After Effects CS5 Tutorial: How to make the Lightsaber Effect

[417active]

Perfect, just what I needed. Thanks for the tutorial, bro!

[LeonXEntertainment]

You sound so nervous and panic .. btw, Nice video ! It works !

[Ch3micalPoizon]

On a lightsaber (like from the movies) the actual lightsaber is white, the core is white, but then the GLOW is the colored part.

[jmun88]

Great video...do you add the sound/sound effects post after effects lightsaber creation?

[lordifrit1]

ommmm ommmm ommmmm swear its ummm when your lost for words? lol

[Bobthehuntedbobcat]

nice intro

[effectsniper]

The links r bad so i cant get sounds..

[DanielLalonde]

Hey I cant post any links on here but if you type in "Hidden Camera Jedis" watch in order Episode 1, Episode 2, and Picking Up Girls In Yaletown. The other clips are taken from these three episodes.

[TheDonniz]

Can you do a tutorial of how you do the lightsaber effect when two people fight?? That would have been awsome...

[TheNhasief]

u sound like nicholas cage, good tutorial btw. it helped me alot! :)

[acmilancrazy]

@TheNhasief haha really? ive never heard that lol thanks man glad to help

[cuntico333]

@acmilancrazy every time i try to chang the the color it doesn't work and every time i move the blade with the light saber it looks very stupid what should i do

[acmilancrazy]

@cuntico333 it sounds like ur missing steps of the process...try watching any parts you may have skipped ahead on or play the video from the beginning again and just go through the motions as in AE as i talk you through it on the vid. and when you come to a step you dont recognize, open the video back up and watch that part again (or if you have dual monitors, play it on one screen and have AE open on the other ;)

[Ch3micalPoizon]

@TheNhasief He does!!

[DanielLalonde]

I'm making a Star Wars film and your tutorial helped me out greatly considering I havent used AE in years. Thanks!

[acmilancrazy]

@DanielLalonde excellent! glad to be able to help some other people starting out! my advise (not just for you, but for everyone in general) for a fan film (i made one and it took my friend and I 9 months to edit XD ), be imaginative, and try to film things that are gonna need effects you dont know how to do, and then look up tutorials and/or figure out a way to do whatever it is..its a good way to learn/refamiliarize yourself with doing stuff in after effects =] good luck!

[mattvsjohnny]

fucking windows, no one has a mac

[acmilancrazy]

@mattvsjohnny i actually have a mac pro right now (in addition to my win 7 laptop) but i didnt have it when i made this tut ;)

[crouching28]

The mouse clicks and wind noise are very annoying

[acmilancrazy]

@crouching28 excellent! my goal was to annoy you =p actually, the "wind" was there because i had to hold the mic with one hand and edit with the other, and so at times the mic was too close and it was picking up breaths..as for the mouse clicks, you may not appreciate them, but for people that are more of the "auditory" learning type, hearing sounds (when i click the mouse) that your brain can put with what your seeing on screen helps u remember when/where/what to click on...

[sims3wizz]

my name is josh too!!! xD

[igotFX]

if u want a faster and easier lightsaber...go to effect then generate then use beam it works awesome!

[acmilancrazy]

@igotFX no offense, but i would NEVER use the beam plugin lol it looks terrible, especially when its relatively closely focused on the hilt...if you dont draw a mask, it doesnt look like its inside the hilt. plus, you cant "fan" a beam XD

[igotFX]

@acmilancrazy ya i know but it works....fan? is that like perspective or when it goes behind a head?

[acmilancrazy]

@igotFX it works, but after ur done rotoscoping it and u render it out and it looks like crap, then ur gonna wanna go back and do it the right way haha...if you watch my tutorial, i mentioned how when ur rotoscoping the blade, when its moving quickly, it is "fanned" instead of just a long straight beam because its moving quickly...andrew kramer uses motion blur to accomplish this but its not as effective imho. also, he uses edge rounding, which kinda really kills the effect...

[acmilancrazy]

@igotFX if u wanna "cheat" and not do it the right way though, dont use the beam plugin. use andrew kramers lightsaber v2 plugin (from videocopilot)

[igotFX]

@acmilancrazy i tried but it dont work

[acmilancrazy]

@igotFX what doesnt work?

[igotFX]

@acmilancrazy well first here is my setup. my laptop no space left. and my dads computer. which has adbe.is not hooked up to the internet. i downloaded the saber thing put it on a flash drive and it wouldnt show up in adobe

[acmilancrazy]

@igotFX unless you copy it into the adobe after effects plugins folder (or maybe its presets) it wont load..and you have to restart it after u copy it into the directory

[igotFX]

@acmilancrazy ok ill try that today. restart the computer?

[acmilancrazy]

@igotFX no you shouldnt have to...and i just checked, you copy it into the adobe after effects > support files > presets folder and then u search for "lightsaber" in the effects and presets search box in after effects...i gotta tell ya though, it looks much better doing it like me instead of using the preset ;)

[drunkglitch]

my light saber comes up ridiculously slowly

[StudioTSS]

@drunkglitch

probably because you are adding key frames to far away from each other, try to put a key frame in each frame

[drunkglitch]

@StudioTSS i'm not thought i'm just pushing page down and then drawing it i never push page down more than 1 time per draw

[acmilancrazy]

@drunkglitch btw, idk how your keyboard is setup, but i find that using ctrl+arrow key (left or right) is way faster for going forward a frame than having to move your hand all the way across the keyboard to the page down button..

[acmilancrazy]

@drunkglitch what do you mean "comes up"? u rotoscoped the whole thing before you duplicated the white solid right? or do you mean rendering after your done? its possible its your computer what are your specs?

[Twix167]

thanks a bunch man. i finally know how to do this!

[acmilancrazy]

@Twix167 glad to help man!

[acmilancrazy]

@crazyjay253 lol i dont think it even shows my desktop? besides...just because i have a copy of a p2p client-type software doesnt mean i used it for this =p

[jedisponge16]

How do you afford all of that adobe stuff?

[acmilancrazy]

@jedisponge16 oh you know...i go and hold up a store that sells Adobe Creative suite products every time they release a new version haha ;) jkkkkk

[acmilancrazy]

@jedisponge16 but honestly, to answer your question, for anyone that doesn't have the money to afford software like this, many people (im not admitting that i have personally, mind you haha), will use torrents to get a copy of software that they can learn everything on. then, once you get a job using those skills, or once you start making a living off its usage, go ahead and buy a copy.

[TERjournaal]

after effects premiere photoshop and another thing........jeez u got alot of adobe!

[acmilancrazy]

@TERjournaal master collection cs5.5 brahhh the orange one is Illustrator ;)

[60minutetutorials]

@acmilancrazy why not use andrew kramer lightsaber preset

[acmilancrazy]

@60minutetutorials did you listen to anything i said? lol i explained that it looks like crap hahahaha andrew kramer is my idol, but star wars just isnt his thing haha

[acmilancrazy]

@TheAries11 oh ok glad to hear it! no prob!

[acmilancrazy]

@TheAries11 why what does it do instead?

[riley13669]

ok well that suks :(

[Astronautical123]

thanks!!! at first I thought that you had to download a lightsaber light, and then put it on a stick

[riley13669]

hey can you put your fan film on youtube oh and in the starwars rise of the sith movie you made who i he looking for at the start of the film

[acmilancrazy]

@riley13669 thanks man! unfortunately, in order to be considered finalists and be eligible to win the awards for the different categories, we had to sign over all rights to Atom Entertainment, and those jerks wont let us put it on youtube now =[ THEREFORE, IF ANY OF U R GOING TO MAKE AN AWESOME FAN FILM, DONT ENTER IT INTO THAT STUPID CONTEST! IT WILL GET WAYYYY MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE!

[acmilancrazy]

@acmilancrazy although, if u want to make any money off of it on youtube, dont put any copyrighted material in it...i was dumb enough to post mine (the other fan film i have, on Youtube) with a 8-bit version of the star wars theme (during the opening crawl) thinking that since i recreated it, it would be fine..but they didnt see it that way, so i cant put ads on that video =[

[riley13669]

your fan film is awesome and so is your tut

[acmilancrazy]

@riley13669 thanks man!

[SendMeUrCodClips]

ooh this safe as a city

they will have to be brave

"Skip This Add Now"

[galacticmaui2]

thank you so much for this video I have watched it multiple times cause I have multiple light saber shots thank you.

[DnAnV]

Thanks so much for the help! I appreciated the step by step concept and I'm sure I'll return to this video later

[acmilancrazy]

@DnAnV no problem!

[funnyjormoyable]

damn you have a lot of adobe stuff did you buy them or get seriel keys and i need help i realy need the adobe after effects cs5 code can you tell me ?

[djdavedoc]

Crikey for a fast Action Scene it could take you YEARS to do!

[explosiveas]

um do you have to save the white solid or something because mine isn't staying there for each frame

[acmilancrazy]

@explosiveas did you click the stopwatch?

[explosiveas]

@acmilancrazy thanks!!!!

[MatthewFalcon73]

u sound like tom hanks

[anynameunused]

Thanks for this tutorial! I submitted the video I made using your technique-- Worked like a charm! Thank you SO much!

[acmilancrazy]

@anynameunused no problem! i just watched the vid you made nice job!

[Dirty13rown]

I see u have a facebook can i add you :D

jk

[Straffordash]

thanks so much dude! im new to cs4 and i was tryign to make it on my own, ur tutorial helped alot!

[acmilancrazy]

@Straffordash awesome glad it was helpful =]

[RevCarlosGonzalez]

thanks bro just made my first effect thanks to you :) it took me all day but i got it lol... keep up the good work!!

[acmilancrazy]

@RevCarlosGonzalez sweet glad it helped! =]

[pokezeldafreak]

I can't find the "mode" option so that I access "screen" is there another way to access it?

[acmilancrazy]

@pokezeldafreak try hitting F4 it should switch the interface up on the bottom half...then select screen under transfer mode...

[pokezeldafreak]

@acmilancrazy Thanks

[acmilancrazy]

@pokezeldafreak no problem!

[McInsane1000]

I trie to mask the lightsaber but it keeps FUCKING AROUND WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!

[acmilancrazy]

@McInsane1000 what is it doing?

[McInsane1000]

@acmilancrazy I trie to make 4 points,then the right bottom point connected to the left top point and made an X and then I tried to fix it and it made like a squiggly line.

[acmilancrazy]

@McInsane1000 dont hold down the mouse when you are making your points or else you will bend the lines ..just click and release..use the pen convert tool to unbend them by selecting the pen convert tool, then clicking the messed up bezier points...to make a shape, click one, then two, then three, then four, etc, and then to close it, put your mouse over the first point you made..it should show a little circle icon..click the mouse, and it should close the shape..

[earlcamblelover]

Really nice video man ! Really helped thank you

[InsidiousMedia]

now that your a parner you need a high quality microphone and a staff. ill work for nothing less than $60 dollars an hour

[How2PlayPiano]

LOVE IT! can you make a tutorial on how to do like chopped off heads? or falling through window? :D

[acmilancrazy]

@How2PlayPiano i suppose i could yea haha im not a big fan of gore but yea haha..what do you mean falling through a window?

[How2PlayPiano]

@acmilancrazy You know when you see those people that lean back on their chair, and fall back, breaking the window and falling out? :P

[acmilancrazy]

@How2PlayPiano haha ive never seen that...umm, i suppose its possible idk how I would do it though haha maybe if i had a green screen...

[b3ndyb3n]

nice intro dude.

[acmilancrazy]

@b3ndyb3n thanks!

[TheDoctorAsian]

Nice!!

[acmilancrazy]

@TheDoctorAsian thanks man

[SebastianEduardoLeto]

cool!

[BOBOFETT100]

George Lucas could have saved Millions!!

[GardenGnome118118]

fantastic, thanks for the tutorial 

[acmilancrazy]

@GardenGnome118118 no problem! =]

[DaRThJ0hN]

dude this is SO HELPFUL thanks! and how'd you make the intro? (both the fox productions and the tutorials one)

[acmilancrazy]

@DaRThJ0hN i made the fox intro in blender (a freeware 3d program), and i made the blueprint intro in after effects...

[Lemanente]

wow thanks so much I've always wanted to know how to make a REAL lightsaber!

[acmilancrazy]

@Lemanente no problem! haha