If you’ve ever seen a Star Wars movie then chances are you’ve envisioned yourself swinging a lightsaber. This effect is done by a process called rotoscoping. Other Star Wars effects done by rotoscoping include blaster bolts and the training droid that Luke practices with on the Falcon in Starwars: A New Hope.Rotoscoping, to make a long story short, is done by going back and painting an effect over frames taken from a video. With the recent development of software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere this is now possible for the high end (and loaded) consumer. Unfortunately for those of us living in the real world, software titles such as the ones mentioned above are largely unattainable due to the high price slapped on them. Now for the good news, normal people (yes that means you) can also make similar effects using free software. Ok ok so as yuo can see from the picture on the right it’s not exactly professional grade, but you get what you pay for. To get started creating your own rotoscoping effects, click on a link bellow and I’ll walk you through it step by step.


-------------------------------------------- ............Lightsaber Effect...........................................Blaster Effect (not yet availabel)...............................................Force Lightning (not yet available)