Cheap Windows Rotoscoping Software?

[Guest]

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I'm looking for some inexpensive video special effects software to do
rotoscoping-style effects, namely lightsabers (my two boys are die-hard
Star Wars fanatics, and I promised them we'd make a lightsaber battle
video.)

Anyone have any suggestions for an inexpensive package for Windows?

--
Kevin Steele
RetroBlast! Retrogaming News and Reviews
www.retroblast.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Kevin Steele" wrote...
> I'm looking for some inexpensive video special effects
> software to do rotoscoping-style effects, namely lightsabers
> (my two boys are die-hard Star Wars fanatics, and I promised
> them we'd make a lightsaber battle video.)
>
> Anyone have any suggestions for an inexpensive package
> for Windows?

Enter into Google: rotoscope light-sabre

We did it with MS Paint (or maybe Photoshop Elements?)
Exported the frames from Premiere as individual JPG files,
had a bunch of volunteers come in and "paint" the individual
pix, and then re-imported them back into Premiere. Followed
the instructions on one of several websites explaining the
exact process. The result was surprisingly effective.

 

[Guest]

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Richard Crowley thought about it a bit, then said...
> "Kevin Steele" wrote...
> > I'm looking for some inexpensive video special effects
> > software to do rotoscoping-style effects, namely lightsabers
> > (my two boys are die-hard Star Wars fanatics, and I promised
> > them we'd make a lightsaber battle video.)
> >
> > Anyone have any suggestions for an inexpensive package
> > for Windows?
>
> Enter into Google: rotoscope light-sabre
>
> We did it with MS Paint (or maybe Photoshop Elements?)
> Exported the frames from Premiere as individual JPG files,
> had a bunch of volunteers come in and "paint" the individual
> pix, and then re-imported them back into Premiere. Followed
> the instructions on one of several websites explaining the
> exact process. The result was surprisingly effective.

It looks good, but sounds incredibly labor-intensive. I was hoping for a
more elegant solution, but beggars obviously can't be choosers. ;-)

--
Kevin Steele
RetroBlast! Retrogaming News and Reviews
www.retroblast.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Kevin Steele" <net-replyDEL@DELadelphia.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1ccebd7897b4e527989e63@news...
> Richard Crowley thought about it a bit, then said...
>> "Kevin Steele" wrote...
>> > I'm looking for some inexpensive video special effects
>> > software to do rotoscoping-style effects, namely lightsabers
>> > (my two boys are die-hard Star Wars fanatics, and I promised
>> > them we'd make a lightsaber battle video.)
>> >
>> > Anyone have any suggestions for an inexpensive package
>> > for Windows?
>>
>> Enter into Google: rotoscope light-sabre
>>
>> We did it with MS Paint (or maybe Photoshop Elements?)
>> Exported the frames from Premiere as individual JPG files,
>> had a bunch of volunteers come in and "paint" the individual
>> pix, and then re-imported them back into Premiere. Followed
>> the instructions on one of several websites explaining the
>> exact process. The result was surprisingly effective.
>
> It looks good, but sounds incredibly labor-intensive. I was hoping for a
> more elegant solution, but beggars obviously can't be choosers. ;-)
>
That's the reality of the graphics biz. It is very labor intensive.
there are various software packages used by the studios, but
much of it is very expensive or proprietary, even then, there is
a lot of work involved. As far as I know there isn't any software
with a light-saber button that automagically finds the proper
location and orientation and just does it for you.

A good compositing program like aftereffects could be of some
help by doing some of the tweening, but there would still be a lot
of work setting the key frames, and masking the saber effect
when it goes behind something.

David

 

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"Kevin Steele" wrote ...
> It looks good, but sounds incredibly labor-intensive. I was hoping for a
> more elegant solution, but beggars obviously can't be choosers. ;-)

Did you consider doing it how it was really done in the films? The "blade"
(not the handle) was wrapped in a very reflective tape (Scotchlite ??) and
the camera was placed behinde a beam splitter (you might be able to get away
with just a sheet of glass) A strong light was aimed from the side of the
camera at the beamsplitter and the beamsplitter bent the beam 90 deg to be
the same angle as the camera lens.

The light then reflected back off the tape into the camera lens. If you
look at the original films you'll see that the lightsaber blades have *mass*
There is a definite weight to the blade part as they swing them around. This
would not happen if the entire blade was rotoscoped in. Also, if it was
done entirely in animation .. think how hard it would have been for the
actors to stop swinging at just the right point to make (invisible to them)
blade contact??

--
Richard Amirault N1JDU
Boston, MA, USA Go Fly A Kite

 

[rs]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Kevin Steele wrote:
> Richard Crowley thought about it a bit, then said...
>
>>"Kevin Steele" wrote...
>>
>>>I'm looking for some inexpensive video special effects
>>>software to do rotoscoping-style effects, namely lightsabers
>>>(my two boys are die-hard Star Wars fanatics, and I promised
>>>them we'd make a lightsaber battle video.)
>>>
>>>Anyone have any suggestions for an inexpensive package
>>>for Windows?
>>
>>Enter into Google: rotoscope light-sabre
>>
>>We did it with MS Paint (or maybe Photoshop Elements?)
>>Exported the frames from Premiere as individual JPG files,
>>had a bunch of volunteers come in and "paint" the individual
>>pix, and then re-imported them back into Premiere. Followed
>>the instructions on one of several websites explaining the
>>exact process. The result was surprisingly effective.
>
>
> It looks good, but sounds incredibly labor-intensive. I was hoping for a
> more elegant solution, but beggars obviously can't be choosers. ;-)
>
Here is a link from a Star Wars fan site. Posted by people who are far
more obsessed with light sabers than you would ever be.

http://boards.theforce.net/Fan_Films/b10015/9572254?146

Or, Brick in Motion has a Yahoogroup, and in the files section, you can
find an old freeware version of a program called Axogon Composer

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BricksInMotion/

A tutorial which happens to do the light saber thing is at.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tomfoote3/BIM/id71.htm

 

[Guest]

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Stan thought about it a bit, then said...
> I remember this one and I googled it and it's still around. AlamDV did
> effects like you are after. http://fxhome.com/alamdv2/
>
> Stan.

Yeah, I found that as well and just downloaded the demo. Hopefully it'll
do the job, as I don't have Premiere for the "filmstrip" method.

Thanks!

--
Kevin Steele
RetroBlast! Retrogaming News and Reviews
www.retroblast.com

 

[Guest]

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RS thought about it a bit, then said...
> Kevin Steele wrote:
> > Richard Crowley thought about it a bit, then said...
> >
> >>"Kevin Steele" wrote...
> >>
> >>>I'm looking for some inexpensive video special effects
> >>>software to do rotoscoping-style effects, namely lightsabers
> >>>(my two boys are die-hard Star Wars fanatics, and I promised
> >>>them we'd make a lightsaber battle video.)
> >>>
> >>>Anyone have any suggestions for an inexpensive package
> >>>for Windows?
> >>
> >>Enter into Google: rotoscope light-sabre
> >>
> >>We did it with MS Paint (or maybe Photoshop Elements?)
> >>Exported the frames from Premiere as individual JPG files,
> >>had a bunch of volunteers come in and "paint" the individual
> >>pix, and then re-imported them back into Premiere. Followed
> >>the instructions on one of several websites explaining the
> >>exact process. The result was surprisingly effective.
> >
> > It looks good, but sounds incredibly labor-intensive. I was hoping for a
> > more elegant solution, but beggars obviously can't be choosers. ;-)
> >
> Here is a link from a Star Wars fan site. Posted by people who are far
> more obsessed with light sabers than you would ever be.
>
> http://boards.theforce.net/Fan_Films/b10015/9572254?146
>
> Or, Brick in Motion has a Yahoogroup, and in the files section, you can
> find an old freeware version of a program called Axogon Composer
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BricksInMotion/
>
> A tutorial which happens to do the light saber thing is at.
>
> http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tomfoote3/BIM/id71.htm

Obviously I'm not the first to face this problem. ;-)

Thanks - I'll check out the links!

--
Kevin Steele
RetroBlast! Retrogaming News and Reviews
www.retroblast.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Kevin Steele wrote:
>
> Obviously I'm not the first to face this problem. ;-)
>
> Thanks - I'll check out the links!
>

Well Hello Kevin! Funny finding you here in the video forums.

Hey, A couple of years ago, I saw this great star wars short, called
"crewoftwo". Duality.

Here's the receipt for the way they did the light sabers:
http://www.crewoftwo.com/making/effects/lightsaber-recipe/index.html

Also.. when your there. Check out the movie. Done a couple of years
back, but still one of my very favorites to this day. Very inspiring.

http://www.crewoftwo.com/

-Richard
-hanaHo

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Richard Ragon thought about it a bit, then said...
> Kevin Steele wrote:
> >
> > Obviously I'm not the first to face this problem. ;-)
> >
> > Thanks - I'll check out the links!
> >
>
> Well Hello Kevin! Funny finding you here in the video forums.
>
> Hey, A couple of years ago, I saw this great star wars short, called
> "crewoftwo". Duality.
>
> Here's the receipt for the way they did the light sabers:
> http://www.crewoftwo.com/making/effects/lightsaber-recipe/index.html
>
> Also.. when your there. Check out the movie. Done a couple of years
> back, but still one of my very favorites to this day. Very inspiring.
>
> http://www.crewoftwo.com/
>
> -Richard
> -hanaHo

Hi Richard!

Thanks for the pointer to the site - good stuff.

I've started doing some test runs with different software packages, and
I'm hopeful I'll find a good balance between quality output and ease of
use. 'Course, it's just for the kids, but you might as well do the job
right. ;-)

Drop me an email sometime - let me know what HanaHo's got cooking.

--
Kevin Steele
RetroBlast! Retrogaming News and Reviews
www.retroblast.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Kevin Steele wrote:

> Richard Ragon thought about it a bit, then said...
>
>>Kevin Steele wrote:
>>
>>>Obviously I'm not the first to face this problem. ;-)
>>>
>>>Thanks - I'll check out the links!
>>>
>>
>>Well Hello Kevin! Funny finding you here in the video forums.
>>
>>Hey, A couple of years ago, I saw this great star wars short, called
>>"crewoftwo". Duality.
>>
>>Here's the receipt for the way they did the light sabers:
>>http://www.crewoftwo.com/making/effects/lightsaber-recipe/index.html
>>
>>Also.. when your there. Check out the movie. Done a couple of years
>>back, but still one of my very favorites to this day. Very inspiring.
>>
>>http://www.crewoftwo.com/
>>
>>-Richard
>>-hanaHo
>
>
> Hi Richard!
>
> Thanks for the pointer to the site - good stuff.
>
> I've started doing some test runs with different software packages, and
> I'm hopeful I'll find a good balance between quality output and ease of
> use. 'Course, it's just for the kids, but you might as well do the job
> right. ;-)
>
> Drop me an email sometime - let me know what HanaHo's got cooking.

Got lots going on.. E3 is coming. Hanaho will be in the Capcom booth,
SNK, Microsoft, Logitec, and many others this year. Are you going?

-Richard