Light saber effects in photoshop

Well being a big star wars fan, one of the first thing I tried in photoshop had to be the light saber, so I tried the simplest method I could think of then which i will be explaining to u below. There is another method that is NOT MINE, but was in the form of a tutorial on _www.ryan-w.com_, which I would be explaining as well. Before this lets keep some points in mind-

1) There are a gazillion more tutorials but none on instructables so here i am

2) I am discribing only the method to add the light saber effect in a picture, (videos are too cumbersome)

Step 1: GET UR PIC!!!!!

Simple get a pic of yourself or anyone holding a stick or a saber. (im using a random pic i found)

Comments

[AlternateLives]

For videos, there are a few methods. the most expensive, but best, way to do it is Adobe AfterEffects. This will allow you to track the points on the lightsaber and create a glow on it. method number two is Motion. this program comes with the Final Cut Studio Suite, and is very similar to AfterEffects, except it does not use Keyframes. Finally, Anime Studio will let you tract the motion on a video clip and allow you to drop a lightsaber effect onto the points.

[dark sith lord9]

i don't really know

[blahblah86]

found layer styles and i'm trying to get into style settings, but it won't let me.  how do i get into it?

[iori57]

 I tried LS maker before and its much more complicated than photoshop itself... and its not flexible.

I manage to create the light saber in 19 seconds using the above technique :) check it out: www.youtube.com/watch

[ttikmai]

the best way to get the saber point is to use the pen tool, it also help when you have a weird angle where the blade width will et larger or smaller in propotrion to other things in the image.

[Galgarith]

Help! I have Photoshop 4.0, and it won't let me choose Outer Glow in the Layers menu. No matter what I try, I can't manually set outer glow around the white line. What do I do? Is 4.0 too old for this tutorial?

[sadben]

yo your really behinde the times get cs4 of torrents, blaze69 in mininova is pretty good.

[albylovesscience]

i got photo shop 5.0

[UberGalacticEmpire]

Can you use the Paint.net program?

[wenpherd]

can you do this with gimp?

[Kilometer]

You can do the same thing with gimp, but instead of using layer styles like in Photoshop, draw another line (the color you want your blade to be) and then Gaussian blur it to the desired length.

[blckthng]

i dont see, why not........ but being the oblivious nut that i am, i've no idea how exactly its supposed to be done.............so sry maite...

[joehadac]

I got photoshop elements 4.0 and it has every thing ur talkin about except i cant choose the outglow color only blue and it dosent really look like urs

[adamthiede]

I got 4.0 for the mac. It's like 400 dollars less than CS 2 or the much-coveted CS 3. It has great FX and is really all i need. ill have to try it out!

[locofocos]

you wouldn't believe how much i didn't pay for photoshop XD

[waffleman]

you wanna hook me up with a website please? I've been looking for one everywhere....if you can message me or just comment me back that would be sweet....

[blckthng]

I didn't quite get you there? could you elaborate.....

[waffleman]

Oh I was talking to locofocos......

[blckthng]

oh...lol...carry on den....

[jessyratfink]

I think I'll have to start adding this to every picture I take. :D Cat with lightsaber! Plant with lightsaber! Boyfriend sleeping with lightsaber!

[waffleman]

Ewwww he's sleeping with a saber? Just kidding.....

[LoneWolf]

That's AWESOME. I've read a lot of other ways to do this and they were all time consuming or insanely tough. But yours is the fastest,quickest,easiest way I'v found yet!

[iknowirule3]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[steven.exe]

sweet, and simple!

[Jaraldo]

u could just use LS maker

[WhiteTigerTails]

I have photoshop 5.5, so I don't really hace the same functions... Anyone have a solution, wihtout me spending any money?

[spasysheep]

Google search for GIMP. Completely free and with more features than photoshop.

[Geoffrito]

i've gotten some good effects in elements with stylised 'neon' lines and by liberally using gaussian blur. It's pretty simple if you know what you're looking for- just play around a bit =)

[locofocos]

download photoshop? :P

[LoneWolf]

nice pic. locofocos- you ever play that game "N"

[lotrsam11]

hey, you know those lightsabers on the first page, how in the world did you make those, because ive been wanting to make one since i was like 6

[blckthng]

I kinda cheated on that part i got the picture from the internet though i believe dere is another instructable that deals with making those.

[evanwehrer]

Thinkgeek.com has some really nice ones

[lotrsam11]

k. thnx buddy!

[gunmaster222]

(removed by author or community request)

[ItsTheHobbs]

but the blades are butt ugly.

[blckthng]

dude I think you got it all wrong my instructable is about making a light saber in photoshp for the hilt I believe there is another instructable.

[gibsonlp96]

is photo booth only for iMac?

[ItsTheHobbs]

yes

[blckthng]

photobooth?