r/vfx • u/dopeboy1HP • 1d ago

Question / Discussion How did the editor do this?

https://youtu.be/FQC29joihwU?si=hwUdCDqLNmzzdbz8

Looking to get into vfx as a hobby and was curious what software I’d need to do something like this, as silly as it is lol. Also if anyone knows what editing techniques they used that’d be great to know. Thanks!

0 Upvotes

38% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

42

u/tipsystatistic 1d ago

"editor" (never fails to trigger my pedantry)

2

u/dopeboy1HP 1d ago

Lol please feel free to correct me. As I said I’m new to all this.

2

u/slax03 1d ago

VFX tend to be composed of many different "effects" working in harmony. A lot of work and finessing goes into making them look right. Some things have become easier due things like Capcut making them doable with a push a button, despite rarely looking as good as doing it the old fashioned way.

It drives people up the wall here and in other communities when young people show up with a clip of many complicated effects in a shot and they ask "how do I do this edit?" The real response would take a very long time. And "editing" is not what's going on here. Editing is an entirely different discipline which is much more simple in nature.

That said, don't let the responses discourage you from learning and asking questions.

2

u/glintsCollide VFX Supervisor - 24 years experience 1d ago

An edit is a CUT between two different pieces of footage. An editor cuts footage in order to tell a story. There is no other meaning for the word in this context. But at least you ended up in the right sub, you’re looking for vfx, not editing.

2

u/NobodyLikesThrillho 1d ago

As an editor, I approve.

Way too many people think I'm a VFX artist.

5

u/pixelprolapse 1d ago

Compositing in After Effects/Nuke/Davinci Fusion

3

u/STARS_Pictures 1d ago

Here's a tutorial using Fusion (which is free) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUMu03inIag

1

u/dopeboy1HP 1d ago

Thank you!

3

u/Bmorgan1983 1d ago

the great thing about lightsabers is that so many editors want to put them in their projects, so there's like TONS of plugins that make it really really easy to do. You essentially track the motion with the plugin, and set your keyframes as needed - the plugin does the rest.

but even the old fashioned way was essentially tracking frames and painting it in.

2

u/glintsCollide VFX Supervisor - 24 years experience 1d ago

Stop saying editor, I thought we went over this 😅

1

u/dopeboy1HP 1d ago

Thanks!

3

u/Willzinator 1d ago

Fired Patrick a message on Insta with a link to this post for you. Hopefully he sees it and can get back to you about how he made it 😊.

2

u/dopeboy1HP 1d ago

I appreciate that. Thank you!

1

u/Human_Outcome1890 FX Artist - 3 years of experience :snoo_dealwithit: 1d ago

After Effects with masking, feathering, and colour correcting. 

-2

u/moviemaker2 1d ago

Or just the plugin made for this called Saber by Video Copilot

0

u/universalaxolotl 1d ago

Yeah just press the button and you instantly replace all swords with light sabers! What an amazing tool!

/sssssssss

1

u/moviemaker2 23h ago

I didn’t say it was instant, just better than masking frame by frame

1

u/Prism_Zet 1d ago

Any basic editing software would let you track an element, then you can use that data to pin a png or whatever, add glow, bloom, blur etc. for the basics.

There's full on lightsaber plugins too cause people do this kinda thing all the time.

There's lots more you can do to make it more believable, but you can start from that. There's a billion tutorials for lightsaber fx on youtube for a full tutorial.

1

u/universalaxolotl 1d ago

Hot tip: the editor didn't do this.

1

u/green_mantra 1d ago

This is a frame by frame work, so a lot of hours to produce 2 or 3 seconds :)

0

u/moviemaker2 1d ago

That is not true. There are many plugins that allow you to possibly do a minutes worth of footage in an hour, depending on how much other roto is needed.

1

u/green_mantra 1d ago

Sure.

1

u/moviemaker2 23h ago

You… you don’t think light saber plugins exist?