Making laser shots

No such plugin for iMovie HD 6 exists as far as I know. You'd have to get a post-production effects editor like EffectsLab Pro ( http://fxhome.com/, $149) or rotoscope it yourself (frame by frame, ack) or use a free PC tool like LSMaker.

There used to be a plugin for iMovie 4 called Vitrix Arsenal ( http://www.virtix.com/imovie/) but it looks like it hasn't been updated since 2003 or so.

I think I saw this effect in one of Karsten's iMovie "lessons". Check his site out here.

http://karsten.schluter.googlepages.com/

Forest Mccready wrote:
I think I saw this effect in one of Karsten's iMovie "lessons". Check his site out here.

thanks, Forrest, for referring to my site.. that was part of my StarWars fanproject with my son, 2y ago, and done in FinalCutExpress via 'Rotoscoping' or keyframing.. a painstaking process. the fxhome tool is expensive, but is much easier to use.. 😉

Virtix seems to be out of business for quite a while (site is online, but no purchase possible)

there was a free tool for QTpro6, but since vers7, the developer has 'pulled'it from the iNet..

Pablo Maril wrote:
... How do i do "rotoscoping"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping

on a Mac, you need tools (as iM/QTpro/..) which allow an export as a 'picture sequence' and some paint tool, and some tool which converts a pic sequence into a 'video (as QTpro) ...

in FCE, you can import a light-sabre painting (on some transparent background) and 'move' it by keyframing. in my project, my son had a wooden stick which was my 'reference' I added the light sabre 'over' it ...

here's some demo, I did as a test 8imagine the people in teh public park, watching me doing that): clickme (don't blame ME for loading times....)


painstaking, because to make it smooth, you have to add a keyframe almost every frame.. 25fps in my case.. 🙂

Message was edited by: Karsten Schlüter

Pablo Maril wrote:
.. Can you give me a hand here? I have iMovie HD 6 on one computer and iMovie '08 on other. Also have QT Pro. ..
... Any tutorial on the web for this?

I would love to do so on my site, but unfortunately, I have no access to my Mac/software yet .. (writing this on some Dell ...)

probably later this week, keep watching this thread, I'll add a link to my site.. 🙂

Pablo Maril wrote:
Any news?

oops, SORRY Pablo, lost track of your request.. reallife has its strong hands around my neck..

you're under the Top5 of my to-do list - promised!!

don't hesitate to send me a PM as 'slap on backhead' to my email, you read down there in green..

HowTo Rotoskopy
(^^^click me ^^^)

I built a quick'n dirty website, incl. a demo (Darth in his favorite bar 😉 ), and a short (5MB) screencast (no audio.. ).

the demo is far from perfect: you should spend some time in designing your laser-beams. adding some transparency, save as png of tiff (not jpeg, otherwise transparency get lost!)
and, as you notice in final video, you have to be precise in 'motion tracking'..
but 'shots' just have a 'connection' to real scenery for a frame or two.. (=when 'emitted' from gun)

that video was done in less than 10min 😀

.. you need QT7 installed, to watch my site..
in that demo, the 'light sabre' is static/fixed to my hand..
for laser-shots, you simply 'paint' them into scenery..

hope that helps..