User:Tenetke/lightsabertutorial

Tutorial Creating a lightsaber
So you might find yourself wanting to create an anti-aliased lightsaber, the problem with all the lightsaber tutorials out there is that they require an image in place. This will show you how to create one from scratch. The lightsaber can be any color you want, any length you want, and in my second tutorial I will show you how to animate the lightsaber. The lightsaber with tux above is an example. The only program you will need is Gimp. I will use Gimp 2.6.1 you can get it Here. I will not cover setting up the program, that is easy. Also I will only be covering the linux version. It should work for windows, if not well find another tutorial. Sorry I don't cater to windows users.

Step 1
Create a new image dimensions 500x600 background black. This will be your background image. Don't worry we won't keep it that way. I will be uploading screen shots latter.

Step 2
Duplicate the background image and set the mode as Screen. This can be found in the right hand section under Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo. On the Layers tab there is a drop down menu that says Mode:. Select screen.

Step 3
Click on the one that says Background copy, and then click on the tool on the left that says Paths Tool:Create and edit paths B. Now on the layer Background copy click to set points. Your first point should be the top base of the lightsaber. You will be setting 7 points. You will notice as you click them a line connects the points. Just outline what looks like a longsword. That is the best way I can describe it. Now on the left, you will see at the bottom of the toolbox a part that says Paths. Click the Selection from Path button.

Step 4
Now click on the tool button labeled Bucket Fill Tool. Your foreground color should be white. Now fill the selection you just made.

Step 5
At the top click, Select->none. You should now have what you outlined in white, with a black background. Now duplicate this layer 3 more times. At this point you should have the following layers. Background, Background copy, Background copy#1, Background copy#2, Background copy#3.

Step 6
Now we will start giving your lightsaber the actual effect you want. Click on the layer background copy. This should have your single white outline on it. Now click on Filters->Blur->Gaussian Blur. You will set it at 5 for this image. Make sure that Horizontal and Vertical are linked. Then apply the blur.

Step 7
Now click on the layer Background copy#1 and goto Filters->Blur->Gaussian Blur. You will set it at 10 this time. Then click on the next layer Background copy#2 this time you will set the blur at 20. Finally click on Background copy#4 and set the blur at 40.

Step 8
Right Click on the layer Background copy#3 and then select merge down. Do not skip this next part or it will ruin your lightsaber. Set the layer Background copy#2 as mode screen. It got reset to normal when you merged down. Now rightclick on the layer Background copy#2 and select merge down. Then do the same until you are left with two layers. Background copy and Background.

Step 9
At this point you have a white lightsaber blade on a black background. If that is what you wanted I guess you are close enough. That is NOT what I wanted though. I wanted a blue one, at least for this tutorial. So click on Colors->Colorbalance. You will now see a color balance window. Make sure that midtones are set in the Select Range to Adjust. Now in Adjust Color Levels set Cyan to -100, Magenta to -100 and Yellow to 100. Reading from left to right. Otherwise it would be Red -100, Green -100, and Blue 100. Now make sure that Preserve luminosity is checked. Some people don't like it, but since we are working on a black background it works nicely. Now click o.k.

Step 10
Congratulations you have a blue lightsaber blade. That isn't going to be much help to us unless you are wanting a blue lightsaber blade on a black background. It works for a signature, and I will post that in a latter tutorial. For now though we want to get rid of that black so that we have a transparent background with a blue lightsaber. On the layer panel right click on Background copy and select merge down. I hope you remembered to set the layer Background copy as mode screen. If you did you should now have this image.

Step 11
No worries we are almost done. For this next part we are going to set the color black as transparent. That will give us an antialiased blue lightsaber blade. So click on Colors->color to alpha. You should have a small box now. Like this. {{clear]]

Step 12
Click on the white bar and then select black now click o.k. There you go you have a antialiased blue lightsaber blade with a transparent background. At this point you can save it as a png and you will be set to incorporate it into an image. I went a step further and added a lightsaber handle to the blade. There you go you now have a complete lightsaber just waiting to be used.