after doing this tutorial twice, I can see a person might be tempted to make an action, and just add a hue adjustment layer to change colours after the action has been run. The only problem as I see it is that the revisions for green and sith blades call for the sith blade to have a diferent size of blur in one of those steps.
Or at least make an action for each individual colour. _________________ brush your hair and comb your teeth
Well, I thought about making actions, too, but there's really too much variation from picture to picture. The background has a HUGE bearing on how the lightsaber looks and, thus, how you create the effect. From time to time, I have to make significant changes to this technique in order to get a consistent effect. Counter-intuitive, but unfortunately true.
Quote:
These steps can be rolled into one by drawing the blade with a brush, and simnply decreaing the hardness to 0%.
True, and some people may want to work that way. I personally prefer using the lasso tool because it allows me a little more control at a slightly faster speed. This isn't terribly important for single frames, but when you're rotoscoping a five-minute lightsaber duel with two lightsabers in every frame (that's 18,000 lightsabers!), it can save HOURS.
For me personally, that is.
Onward to your problem with the flicker: it sounds to me like you didn't group the layers. It's very important that you group Base Flicker to Glow Base. You do this by placing the Base Flicker layer directly above the Glow Base layer, holding down Alt, and clicking on the line between their thumbnails in the Layers palette. You should see the Base Flicker thumbnail become "indented" and a little bent arrow should appear.
Grouping a layer to the one below it is a useful little technique. It basically causes the layer on top to only affect the layer to which it's grouped. So grouping Base Flicker to Glow base causes it to only make the blade flicker, not the whole image. Make sense? (Sorry if any of this isn't new information to you; I just want to cover all the bases. )
Good luck, and thanks for the compliments about the tutorial. _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
What i did was hold shift, then click once at the base and once at the tip of the saber. it draws a line between the two points.
about grouping, thats the problem. I'd never heard af that before. i was waiting for a response before continuing work, but I'll try to try again sometime soon. (I tend to lose interest in something after about 4 hours. It's like minor ADD) _________________ brush your hair and comb your teeth
What i did was hold shift, then click once at the base and once at the tip of the saber. it draws a line between the two points.
That works. But if you're doing video, the lightsaber fans out and forms a much different shape. The shift-click method just isn't convenient for that. _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
You're right again. I'd completely forgotten about that. They make a pie-shape when swung quickly.
Last time I watched a lightsaber duel (count dooku vs. obi-wan) I noticed how big the flashes are when they clash. You'll notice I tried to do that in my image. however, in the movies it looks more like a horizontal streak then a round explosion. I was wondering if you've ever made these, or have any ideas. _________________ brush your hair and comb your teeth
I've tried a number of different methods. I think the time has come for me to decide which method I like best--or create a new one. Once I've decided, I'll post another tutorial on this site. _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 864
Location: Jersey, Channel Islands, UK
Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 3:03 am Post subject:
Wow, your tutorial made it too good-tutorials.com, not the one on here, but the one on your own forum site datameister, nice work! _________________ www.jerseyhacker.co.uk
::twiddles fingers:: I was the one who submitted it.
Thanks for the complement. Having the tuturial up on good-tuts has temporarily boosted my site's popularity. _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:00 pm Post subject: picture
So here is my attempt. Ya the background isnt black but i just took a picture of my son hold his fishing pole. Its a start.
thanks for the tutorial again.
Gracias JB
_________________ Don't Mess with the Hair! - Johnny Bravo
Nice job. I would like to warn you, however, about the perils of the Lens Flare filter. It seems so innocent at first...a sweet, harmless way to add a little light to a picture. But then you begin seeing it everywhere...billboards, TV commercials, magazines, book covers...eventually, that insidious little filter sneaks into the crevices of your brain and takes over your nightmares. Never again will you have a peaceful night of sleep...never again will you see bright lights the same way...never again will you be able to hear the words "50-300mm Zoom" without cowarding in remorseful terror...
Beware the unaltered Lens Flare. Use it if you must, but never allow it to remain in its cliched original appearance. You'll regret it.
_________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
)
