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General Category => General Anim8or Forum => Topic started by: thecolclough on April 05, 2008, 03:39:35 pm

Title: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: thecolclough on April 05, 2008, 03:39:35 pm
hi all
i built some lightsabre blades in anim8or a couple of years ago, for a movie project which never really got off the ground.  i just rediscovered them, and i thought, since they're quite generic (they don't even have to be lightsabres, you could use them for other stuff if you wanted), i'd post them here for anybody to download and use if they want.  they're 100% freeware, i won't say anything like "you must make sure you clearly label my models in your work" or anything stuffy like that  :P  although, if you do make use of them, i'd love to see a render!

well, hope they're useful to somebody  :)

- colclough
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: Alpha2 on April 05, 2008, 04:27:29 pm
Hmm I was just thinking of doing something with swords today... Yoink!

(http://www.the-real-alpha2.com/images/3d/saberlit.jpg)

I added a handle since it didnt have one, looks like a flashlight but I just made it quickly. The blade is a little short for my tastes but that's okay.
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: thecolclough on April 07, 2008, 05:14:13 am
hey, nice one, alpha2!

- colclough
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: flametiger74 on April 07, 2008, 10:27:07 pm
That's a pretty cool effect with the outside lighting. How did you do that?
I looked a the project and it looks like you just made them a transparent color on the outer edges.
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: thecolclough on April 08, 2008, 04:22:17 am
the outer glow effect is made from a series of concentric cylinders, with a two-sided material, the front is completely see-through, and the back is given 1.0 emissive colour but set to only about 0.08 opacity.  the closer to the core of the blade you look, the more cylinders you are looking through, so the greener it looks.  it's quite a similar technique to the atmosphere-glow effect around the planet in this topic i posted a while back (http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?topic=152.0).  the two-sidedness of the materials is the key to making it work.

- colclough
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: spicy on April 11, 2008, 07:47:58 am
These lightsabers you made are ace! I have made a few hilts, perhaps I shall put them here when they are fully finished.
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: chaz on April 11, 2008, 08:05:38 am
thecolclough,

why don't you write a tutorial on how you did it?
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: spicy on April 11, 2008, 08:07:08 am
Yeah that would be ace! thecolclough I think it's a good idea. Not only can you use it as a lightsaber put as laser blasts, laser pistols. It's a good idea! :)
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: StarDude on April 12, 2008, 05:12:14 pm
Cool dude. I was just about to watch The Empire Strikes Back!
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: thecolclough on April 12, 2008, 06:08:23 pm
tutorial... hm.  i've never written one before, but then i guess there's a first time for everything, isn't there?  :)  can't promise it'll be along very soon, but i'll give it some thought!  thx for the suggestion, chaz and spicy!

- colclough
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: falloffalot on April 15, 2008, 02:19:40 pm
Thecolclough
How did you make the end of the glowing green bit rounded?
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: almost cool on April 24, 2008, 06:18:08 pm
Heres an abstract render, not 2 bad.If possible please rate on a 1-10.
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: Tanzim on April 25, 2008, 03:38:52 am
Well, it looks like 4 lasers intersecting each other and creating an explosion, I believe you used version 0.97, or did you texture it?
Um, it's abstract so i can't say it's good or bad, so... it's 3/10, weird.
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: thecolclough on April 25, 2008, 05:07:04 am
How did you make the end of the glowing green bit rounded?

sorry it's taken me a while to get back :-[

the rounded bit was made of halved spheres - there's one sphere for each cylinder, which has the same diameter and divisions settings as the cylinder, then is converted to a mesh, and has the bottom half chopped off.  you have to remove the bottom half, or you'd get a weird extra-green blob of glowiness at the end of the blade :P  i repeated the process several times, adding another half sphere for each cylinder in the blade.  it's important to get the diameter and divisions the same, so that they match up properly.

if you download the package and take a blade apart, you should be able to see quite easily how i built it :)

Heres an abstract render, not 2 bad.If possible please rate on a 1-10.

hey, funky psychedelic weirdness!  it might look better if you rearranged the top 3 lasers so they're not all in the same plane, but that's just imo.  i'd give it about 5/10 at the moment.  the ball thing also reminds me of the Probe in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home :D


and while i'm here... i think this'll be my 200th post.  i've been talking too much, haven't i?!!  ;D

- colclough
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: falloffalot on April 25, 2008, 04:47:53 pm
How did you make the end of the glowing green bit rounded?

the rounded bit was made of halved spheres -

Cheers TC
That's what I've been doing, just throught there was an easier way

Thanks dude
Title: Re: anybody want a lightsabre? free to a good home...
Post by: almost cool on April 28, 2008, 09:31:23 pm
im not sure what it is either and i made it!about the sphere.the texture is a messed up env map.i was doin a report on North Carolina and i used a picture of the nc flag as env practice.it turned out wrong, yet awesome so i did this!