• Adobe After Effects

  Painting out lightsaber blade

  Posted by Brian Car on November 12, 2012 at 4:03 am

  I have done searches all over here and Google but haven’t been able to find anything helpful. Of course, I’m not sure exactly what words to search for.

  I am trying to create a lightsaber fight in After Effects CS5.5.

  The vision: Two characters approach each other with their lightsabers OFF (no blades). They pause for a moment, and then turn them on (the blades shoot out).

  I am having a huge problem painting out the blades BEFORE they turn on. It’s easy enough to paint out the part of the blade that is covering trees… But I cannot figure out how to paint out the part of the blade that is covering my actors’ pants.

  Here is a frame from the raw video: https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/lightsaberscreenshot.png/

  It’s easy to make a single frame look good. But how do I make multiple frames look good and blend together?

  Brian Car replied 13 years, 6 months ago 4 Members · 5 Replies
• 5 Replies

• 

  Mathew Fuller

  November 12, 2012 at 8:08 am

  https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_sabers_v2/

  My Work:
  https://www.morecompletefx.com
• 

  Brian Car

  November 12, 2012 at 1:05 pm

  Thanks, but that video still doesn’t solve my problem. I already know how to create lightsaber blades. The problem is erasing the physical blade and painting in my actors’ leg behind it BEFORE the blade powers up.

  Here is the screenshot again. https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/lightsaberscreenshot.png/
  Check out my actor on the right. See how the blade is covering his pants? I need to take out that part of the blade and paint in pants.
• 

  Chris Wright

  November 12, 2012 at 2:51 pm

  mocha pro has remove tool and syntheyes has auto clean matte replacement.

  You can use after effect’s clone tools but it will take a lot longer.

  Here’s a good generic post about the painting process.
  https://conradolson.com/frame-by-frame-painting

  If it were me, I’d use mocha pro or syntheyes and be done with it. sword fights are probably the most time consuming rig removals in the universe, unless they’re flying sword fights with wires, well then, lol. crouching tiger anyone?

  more tuts
  https://maltaannon.com/articles/after-effects/simple-object-removal/

  https://library.creativecow.net/articles/larsen_carl/simple25d_rig_removal/video-tutorial

  https://www.video2brain.com/en/lessons/removing-an-object-with-clone-stamp
• 

  Chris Buttacoli

  November 12, 2012 at 5:44 pm

  Is it not easier just to re-shoot that opening shot with collapsed lightsabers????

  Don’t fix mistakes like this in post if you don’t absolutely have to.
• 

  Brian Car

  November 12, 2012 at 10:38 pm

  These are Master Replica sabers, so they don’t collapse. But either way, I want to do one continuous shot where the characters walk up, turn on their blades, and begin fighting. So the physical blades have to be attached the whole time.

  Thanks for the reply!

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