Darth Vader Lightsaber (ANH)

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

I already posted about this in Blender General, but I figured it would be easier to get help if I could post progress photos and .blends, so I'm reposting here in WIP.

Basically BenJuro's lightsaber blade tutorial started me wanting to make a hilt, so I asked you guys how to go about doing that. Here's the other thread: Lightsaber advice... Again, here are my reference pics:





I hope to update soon, as of now it's still in it's *very* early stages.

[cekuhnen]

looks nice and detailed, very much appreciated work.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

The blender pic is one I found online, not mine. I mean to try to duplicate it as accurately as possible. Er, wait. No I don't. "Do, or do not. There is no try."

[BenJaru]

Good referance pics, RJ. I am very interested to see how this comes out. I never got around to actually modeling a saber handle in great detail, way back when I was doing it. The focus for me was the realistic blade.

I'll be on top of this, so if you have any problems, just shout. 8)

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Most of tonight I've been making and tweaking the little ridges at the very bottom of the LS in my top reference pic. Do you think the ridges look right? I'm happy with them for the moment, but sometimes I miss little things that other people can point out. I'm also at a bit of a loss as to how to make the vertical ridges below the horizontal ones... I've also included a pic showing the subsurf control mesh.

[BenJaru]

Ok, your best bet for the little vertical ridges is going to be the spin tool. Have you played around with it yet?

The process is kind of complicated in your instance. Let me get some screenies for you to show how to do it...

[BenJaru]

Listen, I am on my laptop right now, sitting in bed... And the laptop is one of those computers that makes you want to run around pulling your hair and screaming when you do Blender. It has almost no Open GL support. So I will get the screens explaing how to do the ridges for you tommorow, probably afternoon, since I'll be busy in the morning.

[TroutMask]

don't use the spin tool, use the screw tool. instructions on how to use it are in the official documentation.

[Bapsis]

Hey man,

Cool, I just did a lightsaber as well, coincidence....... i think so!!!

I found a few lightsaber pages, and one really good one that showed how the models were built. The one I made, Obi-Wan's from the original movies, used a German granade core and a bunch of other things like a bathroom faucet tap for the base of the handel.

I'll see if i cant find the link........ here we go :

http://www.jedi-academy.com/lightsabermain.html


Anywayz, good luck with your lightsaber!!!


Matt


Blend on, and blend well!!!

[BenJaru]

Originally Posted by TroutMask don't use the spin tool, use the screw tool. instructions on how to use it are in the official documentation.

I don't think the screw tool will do the trick. Just look closely at what he is trying to achieve.

[TroutMask]

sorry, i had just assumed he was trying to create threads. so if this is simply a ribbed section then you are right, the spin tool is best for the job.

[BenJaru]

Ah, I see.


RJ, are you after something like this?



The materials are very lousy, so pay them no mind. I just did a quick render so you could see what it looks like.
I'll put up the 'how to's' if that is about what you are after.

[cekuhnen]

sharper corners/edges!

[BenJaru]

Yeah, I agree cekuhnen. And probably the vertical ridges should be smaller. I'm working on it now.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Yep, that's what I'm after. As you can see I've already modeled the horizontal ribbing, what I was wondering about is the small vertical ridges that you said you should make smaller in your pic.

[cekuhnen]

i wish blender would have better nurbs tools.
the job would be that easy. create a solid cylinder.
create some nurbs patches with teh shape of
threadings and cut the space away
from the cylinder. thats what i would do in cobalt.

the subdivs often work fine but specific geometry make
them hard to use. your mesh is one of the cases.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

I just had a thought... I'm gonna go try to just model one ridge and then spin dup it around a simple subsurfed cylinder. *minimizes browser and goes to blender*

[BenJaru]

RJ, take a look at this. I made it up in paint because I didn't want to take the time to use Gimp or Photoshop for something that will probably only be used once. Tell me if it helps, or if it makes no sense.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Thanks ben, I think I found an easier way though. (Hope you didn't go to too much trouble to make that... Sorry if you did. :-| )I used the photo reference to get the proportions right. See anything wrong?

[BenJaru]

Good job man! I bet I know how you did it though.. It occured to me, after I was done, that the process could be simplified about a thousand times. But never mind that.

Your pic looks fantastic. Actually far closer to the referance than mine. :-?
I have to admit though, I got quite a long way on a lightsaber handle myself, I just started doodling and I was having so much fun I kept on doodling. Again, no textures, but: