Lightsabers in photoshop tutorial (update 3-3-07)

[Kit Fisto]

[gvid]2909813048625108366&hl=en[/gvid]


Here is the basic way to make great lightsabers in Photo shop
I will make a video for it ,and include many tricks and tips as well,but for now here is the text version of the tutorialt

It done like this

Make a new layer,
put
MODE: TO SCREEN
AND (THIS IS IMPORTANT OR IT WONT WORK)
UNDER SCREEN WHEN YOU SELECT IT CHECK MARK

"FILL WITH SCREEN WITH NEUTRAL COLOR BACK"

Remember when you make your screen layer if you don`t select "FILL WITH SCREEN WITH NEUTRAL COLOR BACK" it WONT work


From there just draw out the saber with your pen tool and go to Gaussian blur and set to 1

Then duplicate this layer 3 more times (ctrl J)
on the 2nd layer put Gaussian blur to 10

The the 3rd put Gaussian blur to 20

Then the 4th Gaussian blur or 40

(in some pics you might want to add another layer and put it to 80 but not always)

Ok now merge all your lightsaber blur layers down to 1 layer (ctrl E) till they are all in the neutral black layer..

Now for the color ( remember the color will not work if your didn't select "FILL WITH SCREEN WITH NEUTRAL COLOR BACK" when you made your screen layer originally

So go to image,adjustments,color balance and select your sabers color...its done..


TIPS:
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T make your saber tip look even better use the rectangular marquee tool over the tip of the saber and go to "filter,noise ,median) this will round it off..

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If your saber is not jumping out at you because your background is too light,select the background layer and click and hold down the hand looking icon on your tools pallet and select "Burn tool"
Now burn under the saber..

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If you overdue it with the bum tool,no worries go back to the hand looking icon and select the dodge tool,this lightnings things..

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Also if you decide you want to quickly change the sabers color now that its made,easy just go to Image,adjustment,hue saturation,and adjust the hue.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRouJsv7btM

I just did another lightsaber tutorial,I will show you how to turn any pic into a Star wars pic.

I show you how to use the clone tool,and how to properly make lightsaber lens flares,as well as a alternate methos of making blades with the brush instead of the pen tool..

[Lord Trajan]

Kit, no offence man but this tutorial needs to be more specific about what you're doing. I went through it and I'm not getting anythig happening. What am I supposed to do with the pen tool once I've marked out my selection? What layer do I make the Selection on? Do I start out with a new pic or one that has people in it already? What colors do I start with?

I'd like to see about doing this your way. I have a plethora of Saber tutorials and I've tried them all, I just want to see which one is best for me. If I can follow your tutorial better that would help.

I know you're making a video, so if I have to wait for that I will.

[Anakin Skywalker]

Your foreground has to be white, you are doing this over a picture that you want a saber in. With your pen, simply just make the shape, and then merge down into the screen layer

[Darth Ski'rata]

[glow=red,2,300]i wish i had photoshop so i could do this do you have to buy the program then download on your computer because i really want it or Effects Lab Lite[/glow]

[Lord Trajan]

I figured it out while toying around. I'm still not getting the results I've seen here though.

[Kit Fisto]

jlewis76 said:

Kit, no offence man but this tutorial needs to be more specific about what you're doing. I went through it and I'm not getting anythig happening. What am I supposed to do with the pen tool once I've marked out my selection? What layer do I make the Selection on? Do I start out with a new pic or one that has people in it already? What colors do I start with?

I'd like to see about doing this your way. I have a plethora of Saber tutorials and I've tried them all, I just want to see which one is best for me. If I can follow your tutorial better that would help.

I know you're making a video, so if I have to wait for that I will.

worry not,the video tutorial is now up

[Anakin Skywalker]

very nice. This will help A LOT of members.


Now for that sig tutorial jk man but nice tut.

[Lord Trajan]

Kit, thanks for this. Seeing it I can tell exactly what you did. The Pen tool settings at the top are still set to the defaults on your photoshop, that's why I didn't get it. Mine are set for selection without the white.

I'm sure this question has been asked before but how do you make those recordings of your movements on your computer?

Anyway, I'm off to try this one out. Thanks again!

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Ok, I did it till I got it right then I made an action out of it. Feel free to download the action. Just make sure to follow the on screen instructions and it will do the work for you.

www.twindragonproductions.com/downloads/kit-fisto-saber-action.zip


You can also make other things with this action that apply the saber effect by using the pen tool to select whatever shapes you want.

www.twindragonproductions.com/images/hosted pics/F.jpg[/img]

[Kit Fisto]

to record my screen I use a prg called canstasia..
But there is also a free verson (though not as good) called camstudio.

[Sora Skywalker]

hey kit could you help me with something i know hwo to do all this put i just got Adobe Photo Shop Elements cause i lost my Adobe Photo Shop CS2 when i restored my computer to factory and on elements i cant find the pen tool if you know any thing bout elements do you know why its not there?

[Shaddious]

This tutorial was very helpful. I had the basics down from the Ryan tutorial but this one gave me some more tips to add to my repertoi(sp).
Learn more I shall

[Kit Fisto]

soraskywalker said:

hey kit could you help me with something i know hwo to do all this put i just got Adobe Photo Shop Elements cause i lost my Adobe Photo Shop CS2 when i restored my computer to factory and on elements i cant find the pen tool if you know any thing bout elements do you know why its not there?

You can use the brush tool,pick a size,then click on the hilt and hold down shift and click on the tip of the blade,that way will work fine for you Sora and even be MUCH faster.

[Sora Skywalker]

thank you so much kit ;D!


EDIT: One more thing what about the outer glow and every thing else i cant find it.

[Lord Trajan]

Thanks Kit for the info on that software.

I put together a little video showing how to use the actions I put together. It also shows the difference in using Kit's method and the method I use. Both methods are good, it's just that you can use mine with light and white backgrounds and this shows it.

Link to the video:
www.twindragonproductions.com/video/saber-method.mov

Just so you know, the video is 4 megs so it might take a little time for dial-up users to get it.


You can grab both actions off my website here:
www.twindragonproductions.com/resources.html

If you need to know what an action is and how it works you can read my article "Making Photoshop Work for You" which is at the top section of the resource page on my site.

[Kit Fisto]

soraskywalker said:

thank you so much kit ;D!


EDIT: One more thing what about the outer glow and every thing else i cant find it.

The glow is gassian blurs,4 layers of then,you don`t use outer glow..

Gaussian blur and set to 1

Then duplicate this layer 3 more times (ctrl J)
on the 2nd layer put Gaussian blur to 10

The the 3rd put Gaussian blur to 20

Then the 4th Gaussian blur or 40