CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Adobe Ultra

vector-keying application

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 22, 2025
Entity authorityQ2824690
Source-derived summary

Adobe Ultra is a discontinued vector keying application, helping produce blue-screen/green-screen effects for video (although the background can actually be any color). Ultra performs complex image analysis to produce high quality chroma-key effects in less than ideal lighting environments. Ultra also included virtual set technology, which allows the keying of a subject into an animated virtual 3D environment.

Since its discontinuation as a standalone product, the functionalities of Ultra have been incorporated into other Adobe products, namely Adobe Visual Communicator (since 2007), Adobe Premiere Elements (since 2008), and Adobe Premiere Pro (since 2010).

Ultra was previously known as Serious Magic Ultra Key, and was acquired when Adobe purchased Serious Magic Inc. in 2006. Unlike many of the other applications in the Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Ultra only runs on the Windows operating system.

Incorporation into other products

Ultra as a standalone application was distributed with Adobe Creative Suite 3 (released March 2007) but noticeably absent from CS4 (released October 2008) and CS5 (released April 2010). After CS3, the keyer from Ultra was integrated into two other Adobe products – Visual Communicator 3, and Premiere Elements.

Adobe Visual Communicator 3 (released in September 2007) had the full vector keyer control of Ultra built into it, along with some simplified virtual sets.

Editorial summary

“Adobe Ultra” enters the record as vector-keying application. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Adobe, Ultra and vector-keying can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007, 2008, 2010, 2006—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Adobe, Ultra and vector-keying.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Adobe Ultra” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Adobe, Ultra and vector-keying provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2824690. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2006.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Adobe Ultra”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Adobe Ultra primary sources, Adobe Ultra archive and Adobe research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Adobe Ultra”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Adobe Ultra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.