If a saber goes behind an object at any point, you'll need to do part 9 to create a new mask to mask the mask. You can get away with doing this every few frames when the saber is moving slowly, but if it's moving quickly you'll want to do it every frame.Ĩ) If you have multiple sabers, you'll need to create a separate mask for each and do this same process for all of them. At that frame, reposition the Mask around the saber.ħ) Repeat step 6 a lot. It should turn blue.Ħ) Use the Right Arrow to move to the next frame. It's fine for the blurred edges of the prop to stick out past the Mask as the Mask will have a glow effect that will cover the imperfections nicely.ĥ) Turn on Auto-Keyframing by selecting the little dot near the Play Button. Once you've created 4 points, press Alt/Option + C to close the mask.Ĥ) Currently the mask is very rectangular, so drag the top line of the Mask into a nice curve. Rename the mask to something helpful like 'Saber' and then create the mask by holding down Control (or Command on Mac) and clicking. Once they're imported, select Clip->Prefetch Frames.ģ) Click on the +New button and it will create a new Mask. But the final effect will be worth it.ġ) Select the + in the tab bar and open a new Masking workspace.Ģ) Click on the Open button and navigate to the series of frames you created in the last step. Now we're going to tell the computer where the lightsabers are at each point in the video.

Your video will now be exported as a series of images.ĩ) Save the blender project if you desire and open up a new one for the next step. Make sure the File Format is set to PNG.Ĩ) In the menu at the top right corner of Blender, select Render->Render Animation. Also you may want to change the Output folder to something other than /tmp/. (If you hover over the tab icons they'll show you their names.)ħ) Set the Resolution X and Y to the appropriate values. You'll want to select the Output tab if it's not already selected.

Set Frames to the number of frames your video has.ĥ) Set the End frame in the Dope Sheet (the timeline at the bottom of Blender) to the number of frames your video has.Ħ) Now look at the left panel.

Connect the Image output to the Composite node.Ĥ) Click Open on the Image node and navigate to your video. Make sure to check Use Nodes.Ģ) Delete the 'Render Layers' node by selecting it and using the X key.ģ) Press Shift+A to create a new node, and select Input->Image. Blender works better on a series of photos than a video, so we'll use Blender to cut our video up into frames.ġ) Open up Blender and select the the Compositing tab.

Light saber blender