Tutorial - The Sword and the Light

Paul Del Vecchio
October 2008

Immense isn't even a strong enough word - light swords have to be the most popular special effect ever created. Men, women and children ages 5 to 105 will be able to tell you what the light sword is and where it's from.

Here's some tips on how to create this popular special effect, so that you can impress your friends, your parents and even your high school crush. Who knows, maybe, like Han Solo or Princess Leia, your crush will think you're so cool and finally profess undying love for you... but we wouldn't count on it. So, whether it be to impress members of the opposite sex or to finally make that Star Wars fan film you've been dying to create, here is a simple (but time-consuming) method for creating the Light Sword Effect. We used Adobe's After Effects software, so some steps may differ in yours.

Modify a broom handle with some hardware store parts to make the physical sword. (click to enlarge)

Before you do anything in post production, let's talk about the product side of things. You're going to need a false light sword, in order to help you out in post production. You'll need a guide to see what the glowing blade will look like in 3D space. An on-set practical prop will do just that.

Find a straight stick, whether it be a broom stick or a tree branch. Better still would be a Force FX Lightsaber that you can find at most any toy store. This will give you a glowing stick on set, so the surrounding areas will light up. It will run you probably around $100, however. If you don't want to spend that kind of money, a light-colored broom stick will do just fine.

In this example, we bought a cheap broom at the market. Dave shoved it into a base handle he created with parts from a hardware store. I'll leave that up to you to decide what looks best.

Create a pale yellow solid.

Create a yellow solid and make it the size of the composition. (click to enlarge)

Make it the size of the composition.

Turn the opacity down to 30%, so you can see your footage beneath it.

Trace the outline of your broom stick with your pen tool, creating a mask around it. (click to enlarge)

Now comes the fun part. This is tedious and time-consuming, but necessary for creating this effect. Basically, you want to take your pen tool and trace the outline of your broom stick, creating a mask around it. Place three points at each end, taking care to slightly round off the tips of the light sword.

Notice how there are three points on the tip, slightly rounding off the top part of the blade:
And three more points at the bottom slightly round out the bottom near the base: Press M twice on the keyboard to bring up the Mask Properties, then press the Stopwatch next to Mask Path to set a keyframe.

Carefully follow each key point around the entire broom stick, making sure you don't cover the handle. (click to enlarge)

Now move to the next frame by pressing Page Down on your keyboard, and realign the points on the mask shape to the broomstick.

In the picture below, notice how the outline does not cover the broomstick anymore - obviously, this is because the broomstick is moving in the video. You need to adjust the points on your mask in order to cover up the broomstick. Basically, you are tracing the broomstick frame by frame.

You'll need to painstakingly follow the sword in each frame as it moves around the clip, to keep the mask over the broom handle as it moves during "battle". (click to enlarge)

Repeat this process until the end of the shot, taking care to keep the outline on the broomstick the entire time. You need to do this so that, when you add the glow and color later, they will follow the movements of the broomstick.

Once you have completed this for the entire shot, you should have a complete set of keyframes, and your outline should follow the movement of the broomstick. Play it back by pressing 0 (zero) on the numberpad, so that you can make sure your outline looks correct. If it does not, make the necessary adjustments.

After you've made key frames throughout the entire clip to mask the broom stick completely,play it back slowly to check for points that may need adjusting. (click to enlarge)

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