Petro Vlahos

Petro Vlahos (1916 to 2013) was an American engineer and inventor who is counted among the pioneering technical innovators of the motion picture and television industries. He is remembered above all for the Ultimatte process, which refined chroma key compositing, the blue screen technique that lets filmmakers place actors in front of other backgrounds. His contributions to the craft of visual effects were recognised with three Academy Awards and an Emmy. His work is a standard reference point in the history of how moving images are combined, and the techniques that grew from it are now routine in film, television and later digital production.