HOW TO MAKE LIGHTSABERS 2.0

Ok i've look and frankly i'm tired of looking for it so . . . . . How do you cut a person's arm off using a lightsaber in
after effects.

 

subtraction mask. animate. bam

 

Thanks for the answer but i would like a little more discription on how to do it. Thanks again

 

Get a clean background plate. Mask off the limb you want to be cut off. Animate it to fall when it's cut. That's the simplest method.

 

Actually, the simplest method would be to do some cut away shots. I'll give an example.

2 fighters. Camera set to a mid shot. One fighters comes down in a sweeping high swing, 2nd fighter comes up to block. Positioning of fighters is that so we can see that if followed through the 1st lightsaber will cut though 2nd's arm. Cut to a close up of 2nd figher and he let's out a cry of pain. cut to a shot of the ground and show the arm falling (just drop it into the shot.) And there you have it. a sequence that will show a arm getting cut off. That is the simplest way you can do something like that and...(dun..dun.duuuuuuun) it's something that film makers have been doing for almost a 100 years and is still used to this day.

Now if you want to do it all computer animation and stuff like that to see if you can do it.... That I cannot help with.

 

[image=http://starwars.wikicities.com/images/0/0d/Mr_dooku_saber.jpg]
The question is how am I going to construct a lightsaber prop that is similar to EP3 Dooku's saber. But I don't know how to get started.

 

Use plumbing parts. Bend and change as needed. Use your imagination.

 

There are a few websites out there that show how to make Dooku's lightsaber from plumbing parts. Modify one of these to make it.. or take a desgin to a machine shop and see if they can make it for you.

Here is a online tutorial on how to build dooku's lightsaber in 20 minutes. It is NOT the most accurate thing in the world, but take his desgin and modify it and you should come up with something close.

http://kincharbamin.com/20-Minute-Saber.html

 

Dunno what you're going to do about getting a prop blade in a curved hilt if it's for dueling, however.

 

Use my technique... it would be perfect for that kind of hilt... if you don't know what I am talking about see previous post. Otherwise send me a e-mail to

lightguru@hotmail.com

and I will get int touch with you.

 

You should add these programs:

EffectsLab Pro
Apple's Motion

 

I'd recommend taking that 20-min Dooku tutorial, and instead of adding an equal-length cylinder on each side, instead keep the length on one side and the curved end will be enough to be pretty similar to the Dooku hilt.

The curve doesn't have a lot of length, it's just enough to pull off some interesting manuevers. I would like to try sparring with one like that one of these days; see what it's like.

 

There is another program called Cinepaint which is Free/Open Source software. It's a fork from The GIMP which is my weapon of choice when editing photos for the Web. It might be a very nice tool for this kind of stuff -- rotoscoping lightsabre blades, doing explodey things and Force Lightning, etc.

Actually the Linux development community for indie filmmaking is becoming pretty awesome because Linux is actually being used in places like WETA Workshop and Digital Domain and so forth. A lot of the programs on this page aren't 100% mature but they are getting there. And usually it's only a matter of time before something that starts on Linux gets ported to Windows and Mac OS X.

Oh yeah, and I want to point out my tutorial on building quick n' dirty lightsabre props. It's in my signature.

 

Just FYI for all interested in a cheap digital camera. I just bought a Aiptek Totally Digital camcorder for $149.99 It records onto a SD card and the resolution is pretty damn good. I am still experimenting on some of the setting, but so far I am impressed for the price. I find it to be a really good "Starter" digital camcorder and it doesn't break the bank.

I found it at Target.

 

I'm willing to bet that if it's got a decent resolution, it's running at a crap framerate.

 

Seems to be a good frame rate. Once I get more into it and experiment more I will post a full review of it on the forum. So far I am liking it... I mean it's not the greatest camera in the world and I am not going to be able to make a blockbuster hollywood film with it, but for a guy like me who can barely afford to pay his bills... this thing is the best I am going to get for now.

 

If your 'good framerate' is anything less than 24, it's a crap framerate.

 

I just went through my manuel and the framerate is 30fps. I know.. it's not great.. but I guess it is not "crap"

 

No, 30fps is perfectly fine! That's NTSC.

What rez does it record at?

 

It has two different recordings. VGA records at 640X480 and QVGA records at half that. 320X240. Also the one I got is a 6MP camera so you can record at a 1MP a 3MP or a 6MP pixel size as well. You can also of course take pictures with the camera.

 

I'm sure that it doesn't record video at 6MP. That'd be 2816x2112. That's over 2k. The HDC-F950 doesn't get that good.

EDIT:

SPECS: MPEG-4 video, Max rez:640x480, bitrate: 2840kbps(355KB/sec)

 

Sure.

 

So, the standard length for a DB saber is 22". Damn. I have one that is probably about 18"-19". I hope that'll do.

My friends and I are going to make a Jedi Civil War era film- "Fall of Shadow"


Keep an eye out for it.


Darth Nossk [color/]

 

Im currently trying to rotoscope me with my lightsaber for a teaser for my upcoming film. the only problem is the mask it's on all frames and not just the frames I want it to be. How do I fix this? I tried puting it off the canvas im using ryan webers tut for after effects but now my blades are all misalinged.. help? and also is it possible to change my enviroment from my room to somthing else with out a blue screen?

 

First part of your question: Change the opacity. But odds are you dragged the composition itself and not the mask, which is causing the misalignment.

Second part: Yes, but it's very difficult and time consuming. Rotoscoping out your actors, fun times. Just get a screen.