Special effects are really common and one of the most famous effects is known as the light saber effect. We’ll show you five simple steps that you’ll want to pull this effect off.
First thing you want to do is gather your materials then your solve effect, build a light saber key frame and add some final touches to really pull this one off. I’m Derrick Sign and this is the light saber effect.
Step number one are the materials, you can use a broom, a light saber base even a spray nozzle, just remember to be creative. Tape or markers will be helpful down the road when key framing your motion of the light saber. Step number two is selling the effect. This is really crucial, you want to pay attention to detail. Your actions seems to look real, another important thing you want to look at is the length of sorts. You want your talent to react to the proper length or you’re going to cut somebody’s head off when you don’t mean to.
Now you want to use those markers as tape as a reference point on your light saber to help you out when your key framing in post. Step number three is building the light saber, now what we use with other effects but you can use any non-linear editor that gives you the option of using color mats. Now the first thing you want to do is build your mask, now you’re going to want to lay your mask over where you want the beam of your light saber.
The fourth step is rotor scoping, animator’s uses technique to trace frame by frame, you’re going to want to also to use this technique to get the most accurate looking light saber effect possible. Now the after effects that we use was the pestle, we use the pestle to draw a mask over the light saber frame by frame. Now the most labor intensive part of this effect is keying frame by frame. Its going to take quite awhile and we find it the most effective but you also have the option of tracking your motion if your editor offers it.
Play your video back, check for errors, one frame can mess this whole thing up. Don’t get discouraged because at the end of this effect it will all pay off. Now that you’ve built your light saber in rotor scope, you can add some final touches to really sell the effect, you can add sound effects to give an edge and motion blur to make it feel more better. You can even add flashes of lightning to really sell it, don’t be afraid to use different tones, some effects will give you a lot more options like strike through the air, blocks and this is just going to give you a lot more freedom when it comes down to edit.
Practice makes perfect and as you can see with the use of five simple steps, you too can achieve the looks you see in the movies.
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