Tutorial: Photorealistic Lightsabers, The way they should be done!

It's alright, but the effects are way too obvious. Wait until Joe replies, he will tell you all about obvious effects. (sorry if i sound mean)

no its alright mate i think they dont look that good and i agree it does look pretty obvious(and dont worry you dont sound mean -like it ses up the top)

Not too bad there, Mr. Henchman. There's some weird smudging at the bottom right, and it's overall not that interesting to look at, but it's not bad.

joe, u once sed u found the perfect ILM saber in episode 3 where anikans walkin on a catwalk or somefin. Perhaps a screen?

I remember that lightsaber.................................................................................................................man its perfect. Such full flicker and everything.....
its after the part where yoda loses his grip on some ledge and his robe thing is hanging on a stick

EDIT:
I got a screenshot:

Yup, that's the shot. A little bit of ash is floating through the air in front of Anakin's saber, and it actually makes the flicker look a little better. Although the edges are a little undersaturated...

thx xz64! Just one question, y is it so good? theres no flicker (in the pic anyway) the edges are undersaturated, its pretty much the same as their normall sabers?

hmmm good question dan, mayb has somtin to do with the backround or somthing im actually not sure..... hey Joe do u no y

I love undersaturated edge glows. I prefer those rather than those fully saturated edges.

In that shot, the undersaturated edges work because of all the vapor in the air. I'd have preferred a little more saturation, but not much. The flicker isn't really visible in single frames. But when you watch the shot in motion, the combination of smoke, ash, and actual flicker create a lightsaber effect that's more realistic than usual.

The big thing with this lightsaber effect is that it's overall less digital-looking than many of the other shots. I'm not sure why--it's a combination of many subtle reasons.

eh heres mine i just showd now cos dan sayd where the fade was

btw joe why is tere no cyan edge glow in starwars and u say it looks realistic to the movie kinds.
the movies just blur the edge, or is it in oda episodes wich i hav neva encountered looking at the lightsabers?

Well, you have to realize that the lightsaber effect is slightly different in each movie.

Episode IV: Several shots have wonderful glowing, flickering, colored blades. Others have colorless, ugly, blades tinged with black flickers.

Episode V: Pretty much all of the lightsabers look great. There's not too much or too little glow, and the flicker isn't overdone. The edges are pretty saturated, but not ridiculously so. These lightsabers look the most real to my eyes.

Episode VI: Some of the lightsabers look fine, but others look blown out or underexposed. In the DVD release, the retouchers completely messed up a lot of the lightsabers. It's terrible.

Episode I: Overall the lightsabers don't glow quite enough, and they don't really flicker. The glow is a little less fluid and more "computerized" in appearance. The edges of the blade are less saturated than in Episode V.

Episode II: The flicker is reintroduced in several shots, leading to a somewhat better lightsaber effect. Still, the edges are undersaturated and the glow looks fairly computerized.

Episode III: A few shots are great (the aforementioned shot of Anakin, and the shot of Yoda after he beheads the two clone troopers), but most of the blue lightsabers look terrible. They don't have enough cyan and they're far too dark. Also, when a lightsaber passes behind an object, the colored glow bleeds through AND the white core bleeds through. BIG NO-NO! Also, the contact flashes don't just last for a frame or two; they persist as long as the blades are in contact. This is canonically inaccurate.

So I've pretty much gone off of a combination of the Empire Strikes Back, A New Hope, and my own observations of bright light sources. The trick to approximating real life is to find the right saturation along the edges, use the right colors in the right places, and not make the glow too wide or thin.

Hello everyone.

Before I say anything I want to let everybody know that I've never tried creating a lightsaber before, tho I'm familiar with the program since I use to work on some anime artworks sometimes. (but I'm far not a professional..)

Anyway I'd like to surprise one of my friends with a bd gift and as he's really into SW I thought I might be able to use photoshop to create some funky photomanipulation.

SO my problem is that..I'm trying to add the lightsaber to a wallpaper I'Ve created with this guy on it. Still I somehow didn't succeed in achieving the results I wanted..

My first question is:
1. as it is not a totally black background could it be that the effects are FAR not the same as with a black background?
2. Do I have to use that wallpaper as "background" or a layer? (I've been using it as a layer sofar)
3. why does the whole background turn "clouded" after the step 13? And could it be that this technique is not compatible with a non-black background then? Or can I "escape" from this problem by creating a layer mask somewhere?

Thanx in advance

Lady Alexiel

Warm Welcome Alexiel!

1. No, a black background compared to darkish background doesn't make much of a difference.

2. Doesn't matter. If your using it as a leyer make sure your black screen layers are above the background.

3. Make sure your making the cloud layer on a seperate layer above each individual glow AND THEY MUST BE GROUPED! (ctrl+G)

Joe will probably elaborate on it, but there's the basic low-down.

P.S. Perhaps a screen to show us your probs?

Thanx for your fast answer.

Well I've been working on the pic a bit more and also made up new variations, used some effects as I saw them fit - a bit more saturations here - bit more colorizing there - but I'm still note sure if the results are close to the real thing.. I want to hear the opinion of a real SW fan to make sure:P

The two sabers I'm showing here are totally different not only in color but also in length and thickness. Which one is closer to the real one? Or should I start all over

Seeya

Lady Alexiel

p.s. : well ok I was not exactly honest this background is not dark at all lol ohwell