This tutorial shows how to create laser bolts using Adobe Photoshop filmstrips. First open your footage in either Adobe Premier or Adobe After Effects, and save the file as a filestrip. Rember the longer the clip, the bigger the file therfore the more hard-drive you need. so limit the filmstrips to one shot.

Once your filmstrip file has been created open it in Adobe Photoshop. It should look something like this. From here we are going to create the laser blasts (the last effect to add to this shot)

All of the work is going to be created on layers, so the first thing you need to do is pull up your layers palette (WINDOW > LAYERS) and you will see a palette that looks something like this one. Click on the bottom right icon next to the dustbin and create a new layer.

In order to replicate the lasers accurately we need to create an anchor point on the layer. This method is a little hokey, but I find it is extremely accurate, and easy to create so I go with it.

Making sure your new 'laser' layer is highlighted go up to the rectanngular marque tool in the top left of the toolbar and carefully draw a small rectangle in the top left hand corner of the filmstrip file. It is vital that it is right into the top and the left hand side, as this is your anchor. One you have drawn a small sqaure marquee, fill the sqaure with which. here you have created your anchor point, which will allow accuracy through the rest of your laser creation.

Highlighted in red is what you are after. Once you have created this you can begin to create your laser.

Using the Polygonal lasso tool (right below the marque tool) We are now going to dscribe the entire path of the laser blast. Here is where the Adobe Photoshop method is really useful, as you can see in one frame the entire path of the laserblast. Obviously the blast could be being deflected off the lightsabre and bouncing off at right angles, it could be coming straight for the camera lens. Whatever you want to happen, just draw in the entire path in this one frame. Once you have crerated the path you like, fill it in using white

Once you have filled in the path you are ready to duplicate the laser across a number of frmaes. Usually for or five frames is enough to chart the lasers course, but obviously if you want the laser to be slower, create more duplicate layers, if you want it to be quicker create less. Here I have create four frames, and carefully positioned each layer on a seperate filmstrip frame, ensuring each one lines up with the left hand side and the top of each frame. Do this accurately and you have perfectly aligned laser paths every time. Hokey, but effective. Now click on your background/base layer and turn it off, then go to merge visible and all of the layers you have create should now be one layer. Simply eraser the square in the top left and there you have the basis of your laser, all nice and accurate as below...

Now you are ready to create the actual laser itself. Using the eraser tool, and starting with the first frame, delete all of the blaster line apart from the initial section, then frame by frame delete the next part and then the next. Remember that the lines nearest the camera will be longer that the ones furthest away (that'll be perspective then) This is another part wehre this method scores, deleting the laser as it goes behind someone, through a leg etc is very simple using the eraser tool. Once you have done this you are ready to create the glow. So highlighting the first layer...

...apply a Guassian blur to it. Amounts vary according to taste but try about 1.0, Now duplicate this recently blurred layer to begin create the actual glow. Apply a glow to this duplicateed layer of (say) 5.0. Now you need to colour the layers

Go to IMAGE >ADJUSTMENTS > CURVES and then highlight the green channel and click hold on the right hand side of the line and drag it down to the base. Do the same with the blue channel and you will have a red laser. Obviously if you want a green laser, you take the blue and red channels down etc.

We also want a yellow core, so highlighting the layer with the Gaussian Blur of 1.0 (should be the one immediately above the background) again go to curves and delete all of the blue, and some of the green (depending on how orange you want the core) You should be left with something like the picture above. It's getting there but still doesn't look to good...

One thing that is seriosly missing is any sense of speed in the bolt, no camera could capture a laserbolt this sharply, so we need to reflect this. Go to FILTER > BLUR > MOTION BLUR and turn the angle wheel until the axis is going in the same direction as the laser bolt. Take your time here, if you get the angle wrong the blast core will just turn to mush. Obviosuly if the bolt changes direction (from being deflected) you need to do this is two stages, first creating the blur on the ones that are going one way, then on the ones going the other way. Here I used a motion blur of 28, but again, just 'adjust to taste'.

Okay, it's now time to neaten up this layers palette and get ready for the final tweaks. The good little photoshop worker will have labelled each layer as An orange layer (which has been motion blurred), and three red layers duplicated. As you can see there is a fifth WHITE CORE layter.

Looking at this particular bolt I felt it needed a bit more in the core, and so (again using the LEVELS) I bumped up all of the levels to make the thing white again. I then highlighted this new white layer in the layers palette and Command (Apple) clicked on the layer named WhiteCore. This selected all of the imformation on this layer (as can be seen by the 'dancing ants' around the white core.

This is jolly good, but totally obliterates the nice yellow core underneath, so we need to reduce it's width. Go to SELECT > MODIFY > CONTRACT and type in a nu,ber (I used 1.0) this makes the mask reduce itself by one pixel. Now go to SELECT > INVERSE to select the opposite part of the core. Now go to EDIT > CLEAR to delete the information you don't want.

This group of steps are purely personal preference, some people like yellow cores, some white etc. It's up to you what you think looks best

So you have these five layers, and you are nearly done. The one thing that remains is to screen some of the layers. Try screening all of the layers, it may well look fine (If the bolts are in space this is perfect. but on varying backgrounds I like to keep one of them in NORMAL mode, but again this is up to you, experiment with all of the transfer modes, and see what you like best. Now go to ILE > SAVE AS and choose filmstrip again. Pull thisd back into etiher Adobe After Effects, or Adobe Premiere and call that a finished shot.

If for some reason FILMSTRIP is no longer an option, don;t panic. Flatten the image and slect it all (that'll be SELECT > ALL) and then copy it to your pasteboard (EDIT > COPY) Now close this file (if you crash now you're going to be crying) and open up the original filmstrip file, and paste your clipbaiord content over the top, make sure your pasted item is perfectly aligned, and then go to SAVE AS and the option Filmstrip should now be availabe.

Above is a finished laser from a finished frame. All of the layers where set to screen mode, bar one of the red layers.

this method is very accurate, and can produce lasers exactly the way you like them. It is very IMPORTANT to remember that (just like when rotoscoping lightsabre blades) you create ALL of your initial laser paths first off, before duplicating the layers and applying glows. Otherwise you have to repeat this process over and over. Also remember that when applying the all important motion blur across multiple lasers, ensure you mask them off accordingly.

To see this method in action. Download the teaser trailer for STORM AHEAD available here