The Lightsaber Effects Thread

I love that yellow glow.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfw0cOPSLmg
First ever lightsaber duel I made, back in 2005 using this freeware program called LS Maker. It was a crazy buggy app, but it got the job done before I knew what the heck an after effectz was.

 

That's pretty good for LS Maker, though.

Ah... good times, good times.

 

Wow, I think that may be the best vid I've ever seen from LS maker. Best I got out of it was this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpY1UIkowB4
But even that was not my first try

 

Oh hey, look what I found!
*bump*

This may come in handy.

 

Well, if we're showing of lightsabers... what did you think of our entry into LCC X?

 

Ahh, the neverending debate continues.

 

Nate wins. Yours are just too blurry (the core specifically), and seem to be losing color on the falloff.

 

Whoops, think I killed the link.


My problem with the supersharp core is that it never looks like a light source, it just looks drawn on. This color/ratio's not quite where I'd want it either, but this was a rush Photoshop job meant to annoy Nate. =)

 

Oh, and for those playing the home game: http://imageshack.us/a/img341/9706/natecompare.jpg

Knock yourselves out.

 

In that comparison, Nate wins. But I do think those sabers are not as saturated in the glow as they should be. They are only saturated at the core. Maybe it's because there is more light in the BG...

 

Photoshop? No Aftereffects? No
All sabers done in The LaserBlade App for IOS in only minutes.

Epic lightsaber blade upgrade done with the LaserBlade App
Best 99cents I have ever spent hands down.

 

This ought to put the controversy to rest.

Ha, I'm kidding. It's totally gonna create more.

 

Haha. Good to see the ol' Lightsaber Effects Thread dug up again after a few years...

SB

 

Wonder how that was created. Photoshop, AE?

 

AE on my end, then I sent my stuff to Nate. Not sure if that's what he used.

 

Would this video below be a good lightsaber method to use or would Andrew Kramer's VideoCopilot video be the best?

 

The best tutorial out there is still Ryan Wieber's. You can find it here

He provides a better method to producing the glows and colorizing them, a much more realistic look. Overall, you'll want to search online for tutorials and tips on rotoscoping in general.

There are no specific ways you need to do sabers, the general process is you create a basic four-point mask throughout your clip, then go back and add a point to curve the end of the blade at the emitter, and another to fan the blade out a bit. You'll then want to roto out the blade going behind the actors and anything else that obscures them. One of the biggest mistakes I see people doing is adding several points to their saber core mask to do this, but the idea is to keep all your masks neat and organized. In the end your saber core should only have six points (four points for the general shape, two more on each end to curve it as necessary). When rotoing sabers, you're going to have a lot of keyframes due to the nature of the animation, but your obscuration masks should follow one of the core principles of rotoscoping: use less keyframes. Most programs will interpolate motion in between keyframes so let the program ease the work for you, instead of keyframing every frame. Remember: that just goes for rotoing the sabers behind objects, not for the saber core masks themselves.

Study the way the sabers are animated in duels like Ryan VS Brandon 2 and Duel of the Dorks, because in a way this IS animation. When people swing around sabers they tend to fade and a lot of times disappear completely because of motion blur, so it'll be up to you and your eye to 'draw' out where you think the blade should be on that frame. On very difficult shots where you can't see the blade, you'll want to study the frames before and after the frame in question. Find the natural motion of the saber and you'll be able to pinpoint where the saber is at the point where it's blurred out. You'll pick up your own tricks to getting it done the more you roto sabers and people. Also, if its within your means to do so, check out Imagineer Systems Mocha app for rotoing. You'll pick up better habits starting there than in After Effects alone, but that's not to say After Effects can't get the job done on it's own. The benefit to Mocha is its planar tracker system, which comes in handy when you are masking out the sabers behind people and objects, letting you simply draw a mask around them and hitting track forward. Speeds up the roto process.

 

Thanks! Well my whole problem is the blur. I love ILM's saber blur


And my problem is getting the blur right. The video you linked above is helpful for still images but videos are another thing. I have used the tutorial I linked above and also Videocopilot's AE saber preset. I just did a video with it too. I'd really appreaciate it if you would critique my roto skills. I will PM my video.

 

Ryan's method applies to videos as well, he just used a still as an example. The adjustment layers will blur the core correctly. There are several other methods you can use though, no one method will always fit your needs.

 

I PM'ed you my video. What do you think?

 

Good work! The ends are both a bit too round, the tip should only really get rounder when in motion. Also, what transfer mode are you using for your saber glows? To get a more realistic looking saber glow you'll want to set everything to screen.

 

This was done using Videocopliot's preset.
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/light_sabers_v2/

I have used Ryan Weiber's method though for pics and it turned out good. This was done for a friend.

 

Also, I only used pictures because I haven't mastered the best method for the lightsaber rounding in motion.