Blender 3D Lightsaber Tutorial

[yxvq]

Very good tutorial and awesome looking effect! It looks *exactly* like in the old trilogy!! Thanks a lot for this :) This looks also great as blaster shots. I tried the clash effect, it looks pretty wicked as well :D

[stopmotionfilms31]

Please reply! What version is this??

[SoulforgedStudios]

One question. Have you created a Black lightsaber blend? I'm thinking of filming a Star Wars vid and I was hoping to use a black saber somewhere in there.

[dragonpat12]

@SoulforgedStudios if you went to the nodes in sure you could change up the colors to get your preferred black color

[PimpMiGimp]

THANK YOU DUDE! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

[starlite319]

Must. Try.

[kahmannstudios]

or what version is this blender?

[kahmannstudios]

thanks this will really help but by any chance could you make a new video with the new version of blender?

[xXNERDRAGERXx]

how do u watch the rendered video

[mcwooley]

I have a feeling the 1 disliker was Jabba the Hut.

[eduardodarkside]

How are you editing the lightsaber in object mode?

[Fun2knowmusic]

Do you have to get and account on rapid pro to download the files needed?

[AYZA33]

thank you very much it helped me a lot my mother was speechless when she saw my video

[dragonpat12]

@AYZA33 You made one? I want to see it!

[Berniedu77]

Man, you're a king. Gratitude and many thanks from France !

[dragonpat12]

@Berniedu77 wow, you've just made my day, thank you and welcome!

[Berniedu77]

@dragonpat12 just wait to see what your help made ! - we're a bunch of friends trying to make fun with George Lucas' Legacy. But we wanted to have some great visual effects. With time, maybe we will do some ass-kicking video. I'll come back here to show that to you :)

[fusionfallx]

Ok so I do this then I do...AW it's so hard when you have a crappy computer

[guitarguy821]

thank you so much for telling me this. i have been trying to find a good lightsaber video editing program that didnt require me to take pictures of all of the frames in windows movie maker. or spend 1000 bucks on adobe after effects. great video

[fusionfallx]

where do i download this?

[TrueLife1021]

Ok I got the link but when I try to put the background image It will not work. I click the video but then when I slide the thing back it doesn't pop up...

[TrueLife1021]

omg i try to dowload the links but it wont let me...i click download and it says select files.. what do i doooo???

[doctor353]

l i use camstudio aswell ^ ^

[Lumpiluk]

why not use blender instead of windows movie maker to add the sound? :-)

[dragonpat12]

@Lumpiluk im not saying you cant, its just how i'd go about doing it.

[Poindexterfredrick]

do you know the person who made the files for rapidshare? I have blender, and dissected the parts of those files, and I figured out how they got the mesh to move and not be changed even if you did something like move the entire mesh: which changes the shape of the mesh when you try to move it if it is not made with this file (I am trying to learn to make the meshes myself; I know how to make the comps) but I just have to ask; how did the person connect the empties with black lines?

[xilith117]

Awesome tut! You did the three things I find important in a tut: you talked clearly and at appropriate audio levels, you showed the finished product at the end and you made me laugh (I'm waving a broom stick around cuz i'm awesome like that). thanks a million!

[dragonpat12]

@xilith117 It's people like you who make me happy I do these kind of things!

[marcusdarkness92]

how did u zoom out at 1:16

[GhostoftheDawn321]

Dude im not joking i accidentally pressed dislike. Dont hate me plz it was accidental

[marcusdarkness92]

WANT LET ME DOWNLOAD THE LINKS

[dragonpat12]

@marcusdarkness92 I just tried and they are working. If they still arent messege me

[dragonpat12]

@marcusdarkness92 I just tried and they are working. If they still arent message me

[coryalantaylor]

Awesome dragon wallpaper, did you paint it?

[dragonpat12]

@coryalantaylor no, its actually a wallpaper from some D&D website.... Yes, I am a giant nerd.

[coryalantaylor]

@dragonpat12 Haha, I see.

[darkrie7]

do you need to have an account on the downloads page?

[dragonpat12]

@darkrie7 no, just click and download!

[multimoviemaker100]

i dont have the panels section

[multimoviemaker100]

i dont have any of the stuff on the bottom

[AwsomeParodies]

yur funny

[gaara156]

what program are u useing

[SixDRUMMER]

ERROR: please stop flooding our download servers....

[lzymxn]

wouldnt it have been easier to just key movement between the major frames and in the nodes section add blur so you dont go through the trouble of having to mask each frame?

[blackninjamonkey1]

hey i animate the lightsaber in time with my movie but when i render, the movie is stretched so the lightsaber does not match up! how would i sort this?

[Kratos87Fan19]

Is there any way to make the lightsaber tip more rounded? I don't like it being squared off, It just doesn't look right.

[SangsterBoy]

Is there a way to make the saber have rounded edges?

[CarverKids]

if we had a universal format SEREUSLY

solve mine too

[VuRp0]

When I get to frame 13, the video (raw footage) jumps back to the first frame! Can you help me? My resolution is 352x288 and the framerate is 42.833333

[penguinpro123]

@VuRp0 make sure you adjust the settings in the backround image or nodes window and set the end frames to what ends in your video

[supersanosukesagara1]

i get up to the point where i have to do the composite nodes but it never shows the lighsaber in the window. just a blank piece.

[MrJamesG25]

Great tutorial, but what do you do if you want two lightsabres in different colours? just duplicate the lightsabre empties and change the colours?

[rankidonstreet]

this would be hard with a video with a high framerate

[dragonpat12]

@rankidonstreet you have no idea......

[penguinpro123]

@rankidonstreet you could always add keyframes every 2 or 5 frames instead of 1

[flotch93]

does it matter if you dont know the frame rate or size of your video?

[lightstudiosLSA]

thanks for the effects it is realy useful.

ehm every time i have completed making the lightsaber i click animate.

but if i looking to the movie on blender i always have the lightsaber on the wrong place.

annyone knows what to do against it?

please anwser

[Muffin1121]

lol wats format?

[Muffin1121]

loading the backround image doesnt work..

[dragonpat12]

@Muffin1121 okay after you selected the file you want, click reload. unless you have a bad format. what format are you using?

[Muffin1121]

omg good tutorial but when i load the backround it doesnt come up??? is it because i dont know the size or fps?? if so how do i find that ><

[dragonpat12]

@Muffin1121 gonna need you to be alittle more specific lol

[sodium44]

@Muffin1121 try to press 1 or 3 on your numpad( the smallnumber pad to the right on your keyboard) when you have imported the background image. and make sure your image is a JPEG. if this works please watch my video and subscribe :)

[Microluxstudios]

do you think you can make a tutorial on how to make the light itsself, and wtf is retoscopeing am a noob at compositing n stuff. av being working on modeling a lot n i thought i might give this a go.

[dragonpat12]

@Microluxstudios to be frankly honest, i found this tutroial online, i am just passing on the info. so no, i dont know how to make the actual light

[TheNews1990]

how do you create the light saber file

[aftrFX]

Do you have to rotoscope on every frame?

[dragonpat12]

@aftrFX if you want it to look good lol!

but seriously its so worth it if you do a good job.

[cm374787]

Found this by Googling myself, I'm Justin Letchford btw. Glad to see people are actually using this, it's only been downloaded from my original links <400 times, the spreading has been mostly due to awesome people such as thou hosting it themselves.

[dragonpat12]

@cm374787 well thanks for posting it. i wouldnt have found it without your posting

[C0DESUB]

RED FTW :D

[chaoscreator2698]

how do you put a lightsaber behind an object? plz explain

[dragonpat12]

@chaoscreator2698

If you zoom out in the 3D view you should see a secondary lightsaber on the bottom

[Rekedens]

Awesome video dude, thanks! Looks real (as real as light saber's are..)

And quite funny video tut to! :)

[slavesacrifice666]

omg i so want to do this

even if i have 0% experience in this kind of stuff XD

is this blender program free?

[slavesacrifice666]

@slavesacrifice666:: i just downloaded it, all of the rapid share files, i think im going to have some "padawan" training to do tomorrow XD

[MrCouchpotato93]

this is perfect!

it makes me feel better than all those suckers blowing there money on after effects and vision lab.

[dragonpat12]

@MrCouchpotato93 AMEN to that, Bro!

[achillesap]

Great tutorial, got one on adding sound FX to the video? Making one for my little nephew, who is Star Wars crazy, because of this video! Thanks!

[dragonpat12]

@achillesap Well, if you have windows movie maker, just download some lightsaber sound effects and do it there. You dont need blender for that

[nikolardorafiki]

Hi, I'm using this method right now, and it works great. The only thing that irks me is that on a swing when, as you mentioned, the blade is going to fast to get a straight line, you get more of a swath, the stick one is swinging takes a shape with a curved end, whereas the blade in blender only does straight lines (unless I'm missing something, which is more than likely). Can one get a curved line using this method? Also, can one add points to the lines, so that there are more than four? How?

[nikolardorafiki]

Also, the ability to have a curved section would be immensely helpful whenever the blade goes behind something which is not straight, such as a person.

[dragonpat12]

as i said in the message, just keep subdividing a side, then you have a more less straight line to work with.

[NathanFWilson]

pretty sweet. i use lsmaker but i also own blender

[Filmaker92]

Very good tutorial Patrick. I really enjoyed it. But one question lets say that my lightsaber color is not there and I want it to be different how do I change the color of my lightsaber?

[dragonpat12]

go to the node etditor and you should see three things called RGB or something and on them theres a grid and a dot. you can move the dot and it'll change the color of the arura

[grimboy888]

i am swinging a broomstick around cuz i am awesome like that

[dragonpat12]

not really