Hello, I’m Axel, and in this tutorial we are going to get into blasters and laser impacts
and the really fun stuff.
They key to getting good results for this sort of scene is combining multiple techniques,
but I’m going to show you how easy this still is using HitFilm.
Please download the included project file, and join me for this tutorial.
In this project we already have a composite shot set up with our footage, and we will
focus on this front stormtrooper firing his blaster.
So first we want to find the frame where the shot is fired.
It looks like frame 16 is good, right before the blaster recoils.
So on frame 16, we will add the Muzzle Flash image, by dragging it from the media panel
onto the timeline.
Use the blue lines to place the layer above the video, and starting at frame 16.
To remove the black background, right-click on the layer and set the Blend mode to Screen.
Now let’s line this up with the blaster.
Grab the center point and drag it onto the end of the barrel.
This blue box is the rotation handle.
Drag it to rotate the layer, until it lines up with the gun.
Enable Keyframing for the Scale property by click the circle next to Scale, then advance
one frame, and reduce the scale to 30.
Advance one more frame, then trim the end of this layer back to the playhead, so the
layer is only two frames long, and we have a nice quick muzzle flash when the gun fires.
Press the comma key twice, to move back two frames.
Comma and period will move you through the timeline one frame at a time, in either direction.
Now we want to add the Laser to the timeline, starting on the same frame as the muzzle flash.
Set its blend mode to screen as well, then position and rotate it so it lines up with
the blaster.
If you need to, you can hide the muzzle flash by clicking the eye for that layer, so the
blaster is easier to see.
Once the position is good, advance one frame, and trim the layer back to end on that frame.
And now we have this awesome laser bolt coming out of a fiery muzzle flash.
But, this isn’t looking completely convincing yet.
What is lacking is some interaction between this bright effect and the surrounding scene.
First, let’s add some glow to this blaster bolt.
In the Effects panel, find the Glow effect and drag it onto the Laser layer.
Reduce the Threshold to 0, then raise the Intensity to about 4.2, and bring the Radius
up to about 270.
We just want this glow to be red, so open the Per Channel Intensity, and remove the
green and blue components by setting them to 0.
Then bring Red down to around .4, so we have a soft red glow surrounding our bolt.
If we toggle the visibility of this effect on and off, see how much more the bolt appears
to be part of the scene now?
The other issue we want to address is the lighting on the storm trooper.
If this big muzzle flash was happening right in front of him, it should be throwing light
onto his armor, right?
Without that light, the effect is never going to feel quite right.
So, to simulate that light, we will use a duplicate of our video layer with some color
adjustments, and some masks.
Right-click on the background video and Duplicate it.
Rename the copy to Blaster Lighting, then change its blend mode.
But this time, instead of Add or Screen, we will use Color Dodge, which brightens the
footage while still maintaining good contrast.
In the Effects panel, find the Hue Colorize effect and add it to this layer, then open
its controls.
Bump the Saturation up to 58, then shift the Hue over into orange a bit, around 18 degrees.
Now we will use masks to isolate this brightness to specific areas.
We have an entire tutorial focusing on masks, if you want to learn more.
Select the freehand mask tool, and draw the first mask on the front of his helmet, leaving
a bit of a gap between the mask and the helmet’s edge.
Once you close the mask, open the Shape controls and raise the Feather Strength to around 40,
to soften the edges and blend it into the underlying footage.
Now add another mask to this layer, using the same technique, this time around the front
of his torso and this arm holding the blaster.
Because the edges will be so soft, the exact shape isn’t super important, but you want
it to include the areas that are directly facing the flash.
Here is the shape I am using.
Again, raise the Feather Strength to around 40.
Then, add one more mask to his waist, using the exact same method.
Here are the three masks I have created, using loose shapes and a lot of feathering.
Since the muzzle flash is what is creating this brightness, we only want this bright
color to appear when the muzzle flash is visible.
To control this, we will keyframe the Opacity of this entire Blaster Lighting layer.
At frame 16, where the flash is brightest, enable keyframing for the Opacity property.
Step back one frame, with the comma key, and set Opacity to 0.
Advance three frames, with the period key, and set opacity to 0 there as well.
If you play through your timeline now, it should be much more convincing.
Use the RAM preview to function to get the best sense of how the scene will play in real-time.
Now that shots have been fired, perhaps you are wondering what happens when that blaster
bolt hits something.
As it turns out, we have a tutorial on that too, so do give it a watch, and look through
our other tutorials as well.
There is lots of stuff to help you get familiar with the software.