Blah, I never once made the claim that he'd ever want to use Maya again after completing that clip -- just that it'd probably work :b

yes but that's what compsiting programs do!! you don;t manually do each frame (unless rotoscoping) you set it up for one frame and then run each frame through the process... don't worry I will explain tomorrow when I get time

Here's hoping he has access to After Effects

Your still rotoscoping in after effects, it's just a little easier to do it in after effects than in photoshop. I really want to know how ILM does it. Their saber art has a specific look to it than that of photoshop or after effects.

There's loads of tutorials around on the internet on this subject. Here two video tutorials from The Force.net. One is with After Effects, the other Photoshop.

http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/pos...rtutorials.asp


Rotoscoping may take a long time, but remember: if you want good results, there no real easy way. You can bypass the hard work.

I know this is a stupid question but we are in the noob forum right? hehe

I've been trying to make a convincing metal and I was wondering how THX made the metal on his lightsaber blade

If THX can reply or anyone else thinks they know I'd appreciate it

JSand4325,
while i can't speak for THX there are many free shaders avaliable on the internet such as this site at highend3d:

http://www.highend3d.com/maya/shaders/

--
the simplest way to create metal in maya is to assign a phong E material to an object however to get a really realistic metal you often have to tamper with maya's default shaders so maybe downloading one would be the best method if your unfamiliar with maya's shading network capabilities
(its a jungle :headbang:)

hope that helps

JSand4325, I believe I used a Shiny Iron shader for the sabre hilt, and the shader is from highend3d.com. Wonderful site for Maya shaders. My render method for that sabre pic is from Mental Ray if your curious at all.

ok thankyou

I would like to learn a bit about Maya shader networks if anyone has the time to finish explaining how to do it with PhongE. I've learned a bit, and I owuld like to continue learning because shaders make the image in the end imo

Your welcome. As far as shader networks are concerned, I reccomend you do a google search. That might get you started. I have never messed with shader networks, so I cant really help you in that dept, unless someone here is willing to put in the time and effort. I also reccomend you know how to work the hypershade before you start adanced shading, if building your own shader is what your going for.

By the way, I thought Pure_Morning was going to explain the ILM methode of light sabre FX.