Cheap Windows Rotoscoping Software?

Kevin Steele

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Apr 18, 2005, 4:23:43 PM4/18/05

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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

Richard Crowley

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Apr 18, 2005, 10:50:56 PM4/18/05

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"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.

Kevin Steele

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Apr 19, 2005, 8:02:53 AM4/19/05

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Richard Crowley thought about it a bit, then said...

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

David McCall

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Apr 19, 2005, 9:37:57 AM4/19/05

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"Kevin Steele" <net-re...@DELadelphia.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1ccebd7897b4e527989e63@news...

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

Richard Amirault

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Apr 19, 2005, 9:50:00 AM4/19/05

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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

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Apr 19, 2005, 12:28:53 PM4/19/05

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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

Kevin Steele

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Apr 19, 2005, 1:58:13 PM4/19/05

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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

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Apr 19, 2005, 2:00:13 PM4/19/05

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RS thought about it a bit, then said...

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

Thanks - I'll check out the links!

Richard Ragon

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Apr 19, 2005, 9:03:17 PM4/19/05

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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

Kevin Steele

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Apr 20, 2005, 5:07:20 PM4/20/05

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Richard Ragon thought about it a bit, then said...

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. :-)

Richard Ragon

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Apr 20, 2005, 6:22:04 PM4/20/05

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Kevin Steele wrote:

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