I just thought I’d post an example of what can be done with a normal digital video camera, a copy of software like Adobe Premiere, and a bit of patience!
Click on the picture above to see the whole clip. The remaining clips can be found on Howard’s Blog, together with a clip showing the Goauld-style glowing eyes effect from Stargate SG-1.
Howard put the clips together a year or so ago, but has dug them out to help Chris with a project he is doing with some of his students creating simple special effects. Although for someone whose footage extends to a couple of holidays and helping out the Youth Group with a video competition a few years back it is pretty impressive! More clips are promised as the project progresses.
It is worth bearing in mind that aside from the fact that Howard did it digitally, the method by which he got the effect is pretty similar to how LucasFilm constructed the effect for Star Wars back in 1977!
The lightsaber effect in this video is very well done, I have been playing around with the effect following tutorials I’ve found on the internet but most effects look cheesy and not that great, however the quality of these are superb for the effect it self, if ever you had a write up method or wish to help me do it your way please contact me at gerhard976@gmail.com
I don’t even know if your still working on this site but anyway
I’d like to get some instructions on how to make a lightsaber effect on the XP… I have Adobe Photoshop if that’d do any good…
I have to agree with Tristan up above, others look VERY cheesy…
Thanks for the help!
Howard is definitely the person to talk to about this, however he looks to have the time limit set on his comments over at his blog. After the initial item which I linked to above, he has done some details on how to achieve the various effects. Take a look at http://blog.durdle.com/archives/category/sfx/ for more details.