Saber Solution - Perfect Lightsabers with Lightwave 3D
by Tom Sehenuk

All model, scene, and project files are included in the ZIP file. This process utilizes Lightwave 5.0 and Adobe After Effects.

STEP 1:
Open Lightwave Modeler and load your favorite light-saber model or reference the included file SABER_1.LWO. Assuming your mesh is in layer 1, switch and make layer 2 active (with layer 1 in the background). Create a box, with an equal length of the saber blade and with around 300 segments on the same axis of the length. Select the points on one edge of the box's length and copy these points to layer 3. Follow by moving these points to the center of the saber blade and convert the points into polygons (pnts to polys). Copy these newly created polys and paste to layer 1, which includes the saber mesh. Finish the mesh by naming the surface and saving the object. The key feature of the model is the column of points (polygons) which run down the center of the blade. It is not imperative to have an excessive amount of points, 300 seems to work well.

STEP 2:
Open Lightwave Layout and load the included scene SABER_TUTORIAL_part1.LWS. At this point you may want to replace object SABER_1.LWO with your own mesh. The scene is ready to render but I will go over the key settings which produce the effect. If you are using your own model do the following: Under the SURFACES window, bring up the saber blade. Turn "Luminance" to 100%, "Diffuse" to 0%, and color white.
Open the OBJECT window and switch it to SABER_1. Turn "particle blur" ON and set it at 100%. Also set "particle/line size" to LARGE. These perimeters will produce the solid blur effect. Nothing else is required for the blur effect, motion blur does not need to be used. This will extremely speed up render time. Finally, render the scene to its own directory in TIF format (anti-aliasing is strongly recommended).

STEP 3:
Stay in Layout and load the included scene SABER_TUTORIAL_part2. LWS. Again the scene is ready to render but note that all of the lights are turned completely OFF or deleted. When rendered (F9) the only visible object is the saber blade. This will be used for compositing in After Effects. Open the OBJECT window and switch it to SABER_1. Turn "particle blur" ON and set it at 100%. Also set "particle/line size" to MEDIUM. Render the scene to its own directory in TIF format (anti-aliasing equal to STEP 1).

STEP 4:
Open Adobe After Effects and open included project file SABER_TUTORIAL.AEP. You will need to replace footage files to reference your directories with the redered TIF files. The project is now ready to render, note the following.
Select sequence 2 in the "Time layout" and under "Transfer control" switch it to ADD. Under "Effects/Artistic" select NEON GLOW. The glow should be around SIZE = -12, BRIGHT = 15, COLOR = RED. I replicated this on another layer but reduced the glow SIZE to -3 to give a better effect. The glow effect will vary dependent on the color of the glow and brightness of the background.
Select sequence 1 and drop it to the bottom of the Time layout. At this point the saber effect should seamlessly go over the rendered background. Simply render the project and your finished.

If there are any questions or comments, please E-mail me at tsehenuk@4mc.com.

Download the sample AVI file and LW scenes (820 Kbytes ZIP)