HaloSabers(tutorial)

[AniCator]

Hello BlenderHeads

Here is a nice tutorial made by me about LightSabers without any plugin except for the Glow effect(standard effect).
Needed: HaloSpotLight Knowledge, Working with Sequence Plugins

Here is the Final Render you would get after this tutorial:

[SIZE=6]Open Blender Now![/SIZE]
Delete the Default Cube and delete the normal light because we don't need them.
Add a spotlight and change the settings to this:


Color isn't important only keep in mind that G and B are 0.150 in my settings for a better glow.

Press N while the Spot is selected and press N
Change the Z axis(location axis) to 5.000
Duplicate the Spot and press N again and change the location Z axis to 0.000 and the X rotation axis to 180.000.

This would be your view now in 3D View:


And you would render this(world map to black, or Premul off):


It now looks little weird because we didn't duplicate the lowest spot

So let's do that now!
Duplicate the lowest spot and move it down to +/- -2.000.
Render again this looks a little better.

Add an Empty from top view, parent the spots to it.

Put in some moves by keyframing every 10 to 5 frames(Keyframing by pressing I and i think we could use here LocRot the best)(don't forget that you'll only move the empty because the spots are parented to it

Put on MBlur at 0.1 at the Render Buttons

Render.......

Jikes what's that ugly lightsaber doing out here.
Don't worry you'll need to go into the sequence editor.
Add the scene
Add the glow plugin(while scene is still selected)
Press N and set Threshold to 0.001(for prevending glowing other objects) and Boost factor to 1.000.

Render again.....(i've chosen keyframe 14)

Looks Better Right!:


If you're not satified play with the settings of the Glow Effect but the Spots settings should be good now.

Happy Blending

[al]

Thanks for the tut, it's a nice idea, can also be the beginning for a more sophisticated technique.

[AniCator]

Lightsabers are complex things with Blender, BlendSaber has some problems, Cylinder Glow isn't really good(Jimmy with Lightsaber has that technique)
But this is an easy way.
Also no long render times.
I've tried more ways to make it look good but this was the best way.
And i never saw this one on elysiun, blenderwars and blender.org.
So have fun!

[Wolf]

/- -\
\m/ " . . . . . Luke . . . . I am your father"

:P

Sorry, that's the first thing that came to mind ^.^!

Nice tutorial by the way, good way to make lasers =D, maybe I should've tried this for my Obelisk of Light



Wolf

[Jason H]

Lightsabers in blender aren't that difficult with halos though.
While it is hard to use halos to put sabers in a movie, you can make animations or stills very well with it.

see some of the halo sabers i've made before:

[S-Slash]

Originally Posted by AniCator Hello BlenderHeads Here is a nice tutorial made by me about LightSabers without any plugin except for the Glow effect(standard effect). Needed: HaloSpotLight Knowledge, Working with Sequence Plugins Here is the Final Render you would get after this tutorial: [size=6]Open Blender Now![/size] Delete the Default Cube and delete the normal light because we don't need them. Add a spotlight and change the settings to this: Color isn't important only keep in mind that G and B are 0.150 in my settings for a better glow. Press N while the Spot is selected and press N Change the Z axis(location axis) to 5.000 Duplicate the Spot and press N again and change the location Z axis to 0.000 and the X rotation axis to 180.000. This would be your view now in 3D View: And you would render this(world map to black, or Premul off): It now looks little weird because we didn't duplicate the lowest spot So let's do that now! Duplicate the lowest spot and move it down to +/- -2.000. Render again this looks a little better. Add an Empty from top view, parent the spots to it. Put in some moves by keyframing every 10 to 5 frames(Keyframing by pressing I and i think we could use here LocRot the best)(don't forget that you'll only move the empty because the spots are parented to it Put on MBlur at the Render Buttons Render....... Jikes what's that ugly lightsaber doing out here. Don't worry you'll need to go into the sequence editor. Add the scene Add the glow plugin(while scene is still selected) Press N and set Threshold to 0.001(for prevending glowing other objects) and Boost factor to 1.000. Render again.....(i've chosen keyframe 14) Looks Better Right!: If you're not satified play with the settings of the Glow Effect but the Spots settings should be good now. Happy Blending

Cool.

I think it would be worth to try making "the blade" to be straight like a real saber and modify it to spread in movement so it fits into motion blurred shots.

[AniCator]

Originally Posted by Jason G Lightsabers in blender aren't that difficult with halos though. While it is hard to use halos to put sabers in a movie, you can make animations or stills very well with it. see some of the halo sabers i've made before:

I've tried to work with Lightsaber with Halo material but it didn't work out so well, so i began to use HaloSpotSabers

[AniCator]

Videos of my technique:
http://www.files.bz/files/358/Animation/0001_0125.avi
http://www.files.bz/files/358/Animation/0025_0050.avi
http://www.files.bz/files/358/Animation/0040_0125.avi

[AniCator]

EDIT: Sorry wrong links
Here are the good one's:
http://www.files.bz/files/358/Animation/0001_0125.avi
http://www.files.bz/files/358/Animation/0025_0050.avi
http://www.files.bz/files/358/Animation/0040_0125.avi

[unfear]

yeah nice, and on white background? that I do to solve this?



here are the same saber in deep the darkest one

[TheANIMAL]

theres no solution

i think George Lucas would say something along the lines of

"Light Sabre battles in light coloured, brightly lit rooms just dont happen"

[Jason H]

Hmm, I'm sitting here away from my computer at home, so I can't test this, but couldn't you render it on a black background and composite that onto your final image and therefore save the color?

And if that is too bright when you composite it, you could just lighten the backrground up in your render and try to composite again.

None of this will prbly work though

just a thought....I'll try it when I get back to my pc.

[unfear]

look this two images, the saber really disappears when have white background

see the back light and obi wan saber


and now the blue saber and blue sky


other question is, your movement, this image below is an assembly, but looks very cool the movement, if I use mblur standard it does not create this effect
http://www.spilloverink.com/wp-conte...lightsaber.jpg

[AniCator]

Oh man, I'm very sorry.
I put it in the tutorial right now.
MBlur was lower.
I'm not on my own pc anymore (broken display screen).
I think MBlur was 0.1

[tomiko]

Hi

Thanx for the great tutorial very usefull in many ways.
I found another use from your method as lazer beams.I just parented each lamp to a Path..

here's a small animated test.
http://www.sammyg.us/upload/data/LAZER_TEST.avi

[noobguy]

im sorry but how do you make them a rounded shaped?


instead of loking like two conics against each other?


something like this | | istead of \ /
something like this | | istead of / \

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Instead of using spot-lights you use two lines that have been subdivided many times. Then you apply a white halo texture to one line, and a bigger colored halo texture to the other.

Check this post for results: link

P.S. This new forum is awesome, before you couldn't link to a specific post.