Ultra Key eyedropper not working on PC

[Ayapic]

After spending an hour on this, I decided to search and realize this has been a problem for many since around 2011.

I just installed the trial Premiere because I wanted to test green screening to see if PP worked better than my older editor.  When I use Ultra Key and use the eyedropper to select my green color, the color choice turns black (regardless of which color I pick with the eye dropper).  I'm *certain* I'm using Ultra Key and the eyedropper correctly.  In fact, if I manually change the color, the green screening works fine --- it's just that the eye dropper isn't working.

Can anyone offer a suggestion here?  thanks!!

[TaranVH · Accepted solution]

oook, so I have 4 monitors on my system, some with different UI scaling. I've noticed similar behavior, where the color the eye dropper tool selects is not accurate. however, it is not always black. it is just a color that is half a screen away from where it should be.

Because I have a cursor click visualization script, I can see what part of the screen premiere is ACTUALLY sampling color from.

Try click+dragging your cursor from the eyedropper, all around the screen and watching the color change. is it ever anything other than black?

[Ayapic]

Amazing...thanks!

I have a two monitor setup -- my Microsoft Surface connected to a 4k TV that I'm using as a monitor.  I moved Premiere over to the Surface screen and it suddenly worked.

Clearly it's a bug...and one that's been around since at least 2011, but probably not enough people are using Ultra Key on this kind of set up for it to be a big enough problem to address maybe.

Anyway thanks!!

[CJLEARN]

Two screens and a Surface Pro 6 with Premier 2020. Just encountered this issue and the workaround was successful.

[name is already taken]

2020, the problem still exists.

[R Neil Haugen]

Deal with this in your new thread ... I've responded there.

Neil

[defaultp0gnmbamn74d]

I have the same setup. Thanks so much. I only spent an hour of my life trying to figure this out. 

[Tim33800027bix6]

and it's November 2023 and still the same issue. 

[kelvinm98878604]

had a simple work annoying work around, I move PR on my main window or remove all screens and use the picker.

Thats it.

[convictionfilms]

Can you provide more detail on this" cursor visualization script"?  Im having the same issue, I'm on CC 2017.1.2, late 2015 imac, retina 5k, mac os sierra 10.12.5, 4ghz intel core i7, AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4096 MB.

I did the photoshop workaround, but it sucks.  i.e. screenshot, open in photoshop, get color value there using eyedropper, copy and paste it into Ultra Key.

This problem is not solved.  Adobe, please take note.

FWIW I spent 2 hours on the phone with adobe tech support last time this was bothering me a few months ago, they weren't any help. Had me uninstall and reinstall everything to no avail, wwasted a lot of time not coming up with a solution.

[TaranVH]

Uh, yeah, sorry. Here is a link to my script:

https://github.com/TaranVH/2nd-keyboard/blob/master/Taran

Click on the RAW button, then do a 'save as' to get that file onto your computer. You'll have to download and install autohotkey for the script to work. Double click on it to run it, and you'll see a little star appear in your taskbar. You can put a shortcut to that file in your startup folder, if you want it to launch every time your computer starts up.

Soooo, that script ALSO has scroll wheel acceleration built in, a feature that you will not necessarily want. But I think you can just delete lines 95 to 106, save it, run it, and you will be fine...??

Again, this does not fix the bug, it just gives you a little ( indicator for where your cursor ACTUALLY is, as opposed to where Premiere thinks it is. There is plenty of other software that can visualize clicks onscreen, and any of those might work fine for you, but I wrote my script because I found none of them to be sufficient for my own needs.

PS: Use the Wishform - Adobe Premiere Pro to report this bug. The more who report it, the more likely it will get done. Adobe doesn't really check the forum for bug reports, but they do check that.

Also, take a look at my big list of Premiere problems, here: ALL Taran's feature requests and bug reports for Adobe Premiere - Google Sheets and send in a wishform with any that you also encounter.

[Seekerami]

UPDATE TO ULTRA KEY PICKER PROBLEM.

Stumbled on the fix. If you hold the Command key down at same time while you drag the Dropper around, you will see the color box reflect the dropper's color. Clicking locks the keying in and voilá the chroma disappears.

[name is already taken]

Still having the same problem in 2020, Taran isolated it tho, the problem IS having multiple screens with different levels of scaling. 

[name is already taken]

After working on a different post about the same thing I seem to have found exactly what is causing things to break. AND how to avoid it.

In my setup, the eyedropper stops working when it is off the main screen AND the second screen it is on has a different scaling setting. 

If the scaling is the same it's ok, and as long as the effect controls on the main screen it works on secondary screens, but if it's scaled differently and that's where the effect controls are it stops working.

I don't know how this works if you have three screens or if your second screen is higher resolution but that's what's doing it for me.

[R Neil Haugen]

As noted elsewhere, the Program monitor needs to be on the same screen as the Premiere menu system ... and the ECP should be on that screen as well.

Neil

[John Br]

No disrespect to you Neal, but this is a limitation that's a BUG. And while a workaround is nice, it would be better to have the bug fixed. :prohibited::bug:🙏

[R Neil Haugen]

No disrespect taken. I'm at heart a practical guy. What I want is one thing, what works at the moment is normally more useful. And the twain don't often meet for coffee, you know?

I've argued with the engineers/managers for years that the UI should be able to recognize multiple monitors and simply be 'set' for having multiple panels, one for each monitor. I'll argue that at the next "live" in-person NAB and MAX again.

But ... at the moment ... that ain't how it works. So being totally practical, I'll give advice here as to what works now. Which in this case ... is make sure your additional panels in other monitors always have a tiny space between the edge of the Premiere 'panel' and the edge of the monitor. A total mind-numbing pain, yes.

But you can get the work out the door today.

Neil

[John Br]

So after more then a year of deaing with this the best solution that I have come up with is having a few different workspaces, my normal one for dual or triple montors and then one setup to jam it all into one screen. When I need to use the eyedropper I switch to the single monitor setup and do what I need to do, then jump back to the dual or triple monitor setup. Not a good workaround but the best I have come up with.

[R Neil Haugen]

It's a right royal pain that you are STILL dealing with this. Yowza!

I've still got my three screens, the main UI and secondary at 100% and the UHD used for transmit-out/reference work is 150%, so I'm working fine. No eyedropper issues.

But it ain't working the way it should for everyone ... and that's a rip.

As noted above, they NEED to set this app to recognize a monitor and put X panel on a monitor not based on whether it's plus/minus X pixels from the upper left pixel of the main UI monitor.

Among a couple hundred other things ...

Neil

[R Neil Haugen]

Oh ... you might add in the public beta, test that. And if (as likely, sadly) this is still an issue in that version, post on the public beta forum as a bug, let's see if we can get engineer involvement going.

Neil

[Badger5EF8]

So I'm having this issue on my iMac. No other screens. It qas literally working yesterday and now it isn't. I feel like I've tried everything. Super frustrating. Anyone heard of this issue on just 1 screen/iMac?

[Jay28721461i62s]

THIS IS THE FIX!

[toy toy]

still broken in 2022

this is only gonna get worse with monitors getting higher in resolution....

[Ina Melinda]

Had the same issue. To fix this I had to disconnect all extra monitors and restart my PC, this is after trying all other methods first.

[tylerl76900638]

Thank goodness I found this. Still broken in 2023. Luckily I am working off a laptop and a 2nd monitor so I just dragged my Premier Pro screen onto my laptop screen and selected the color I wanted and it worked, then moved the Premier Pro screen back onto my monitor.