Fix a Laser Cutter with a Light Saber

My new laser cutter didn’t seem to work. I tried all of the usual troubleshooting steps. Then, I got the idea to use a special kind of tool.

Behind the scenes

All of the sound effects you hear are ones that I added: “in post.” The footsteps, the laser cutter, and (obviously) the lightsaber were all recorded separately.

I used the Adobe After Effects plugin Saber from Video Copilots to do the glow. If you watch carefully, you’ll see that it even reflects off my glasses and laser cutter!

I don’t intend to do these often. However, I thought it was nice to get away from the usually animated tutorials and do something just for fun.

Why “Dale 1?” I bought the laser cutter shortly after TechShop went bankrupt. The story of that place reminded me of the story of the Dale–an ultimately fraudulent car.