Lightsabers with Combustion

[Sc0rPs]

That was pretty nice!!! I use combustion as well. One thing the red saber needed to be a bit more glowy I think...

[Rockin]

Hey! that looks just like the real (?) thing!

I'm deep into 3d, but really shallow with combustion, could you describe your technique a bit? or at least put a link to that AE article..

Oh, and how much did it take to make it?

nice job!

[Silverwing]

Cool i like it a lot...
I am a huge star wars fan
and this sequence is done
very well... keep on rocking!

[koyimaold]

good job

inspiring


i'll do it too

hahaha

[rawwad]

Hoho! Great work, i like it a lot. Fantastic effect :thumbsup:
I would like to try do something similar :)

[Corrin_Wyndryder]

Thanks you all for your support.

A little clue as to how I did it? Ok. I was working on a tutorial for how I did the effect, but I didn't get very far.

Anyway, after I gained some experience with combat choreography and visualization, I learned how to choreograph fights effectively. So I choreographed and trained those actors. It only took half an hour to get it to that level of quality. I had access to the studio and cameras, and had all my own equipment, including an iBook G4 with FCP and Combustion. I captured the footage, and brought it into Combustion to toy with.

Before this point I had experimented with footage that was either still frame or footage with an alpha channel for the blade already, so this was the first time I took the time to mask the sabers frame by frame.

The effect looks complicated but is rather simple. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like in progress. http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b378/corrin_wyndryder/desktop_combustion.jpg

Overall, there are about 10 blur layers, 3 color correction layers, 1 mask, and the original footage, all in an array of instancing and nesting to combine to make 1 sabercolor.

[ClayCox]

I've actually tried this before too because I use Combustion for everything else I try. The only problem I faced was that I couldn't ever figure out a way to color the lightsaber using a CC. If I used one, it would color the whole image. I knew I was probably missing something, but never figured it out (didn't have the time).

Seeing yours though let's me know it's definitely possible. I'll give it another try and see how it goes.

Yours looks great. It's funny because I have continuingly bumped into your work here and and the fan films forums. Still looking forward to your movie.

*EDIT*
Do you think you could post another picture showing your workspace set up. I'm not trying to copy you directly, I just can't seem to CC the blur/glow layers correctly. Also, how are you going about rotoing? I'm using paint, maybe paint isn't the right way and that's why I'm having trouble.

[Corrin_Wyndryder]

I don't mind if you copy my technique, just give me credit for it being mine. :)

I didn't use Paint. I used a Draw Mask.

Here's what I did:
I took the basic footage and I went into schematic view so that I knew two instances of it were going to the main composite. I picked one instance to start layering effects onto so I'd leave the other instance untouched.
Then I added a Draw Mask and created a 4 point box. I did my best to have it cover only the blade. This Draw Mask was the only thing I animated per saber. If you have multiple sabers with the same color, you can use multiple Draw Masks in that layer to get the same end result.
Then over the Draw Mask I added a Balance layer, I set the RGB values to 100% on each, making the blade solid white.
Here's where it gets interesting. I created 10 separate Gaussian Blur Layers. I set the levels to 1.5, 3, 6, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24. (note two '6s'). And I added an instance of the white masked pole to each of them. Now these are relative numbers, You can add more, take some away, or adjust them accordingly to the scale of your blade in the picture.
The smallest 3 numbers (1.5, 3, and 6) all got recombined into one sub-Composite layer, and all the others into another sub-Composite layer. Then, in the Composite Controls tab, in the Surface sub-menu, I set all of their Transfer Modes from "Normal" to "Screen".
In the second sub-Composite layer, the one with 7 blurs, add another Balance layer. Adjust the RGB values to match the color of blade you want. (i.e. Red Blade = Red 0%, Green -100%, Blue -100%)
Now combine both of those sub-Composite layers in another sub-Composite layer. I usually add a Discrete Color Corrector layer here just to tweek the color to the footage. Sometimes red comes out pinker than you want and this is an easy fix here.
Now tie that layer into the origianal Composite, and you've got yourself a lightsaber blade.

You can animate the Mask frame by frame for best results, and the color and effect will follow automatically. Repeat these steps for every saber color you have in a shot.

Enjoy :)

[BrutalMonk]

Very nice work! I am star wars fan too, and i saw many fan films, andt this is very very good!

I would like to mention the shadows of the sabers, try to retuse it in a final video, or use light not to drop shadow to down... i hope you understand that i mean :D

Great job, keep it up

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