The first and still the best hardware compositor on the market is the Ultimatte system (www. ultimatte. com). This system combines the foreground and background plates through hardware so you can see the results of the composite instantly and make adjustments either in the setup or through the hardware settings. Not only does the hardware- key out the background colors, leaving the reflections and shadow details intact, but by using a difference matte, it also compensates for a dirty background matte, footprints, marks on the floor, cables, light stands, and other items that may be in the background.