OK, quoting this from another thread:
Thanks
~LC
Don’t forget to set your “alpha” (the slider located under the 3 color bars and labelled with an “A”) to a really low number (like .1)
I’d say thats the problem, just from looking at it. Could you post a blend file for me to look at? Or email it to me, whichever.
w00t!!
Got it working, and didn’t need to mess with the alpha slider!
Have no idea what I did though 
I did mess with the Alpha some and it got worse results, so I’ll just keep it like it is.
I can probably make the inner glow better just by scaling it a bit…I think the problem in that pic is that the inner glow is just too short.
But at least I have it working!
Thanks Jason H for your awesome tutorial!!
Now I need to figure out how to use the sequence editor to rotoscope…if you can do that in Blender.
I’ve managed to do a single image, but I have NO CLUE how to get it for multiple frames like for a film.
Check your original post, I responded there.
LOTR Junkie, thanks for the file!
I’ll have to mess with it a bit.
I got it working so I wasn’t going to bother with that, but I just looked at and it’ll probably be very helpful!
Thanks!
Anyway, so here’s my latest one.
It looks much better than the others.
BUT, after making some observations on the film blades, I’ve noticed that there’s more white area than there is colored area.
So perhaps the blades are actually white, at least at the core they are, and the “fuzzy” area around them seems to be the colored portion.
I adjusted the alpha and that just makes the glow smaller. Too much and it would disappear, so that’s not what’s going on.
The green area needs to be faded slightly and wider.
BTW, how do I upload files?
Is there an attachment option, or do I have to use a file uploading service?
~Thanks
LC
The forum has a built-in uploader for images under a certain size, but for large images and other file types you will have to use an outside uploading service. If you hit the render button as soon as you open my file without tweaking anything, IMO it looks pretty close to the movie blades.
[Edit] Here’s a good upload service provided by polorix: link
Odd.
LOTR Junkie, I copied all of your settings on your blade and here’s what I got:
Getting some weird circles on the inner glow:
And the problem is obvious on this one…I don’t want an obese glow!!
Make sure the settings are exactly as shown. The first pic is for the colored halo material, and the second is for the white core. It looks like you might have accidently pressed the rings and/or lines button in the halo shaders tab.
[Edit] Added some renders of different colored blades, try comparing them to your movie pics and tweak if you think it needs it.
Attachments
Thanks a lot man!
Also, did you mess with the colorband settings at all?
BTW, why do you make the white core a bit longer than the rest?
I assume that’s just the point where it comes out of the handle?
Is that necessary?
Did I mess with the colorband settings? No, these are just straight halo materials.
The core is actually the same length as the glow, I just offset it a bit so the tip would have a little more glow and the root would have a little more core. It’s not necessary, but I think it makes it look better.
PS Like I said in the other thread, if you need any saber hilts for your fan film, I’d be happy to donate Vader’s saber.
Interesting. It’s looking better now, but not like yours. Which is the look I’m after…it looks TOO faded now 
Mine:
Yours:
/uploads/default/original/3X/8/6/866e085a3d0a7a79b7769313610d362456df9676.jpg
We’re getting there. 
Arg. And now I can’t get images working.
EDIT: There. I’ve uploaded the blend file for anyone to help with it.
Thanks!
Er, uploaded the .blend where? Link?
Drat.
Thought I did. I clicked on the attachment button.
Let me try again.
Care to explain how to upload files?
Thanks
OH, so can you ONLY upload pngs and JPGs with that?
http://uploader.polorix.net/files/Saber3.blend
There we go.
Hope this help.
Okay, subdivide the line with the colored glow twice more.
Drat. For some reason I can’t subdivide it in the current mode.
Do I have to start all over?
Oh yeah, what exactly does the subdividing do for this effect?
You have to be in edit mode with your line selected to subdivide. The halo material, as its name implies, creates a soft halo of color around every vertex of a mesh. When you subdivide your line you are adding more vertices, so many of the halos around the vertices are mixing together to give the illusion of a solid glowing line. When you subdivide further, more halos overlap so the glow becomes more intense. Make sense?
[Edit] Here’s a render of your file after subdividing the colored line twice beyond what it already is. In the second picture where I subdivided three times, you’ll notice that the halo is too intense, it overwhelms the white core glow. If you can’t get it right, feel free to just use the blade from my file.
Attachments
Made perfect sense! Thanks!
You subdivide the colored blade right?
I thought I was in edit mode…but I didn’t see the subdivide for some reason?
EDIT: LOL, nope, wasn’t in edit mode 
OK…I seem to have ALL the same settings as yours, even turned on the X Alpha thing, but the outer glow is STILL huge, and I have the same settings!! 
You only subdivided the colored line twice, right? If so, at this point all I can say is to use the blade from my file.
Maybe so. I’ll try redoing the whole thing all over again to see if I can’t get it right.