It truely is xD After effects can be a pain when it comes to expressions. Very first attempt for troubleshooting - make a new file - create a null with a simple animation in a direction and try to parent any layer to it. Somewhere along the way you probably did "something" - I shifted to Houdini thats why I am not that firm in AE anymore BUT if you cant find the problem I strongly recommend Michael Stark`s channel for AE questions. Tell him Dave demands him to help you ;-)
@@whiskeybanger I know this is an old comment lol but did you ever find a solution to your problem? I'm having the same issue and can't seem to find the solution.
You have to look very closely at the video he opens the null file so that position stopwatch is visible and he pickwhips to that. You may have been pickwhiping to the wrong file in Null. Well at least that’s what I was doing. Sorry if this does not solve your issue
Life Effects for beginners, it surely is helpful, and nice to see expressions being used in conjunction with real footage (not only motion graphics). But, this is only applicable for basic hero shots, and (sadly) unusable for moving lightsabers in a combat scene, for example.
Yes - sadly that is true. I did a short lightsaber battle a while back and I needed to do it pretty much frame by frame. It would be interesting if one would be able to create a more complex expression system to minimize the needed keyframes
Nice, hope you'll find something! Btw, my comment didn't really focus on the speedy movement, but rather on rotation in 3D space which happens a lot in Jedi fights :D
@@DavidKahlVFX Would i ask after effects to track the hole blade or just the piece of tape im gonna stick to the top and bottom. But i dont know if i should do a strip of tape the whole way around the blade or just 2 dots, because if i rotate the blade, the dots will be gone as to if i went with tape all the around the blade. Btw. thx for responding, you are savimg my life with this lightsaber effect, your other videos has helped me a lot too
@@JebrilKessler a strip makes sense. Allthough the tracking is only good for slow Scenes - for quick lightsaber movement you are likely to end up with frame by frame manual animation. But it is fun since it looks awesome very quickly :)
@@DavidKahlVFX Exactly The fast scenes where there is swinging i find not so important because its so fast you cant even see it if ita badly done But I believe a strip around the blade is better too Especially if there is a point where you turn the lightaaber But thanks for your help You have saved me
Awesome. I always struggled to match the blade to the hilt without a stunt blade to rotoscope. Would your trick work with rotating too? I'm wondering whether there is a way to use an anchor point at the base of the blade or something.
It's something I am going to investigate - I was able to create an expression that allows to create the blade end point in relation to a track with rotation. But this requires your track to be very precise. Should work perfectly with e.g. an element 3D blade though. It will probably be the next video I do.
This is very frustrating: when I pick-whip it, I keep receiving an error about the "object of type layer found where a number, array, or property is needed." I realized it wasnt including the "transform.position" shown in the video's expression, but adding that at the end didnt accomplish it either. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
this is the old way, manual tracking in a bbbbbbbbbbbbbbiiiiiitccccccccccccch i've seen some plugin that does it - trying hunt for the same of the plugin
Eine Sache hast du vergessen. Bei 5:14 kann man gut erkennen, dass du den Saber Effekt nur auf das Footage legst. Du müsstest aber den Rand des Griffs mit einer Maske über den Saber Effekt legen, um eine vollständige Integrierung zu gewährleisten. So ist der Effekt nicht im Bild sondern nur auf dem Bild, was leider ein Unterschied ist.
Das ist richtig - es ging hier aber nur um die Mechanik die zusätzlichen Elemente an die Null zu hängen. Deswegen wurde hier die Unsauberkeit in Kauf genommen.
@@akex2563 but are we supposed to put the tracking on the null layer? he said we should but he did not do that. he put it on the original clip, does that matter?
In all honest, the best, and most realistic way to track with the saber plug in is to set the Core start and End keyframes and just track the hilt and end of your reference blade, using motion tracking is never going to be as accurate in this scenario
I think this is a good video and it helped me but several points there was just like "and now our null has tracking" I never made a null, he didn't make a null in the video it just appeared. I am very confused.
you skiped the most needed part.....alder keine sau will sehen wie du dein fuk video bearbeitest,...es geht um den tracker der ist bei diesem plugin die herausforderung, und den hast du übersprungen....deine farbspiele und individuellen lieblingseinstellungen will kein afffe sehn man man man !!!! nenn es bitte nicht tutorial wenn du das wichtigste überspringst alder ! mach dich ab...
Thanks for the great collaboration! You are very talented. I look forward to seeing what you have in store in the future.
It was fun and interesting to work with you :)
Underrated video fr
I know this is an older tutorial but every time I try to parent the core start to the null, it gives me an expression error.. not sure why..
expression error: thisComp.layer("Null 1")
It truely is xD After effects can be a pain when it comes to expressions. Very first attempt for troubleshooting - make a new file - create a null with a simple animation in a direction and try to parent any layer to it. Somewhere along the way you probably did "something" - I shifted to Houdini thats why I am not that firm in AE anymore BUT if you cant find the problem I strongly recommend Michael Stark`s channel for AE questions. Tell him Dave demands him to help you ;-)
@@whiskeybanger I know this is an old comment lol but did you ever find a solution to your problem? I'm having the same issue and can't seem to find the solution.
Yes I need help it won't work!
You have to look very closely at the video he opens the null file so that position stopwatch is visible and he pickwhips to that. You may have been pickwhiping to the wrong file in Null. Well at least that’s what I was doing. Sorry if this does not solve your issue
Thank you!!! It helped me to work faster in my editing!! :)
LukeForever glad it was helpful! :)
Pretty neat tutorial with great looking effect!
Thank you!
thank u so much！！！
Cant believe I was able to find his exact video!
Was the workaround with the expression helpful or an old potato? :-p
Life Effects for beginners, it surely is helpful, and nice to see expressions being used in conjunction with real footage (not only motion graphics). But, this is only applicable for basic hero shots, and (sadly) unusable for moving lightsabers in a combat scene, for example.
Yes - sadly that is true. I did a short lightsaber battle a while back
and I needed to do it pretty much frame by frame. It would be interesting
if one would be able to create a more complex expression system to
minimize the needed keyframes
Challenge accepted! --> instagram.com/p/BPKFwBSAtNc/?taken-by=life.effects
Nice, hope you'll find something! Btw, my comment didn't really focus on the speedy movement, but rather on rotation in 3D space which happens a lot in Jedi fights :D
How long do you think it took to edit "tower of joy - jedi battle" ? I would guess 40 hours!
Cooles Video D...
DreamTeam Oreo Danke dir A... ;-)
Lets, you have a saber fight. Would it help to have the rod connected to the hilt and then have little black tracking markers on the blade?
For sure - meaning to have a rod on the hilt. The movies are done with a rod. It's much easier to mask it if you can see the original movement
@@DavidKahlVFX Would i ask after effects to track the hole blade or just the piece of tape im gonna stick to the top and bottom. But i dont know if i should do a strip of tape the whole way around the blade or just 2 dots, because if i rotate the blade, the dots will be gone as to if i went with tape all the around the blade.
Btw. thx for responding, you are savimg my life with this lightsaber effect, your other videos has helped me a lot too
@@JebrilKessler a strip makes sense. Allthough the tracking is only good for slow Scenes - for quick lightsaber movement you are likely to end up with frame by frame manual animation. But it is fun since it looks awesome very quickly :)
@@DavidKahlVFX Exactly
The fast scenes where there is swinging i find not so important because its so fast you cant even see it if ita badly done
But I believe a strip around the blade is better too
Especially if there is a point where you turn the lightaaber
But thanks for your help
You have saved me
Awesome. I always struggled to match the blade to the hilt without a stunt blade to rotoscope. Would your trick work with rotating too? I'm wondering whether there is a way to use an anchor point at the base of the blade or something.
It's something I am going to investigate - I was able to create an expression that allows to create the blade end point in relation to a track with rotation. But this requires your track to be very precise. Should work perfectly with e.g. an element 3D blade though. It will probably be the next video I do.
how do you make a null? with the tracking data. I am a beginner
anont mon Right click and then click on new, then click on ‘create null object.’
This is very frustrating: when I pick-whip it, I keep receiving an error about the "object of type layer found where a number, array, or property is needed." I realized it wasnt including the "transform.position" shown in the video's expression, but adding that at the end didnt accomplish it either. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
Figured it out I think. Had to whip it to where it says Position under Null 3, not just the Null 3 layer. Duh, oh well.
Amazing Video!! where do we get this plug in?
If you mean saber - thats Video Copilot
Thanks so much
Pleas can you make a tutorial how you download the plugin and put it in after effecta
Csgorealy Yes you can download the plugin from Video Copilot - it is free and comes with an install programm - just search for "saber Video Copilot"
@@DavidKahlVFX He is asking how you can use it in After Affects.
I am looking for a easier way to edit a lightsaber duel with out going fram by fram. Will motion tracking help with a full duel?
Nope, swinging the blade too much will make the tracker go off the blade
Hey where you get the Sounds from the lightsaber?
how did you put the motion tracker in null 3?
this is the old way, manual tracking in a bbbbbbbbbbbbbbiiiiiitccccccccccccch i've seen some plugin that does it - trying hunt for the same of the plugin
Wait, so there's a way that isn't manual? Where would I learn this technique?
Eine Sache hast du vergessen. Bei 5:14 kann man gut erkennen, dass du den Saber Effekt nur auf das Footage legst. Du müsstest aber den Rand des Griffs mit einer Maske über den Saber Effekt legen, um eine vollständige Integrierung zu gewährleisten. So ist der Effekt nicht im Bild sondern nur auf dem Bild, was leider ein Unterschied ist.
Das ist richtig - es ging hier aber nur um die Mechanik die zusätzlichen Elemente an die Null zu hängen. Deswegen wurde hier die Unsauberkeit in Kauf genommen.
What was the expression you used for the top of the Sabre?
If you twirl the blade, will it continue to follow it properly?
Ekircher5 If you twirl it only in 2d space yes. I Have an effects coming up for the 3d space twirl
Life Effects Awesome thank you!
Bro. You didn’t show how you got the Null Layer
right click to make a new null
@@akex2563 but are we supposed to put the tracking on the null layer? he said we should but he did not do that. he put it on the original clip, does that matter?
race319 paste the tracking on the null layer and parent the thing you wanna track to the null
@@akex2563 Thank you.
suddently a Null 3 layer?? how
How do you expose the expression settings? my "Core Start" has none of those options!
Darthrodrigo if you tap 'U' once the keyframed settings show up. If you tap it twice the expressions also
Thanks! I'll try it as soon as I can!
where is the plugin ?
Its from videocopilot called saber
@@DavidKahlVFX is it free ? Does it work for cs6 ? Sorry noob here thx man
@@BlakeSandenMedia it is free but I am not Sure about older versions
Is it possible to get a free iOS Android lightsaber video effect
Not as good as this
In all honest, the best, and most realistic way to track with the saber plug in is to set the Core start and End keyframes and just track the hilt and end of your reference blade, using motion tracking is never going to be as accurate in this scenario
You sound like magikill from stick empire II
Need to Google that 😅
How did you add the glow on your face?
Bright Garinson in Ae or Ps? Ae was an adjustmentlayer, a curves effect and a feathered mask.
Life Effects At the 0:57 mark.
Bright Garinson that was described a layer with curves and a feathered mask
Life Effects Ok, thank you.
Explain with detail. Fxxxx
I think this is a good video and it helped me but several points there was just like "and now our null has tracking" I never made a null, he didn't make a null in the video it just appeared. I am very confused.
race319 good for u
you skiped the most needed part.....alder keine sau will sehen wie du dein fuk video bearbeitest,...es geht um den tracker der ist bei diesem plugin die herausforderung, und den hast du übersprungen....deine farbspiele und individuellen lieblingseinstellungen will kein afffe sehn man man man !!!! nenn es bitte nicht tutorial wenn du das wichtigste überspringst alder ! mach dich ab...
Alder... das kommt davon wenn man 3 Jahre alte Videos guckt. ;-)
free?
free what? The Saber Plugin? Yes that is free
@@DavidKahlVFX i wrote that a month ago i forgot what this video was even about 😂😂😂
@@BlakeSandenMedia i missed a couple of comments 😅 it was about lightsaber Animation :-p
@@DavidKahlVFX lol oh yeh! Good stuff
Are you on fiverr.com need your services
Im sure you are german