Adding Lightsaber Blades to Film

Finally, we get to the fun stuff. First of all, you will need The Gimp. This is the tool that I mentioned in the tools tuitorial, and for putting lightsaber blades into movies it is incredible. I also use it for some of my other special effects, such as explosions and limb removal.

The first thing you do is open the first image that has you lightsaber prop blade in it. Then, open a picture that has just the background in it. Copy a piece of the background where the prop blade is in your other image, then paste it on top of the blade. This allows you to edit out the blade while you carry it on camera.

To put a lightsaber blade into an image, you need the lightsaber Scriptfu from BaudAlign. Well, actually you can do it by hand, but the scriptfu really makes things easier.

So, download the scriptfu, and put it in the GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\scripts folder. Close and then re-open Gimp, and then open the first picture in your sequence tha has a lightsaber blade in it.

Using the path editor tool, outline the lightsaber blade.

Once you have outlined the blade, convert the path to a selection. Just a note, if the blade is blurred from motion, select the outline of the blur. Also, if the blade is partially hidden behind a person or object, select the blade as if that object wasn't there. I explain this later.

Next, go to the toolbar, and select Scriptfu>Lightsabre>Blade Rotoscope. This bring up a option box, and for this one, I will use Ice Blue. Play around with colors until you find one you like, just remember you can use custom colors if you want.

Click OK and you will have a lightsaber blade. Play around with the various options, there is some good stuff here.

About what I said earlier, about selecting the lightsaber blade as if an object was not there. Select the blade and run the script like normal, then go back and erase the sections of the blade that should be hidden.  The best way to do this is to turn off the visibility of all of the lightsaber layers by clicking on the "eye" next to each layer, then carefully select the parts of the image that you want the lightsaber to hide behind. As you  make each layer of the lightsaber visible in turn, select each layer and clear the portions of the blade that would be hidden behind the object. Click File>Save and then click Export, and then OK. you now have a lightsaber blade hidden behind an object.

You can add things like flashes of light and warping by using various filters, but the pest method is just try stuff until you see what works.

Now comes the fun part. You get to do this on all of the frames that there is a lightsaber blade in. I told you that adding special effects takes time...