Harry Potter Magic Wand Lightning Effect Tutorial

This tutorial is a bit old but most of the instructions still made sense. I was looking through youtube the other day and came across this video under tutorials in after effects. First off I don't know anyone that can say they don't like Harry Potter and beyond that I can't imagine that I was the only one that always wondered how they did the wand effects when dueling out in the forest or wherever potter would duel out. The directions are pretty simple and I wouldn't be surprised if some kids in our class already have an idea on how to create these effects in AE. Hope you guys enjoy

Flash Animation Overview Part 1: The History

Adobe Flash is a powerful animation, vector graphic and games/software creating tool. The first version of Flash was created in 1996 by a company called FutureWave Software. It was released as FutureSplash Animator, before it was sold to Macromedia, who released the product as Macromedia Flash.

Flash was widely used on the internet, for many applications such as playing music, games, and video. Flash was used to make many of the 'classic' internet toons we love today, such as That badger thing, The Demented Cartoon movie, and the great Homestar Runner.com  

Homestar Runner's creative cast

Flash stayed on the internet until 2002, when Warner Bros. Animation debuted the first animated TV show done in Flash: Mucha Lucha 

In 2005 Adobe purchased Macromedia, bringing Flash into Adobe's army of creative evil: The Creative Suite. 

Next Week: How do Flash do? A look into how Flash works, symbols and actionscript.