Q & A: Are lightsabers safe for kids?

Today we answer one of the questions about the videos: is it safe to let the kids (even the little ones) play with lightsabers? I mean, they are one of the most dangerous weapons in the galaxy! The answer lies in how they are constructed:


If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below!

The Kids practicing with their lightsabers

The cousins were in town for the week, so we tried out a game of "laserball."


It uses a reprogrammed training drone to "serve" the laser. It's great for training, and the kids had a ball!

Test Rig for Motion on a New Droid!

We've finally moved on from short clips and are starting a short film with an actual plot!

That means we're adding some new effects to move the story along, and one is a variation on the new BB style droid. Our test rigging is here:


Let me know what you think!

Star Wars: Probe drone bugging Emmett

This is one of my favorites. I know "force fireball" probably isn't truly Star Wars, but was fun anyhow.

Star Wars: Force Jump training

This is Emmett learning to use "Force-Jump." He can't stick the landing.

Star Wars: Force lift

This was the second video we made. After seeing the kids really sell this effect, I knew we were on to something and had to keep making more!

Star Wars: Lightsaber practice

Since we've been learning to do these videos, Emmett's friends want to join in on the fun!

Here's a quick video we shot in an afternoon for fun.

The kids learned the basic sword choreography pretty quickly, and really loved the finished product.

For myself, I settled on my favorite way to animate the sabers using Blender. It created a nice white core with good control over the glow, and it was quick and simple to rotoscope.