linear removal
• 50% - Moderate softening
• 100%+ - Very gradual transition

Desaturation

Range: 0-100% | Default: 0%

Pushes despilled areas toward grayscale based on luminance. Helps eliminate residual color tints after spill removal.

The effect is strongest where spill was detected and smoothly transitions at edges to avoid visible seams.

Color Replace Group

When enabled, replaces removed spill with a custom color instead of just removing it.

Enable Color Replace

Type: Checkbox | Default: Off

Activates color replacement mode. Useful for adding color back to areas that become too desaturated after spill removal.

Replacement Color

Type: Color Picker | Default: RGB(128, 128, 128)

The color that will replace the removed spill. Neutral gray (128, 128, 128) is often a good starting point.

Color Strength

Range: 0-100% | Default: 100%

Controls how much of the replacement color is blended into the despilled areas.

• 0% - No color replacement
• 50% - Partial replacement
• 100% - Full replacement

Luma Correction

Range: 0-200% | Default: 0%

Adjusts the luminance of the replacement color to better match the original pixel brightness. Prevents darkening or lightening when adding replacement color.

Clamp 32-bit

Type: Checkbox | Default: Off

When working in 32-bit float, enabling this prevents color replacement from creating values outside the 0-1 range. Useful for avoiding unexpected results in HDR workflows.

Protection Group

Protect specific colors from being affected by spill removal. Perfect for preserving skin tones, wardrobe colors, or other important elements.

Enable Protection

Type: Checkbox | Default: Off

Activates the color protection system.

Protection Ranges

Type: Interactive Gradient UI

Visual interface showing three gradient bars for Luma, Hue, and Saturation ranges. Pixels that fall within ALL three ranges will be protected from despill.

The ranges are defined by the following parameters (typically controlled via the gradient UI):

• Luma Range: 0-100% (Default: 0-30%)
• Hue Range: 0-360° (Default: 110-130° for green screen)
• Saturation Range: 0-100% (Default: 10-90%)

Common Protection Range Presets:

Use Case	Hue Range	Saturation Range	Luma Range
Skin Tones	0-30° (red/orange)	20-80%	20-80%
Blue Wardrobe	180-240° (blue/cyan)	30-90%	20-80%
Red Wardrobe	340-20° (red)	40-90%	20-80%
Foliage/Plants	90-150° (green/yellow-green)	30-90%	15-70%

Tips:

• Narrow ranges provide precise protection but may miss variations
• Wider ranges protect more but may shield actual spill
• Use View Mode: Protection Mask to visualize what's being protected

Protection Strength

Range: 0-100% | Default: 100%

Controls how much protection is applied to colors within the defined ranges.

• 0% - No protection (despill affects all colors)
• 50% - Partial protection
• 100% - Full protection (no despill on protected colors)

Protection Softness

Range: 0-100% | Default: 20%

Feathers the edges of the protection mask for gradual transitions.

• 0% - Hard edges on protection mask
• 50% - Smooth transitions
• 100% - Very soft, gradual protection

Protection Blur

Range: 0-100 pixels | Default: 0

Applies Gaussian blur to the protection mask. Useful for creating smoother, more organic protection areas.

Note: Higher values increase render time but produce softer results.

Alpha Handling Group

Controls for generating and modifying the alpha channel based on spill removal.

Silhouette Alpha

Type: Checkbox | Default: Off

When enabled, multiplies the alpha channel by the spill amount, creating a matte from the despill operation. Areas with more spill become more transparent.

Use cases:

• Creating holdout mattes
• Edge refinement
• Generating garbage mattes from spill

Invert Alpha

Type: Checkbox | Default: Off

Inverts the alpha channel after all other operations. Useful when you need the opposite of the generated matte.

Low Threshold

Range: 0-100% | Default: 0%

Black point for alpha levels adjustment. Pixels with alpha below this value become fully transparent.

High Threshold

Range: 0-100% | Default: 100%

White point for alpha levels adjustment. Pixels with alpha above this value become fully opaque.

Note: Together, Low and High Threshold work like levels adjustment for the alpha channel.

Falloff

Range: 0.1-4.0 | Default: 1.0

Applies a power curve to the alpha channel.

• < 1.0 - Expands the alpha (makes more areas opaque)
• 1.0 - No curve applied
• > 1.0 - Contracts the alpha (makes more areas transparent)

Alpha Smoothing

Options: None | Smooth | Smoother | Smoothest | Default: None

Applies different smoothing curves to the alpha channel for softer edges:

• None - Linear alpha
• Smooth - Smoothstep curve
• Smoother - Smootherstep curve
• Smoothest - Double smoothstep curve

Each level provides progressively softer, more organic edges.

View Modes

View Mode

Options: Normal | Spill Map | Alpha | Protection Mask | Default: Normal

Change what the plugin displays for visualization and troubleshooting:

• Normal - Standard output with despilled colors and processed alpha
• Spill Map - Grayscale visualization of detected spill amount (white = more spill)
• Alpha - Shows the alpha channel as grayscale
• Protection Mask - Displays the protection mask (white = protected, black = not protected)

Workflow Tips:

• Use Spill Map to fine-tune Algorithm, Expansion, and Softness
• Use Protection Mask to adjust protection ranges
• Use Alpha when working with Silhouette Alpha settings

Rendering Group

Use GPU

Type: Checkbox | Default: Auto-detected

Enables GPU-accelerated processing when available. The plugin automatically detects GPU capabilities on startup.

• On - Use GPU acceleration (if available)
• Off - Use multi-threaded CPU processing

Performance: GPU acceleration can be 2-10x faster than CPU, depending on your hardware and footage resolution.

Benchmark Tool

Type: Button

Runs a performance comparison between CPU and GPU rendering paths. Displays processing times in the After Effects info panel.

Use this to determine if GPU acceleration is beneficial for your specific setup and footage.

---

Need workflow guidance? Check out the User Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Want technical details on algorithms? Visit the Spill Algorithms page.