simulating force powers

A friend of mine is trying to place an electromagnet and switch in his glove to simulate a "force pull" when he reaches for his lightsaber. If anyone here has done that, please tell about it and/or post pics. THANKS

 

that would be pretty difficult. Is he pulling it off of his belt? If so he would need a pretty powerful magnet and a way for it to come off his belt easy. How far is he gonna pull it from?

 

Hmm... I was kinda thinking something like this. But it never happened. Sorry.

 

Just make sure your friend doesn't stand near your hard drive when he turns that magnet on. Or knives....ban saws.....metal poles...needles.

 

yeah, in order for that to even remotly work your gonna have to have a super strong magnet, which is gonna suck everything metal in the vicinity right to him, im not sure, but if this is for some kind of film, you might wanna be quite a ways away and zoom in, it might mess with the camera as well

 

If this is for a film fake it and play the film backwards so it looks like its a force pull.

 

A magnet that would have enough strength to pull something the weight of a lightsaber prop from more than a few inches away would require an extremely strong power source. Nor is it something that you could hide in someone's hand or fit into a lightsaber prop.

Sorry to break it to you, but as a physics major, I can tell you right now this won't work.

 

ya. I thought that physics would affect his ideas with placing this magnetmojiger in his hand. also, this is not for a film. it would be for your general costume.

 

Use masks in AE. Do not ask me how, it is obvious how to do if you have spent over a week with AE

 

Huh? What are you talking about? I have no idea, and what does it have to do with the Topic?

 

I would say your best shot is just to use a exermly small clear pastlic type of rope or teather and just use that to pull the saber to your hand, you would just need to be good at catching it and making it look like you directed it to that spot on your hand.

 

If you are referring to Adobe "After Effects" - jedi_master_leprosy already stated that this is not for a fan film.

-Kyle

 

Hi all
I dable in magic illusions from time to time and have been trying to focus on "Force ability" illusions for a while now. Trying to have a magnet pull a saber to your hand will most likely not work. I took an opposite approach with varied results:
Have a steel stud similar to a covertech knob mounted on your saber (only without the groove). Have as strong of a magnet as you can fit into the hilt attached to the back of the stud (inside the hilt). Make sure it's epoxied and not just "stuck" there by magnetic force. So now you have a saber with a magnetic stud on the side. I originally used this idea for a way to carry a saber around yet easilly remove it with a pull. The saber would fall out too easilly if bumped though. So I added another magnet to the holder attached to my belt. I figured that would help pull the saber to it more securely.
Well, I put the magnet in the holder backwards and the like polarities repelled each other. Flipping it around solved the problem, but it got me thinking....... What if I were to have an electromagnet in the holder that was the correct polarity to hold the saber......THEN, when I'd hit a switch or remote or something, the electromagnet would reverse polarity and repel the saber from the socket? You would have to minimize the weight of the saber to make it worth while. Otherwise, the saber would just pop out and fall to the ground. Perhaps a lightweight resin casting or thin aluminum shell.
The trouble would be that if the knob was towards the pommel end of the saber like many people prefer, only the end would kick out and not the whole saber. I tend to put my covertech knobs more central and wear them low slung if I can help it, but that's a personal choice since I like the look and ease at being able to reach the release without having to adjust my grip.
Anyway, for what it's worth....that was my idea. It never worked as smoothly as I would have liked on the "Force pull" effect, but it works great to retain the saber when both magnets are pulling towards each other. NOW I just have the electromagnet shut off when I push a button on the saber. I'm trying to come up with a way to reduce the size of the holder though, since the electromagnet is a bit bulky.


Corbin Das

Corbin_Das@Hotmail.com

 

awesome idea corbin!

 

ya! pretty cool. bt, i think that that would be to unpredictable and would just plop off. A tether hidden in a glove or sleeve may work. maybe a motor to slide it towards your hand? o well. btw. we be poor so resin casting isn't goin to be an option. hell, i could barely afford my PVC hardware saber (WHICH IS STILL LOST AT MY FRIEND'S HOUSE) o well, it'll turn up sometime or another.

 

Just don't tell me that your friend's next project is to create "force lightning" with 25 car batteries strapped to his back and 10 spark plugs stuffed into the ends of his gloves...

 

Funny story-In the movie HIGHLANDER, I read somewhere they had car batteries wired up to their swords during the final Macleod/Kurgan duel to create the sparkage when their swords clashed.

As far as Force Lightning, to create the kind of sparks necessary to make it look good would probably kill you.

 

for pulling from the ground, you could just drop, or toss the saber away from you, then play it in reverse. For the belt though, it depends on how it is attached. If it is a pouch or holster, drop it into the holster play it in reverse. Not sure how you would do it otherwise.

 

the_steve,