lightsabre

morning,
i always wondered how i could add a light sabre to a video of me holding a stupid stick... can it be done in 3ds max or premiere?
do you guys know?...

example is here
http://digimediaworks.net/source/mov/sa ... %20two.mov

how do you do that?

i found that video on Darkremixx's website but there is no email adress where i can contact him...

I did this job very often at my time on the tv station for some fun animations! its really simple with Adobe After Effects. I dont know how to achieve it in premiere or any other application

how can you do that in after effect? do you think you could tellme and take a few screenshot?

basically u need something to extract the stick from your movie. coloring your stick in a color that isnt present in the fore ground or background will allow you to key it out then u will have to apply a glow effec to it . i've never really tried to do it but that should work . you think you could share the source video when you record it ? . i remember someone on the old forum did this a long time back.

are you saying that i accually need a stick or just somthing of the size of my hands? and do i have to do it the same way as we animate in max? cant yuo have a stick , determine some points on the stick and after effect does the rest?

i doubt it ...you could track a 3d model but that would get complicated. just get a pink stick .

there are a tons of tutorials on 3d star wars fan sites!

well i looked for some but i didn't find any... i'll just keep looking,exept if you want to tell me, or us how to do them.

3 seconds using google... ok 4 secs...

http://seanfilm.tripod.com/seanfilm/tutor_01.htm

it hardly tells you how to make it, and it doesn't even tell you how to animate it... the tutorial is not finished.. but thx already..

i know how to do one on photoshop but i don't know how to animate it with after effect, and give it that delay effect when you swing it around..

so this is the reason ive been getting more visits to my website
The way you do it is pretty simple, but it does take alot of time and work to get it looking great. There are two (well, 3 things) you need:

1: your film. make a film with person using and type of stick as a mockup lightsaber. what I did to do it is take really bright opaque tape and marked the lightsaber so that I would know where it is at all times during my editing procedure. the reason I do this is because normal dv tape is interlaced and if you have a normal colored stick it becomes very hard to see it when it is swung very quickly.

2. photoshop. this is what I will use to make the lightsaber.

3. either after effects, or premeiere. I HIGHLY reccommend using premeiere, or FCP if you are on a mac.

heres the workflow i used.
Import the video using premiere
chop the video youy want to use into 1-2 second clips. also make sure to make your video 24fps- its easier to animate that way.

then take every 1-2 second clip and export it as a filmstrip in adobe premiere.

then open that filmstrip into photoshop.

Then the hard part comes. decide on how you want your lightsaber to look, and then write down or remember those settings.

go thru the video frame by frame, and draw it out! painstaking yes, but unless you have a very expensive motioncapture system, its about the only way to do it.

After you finish that second or so, save the clip as a filmstrip file (i beleive the extension is .FLM) and reload the footage in premeire and you should see a lightsaber in your video

It really is about getting an eye for animation. thats the reason I did that exercise on sabers. just work at it and soon enough

btw, as always my contact info is listed here or on my website under "contact". I'm glad to help always. Let me know what you come up with.

Regaurds
-JP

1-2 second clips <<< what is that

video 24fps <<< how do you do that

then take every 1-2 second clip and export it as a filmstrip in adobe premiere <<<<< what do you meen

remember those settings<<<<< what do you meen

do you paint the light saber every frame in photoshop or image ready or an other program?

and reload the footage in premeire and you should see a lightsaber in your video <<< how?

a very expensive motioncapture system <<< how about making a tube in max, then use camera matching or tracking , making the program beleive that the stick your holding is the only none moving thing and it's everything else that is moving and before you render, hide everything but the tube... then make the background transparent in premiere then add the 2 vids ( vid of you moving the stick around and the vid from max) together in premiere... could that work????

sounds ok to me.. i must try that...


but thx a lot dude... btw on your page i couldn't find your email... maybe i didn't look well enough...

anyhow thx a lot... i'll definatly try that at school

>>>>>you use the "Razor tool" in your choice of non-linear editing applications

>>>>>Video24fps (frames per second) in video, for every second you see. you are seeing several amount of pictures. 24 is for film. 29.97(or 30) for normal DV video. you should reserach these things a bit more ot get a solid grasp on them

>>>>>Remember those settings.. I mean exactly what i said

for light saber drawing link:http://www.alienryderflex.com/rotoscope/

Reloading footage in adobe premiere is basically refreshing the file, updating the old filmstrip file with the new. you can do this by right clicking int he bin-selecting the file and reloading the footage

Hope this helps

Lightsabers are difficult, any way you look at it, although, with the least amount of video transfering and editing... i have found that after effects will acomplish a great light saber with minimal effort.

1)Bring footage into after effects...

2)create a layer (color of your light saber)

3)bring opacity down so you can see footage behind it.

4)use the pen tool to create a mask (you dont need a million points Just four will do) Draw a line tracing your sword blade.

5)turn on position keyframe toggle at frame 0 and start moving footage one frame at a time moving the points with the select tool to follow your sword blade.

5b) TIP: when the blade move fast and you get motion blur, set the points to engulf the entire blur..(trust me)

6)for the final touch you will duplicate you saber layer 3 times
right click on the first one (your true saber color) and feather the mask by 15 or depending on your comp size you will have to determine..
second one up, feather by 10 and give it a lighter color than your first layer. and finaly the third one make whit hot and feather by 3
you should have somthing that truly kicks ass.

wow thats a lot simpler now... thx a lotjoe_blowdog

I played around with this once, and I think it turned out ok. Though I did mine in max. With a thin cylinder glow and materials then animated the the bottom and tip with camera tracking. I thought it looked sweet, but I know nothing about after effects :S