Hi,
I got completely carried away by the amazing star wars prop builders at the RPF forum:
http://www.therpf.com/f79/obi-anh-sabers-what-do-you-have-81181/ (http://www.therpf.com/f79/obi-anh-sabers-what-do-you-have-81181/)
and
http://www.therpf.com/f79/constructing-anh-owk-using-original-parts-13994/ (http://www.therpf.com/f79/constructing-anh-owk-using-original-parts-13994/)
It seems that the original lightsaber prop, built in 1977 for the first star wars movie, was constructed from existing old and weathered parts to give it an authentic and used look.
For many years of searching the real die-hards discovered all the parts that were originally used:
- Rolls Royce Derwent engine Balance Pipe
- British No.3 MK1 Rifle Grenade
- Graflex flashgun Clamp
- Exactra Calculator Bubble Strip
- Browning ANM2 Booster
- Armitage Shanks Starlite Sink Knob
- Cone adapter for Balance Pipe
- Transistor & Washer set
- Clamp spacer
- 10.25" steel threaded rod
- 3/4" d-ring
I don't own a replica of the this saber (yet) but I set out to create an exact 3D model of it.
When I do have one, I will update the computer model to create the most precise model as possible (why? I have no clue, but it's so cool!)
The modeling was done in Solidworks, the rendering in Keyshot (of course).
I tried to use the bloom effect to create the glow, but it was not glowing enough, so I used photoshop to generate the blue glow instead.
I created both the weathered look, but also 'as new' look.
I hope you like it!
Roy
www.roygilsing.com (http://www.roygilsing.com)
These are superb renderings, great job :D
Wow, those lightsaber builders put an insane level of detail into their work, very cool!
Very nice! :)
Lovely materials! Great job.
Love it! These are fabulous Roy.
These are amazing... great texturing. And thats interesting about what actual parts were used to build the props (I used make film props and prosthetics myself). Im amazed people (exceptionally geeky people) were able to find that out. Even if i was the guy that built it, i doubt i would remember what components i used. Id probably remember which scrap yard i got them from, but thats it. Incidently, I recently just finished doing up my bathroom and kept all the old taps , faucets etc in a cardboard box (my Dad had fitted it out in the mid 70's). It is most definately those Armitage Shanks Starlight knobs. Maybe I can sell them and retire?
great work
Ed
Well Ed, you can sell them to me! :)
Will it be enough for me to retire? Id really like to retire before I'm 40, and times running out ;)
Just kidding. Hell, you can have 'em both. Watch this space, ill post something when i get round to clearing out my lockup (its a huge job that i may never get round to though). Vintage 'flying scot' bicycle frames for sale to ;)
Sounds great! Thanks! I'd be happy with just one and you should put one on ebay and see what happens :)
If my memory is correct, mine are plastic (electroplated fake chrome finish). Your images look like real metal. They are most deffinately this shape though.
Looks so photo realistic great renders !
Very nice work. I love those sabers.
Like to see the glow on the ground smoother. (More sample on the ground material) Other then that. These look great !
Tim
Thanks for the tip Tim. I saw it, but thought that it just looked like the ground was a bit rough. But maybe you're right I should have used more sample there. I normally don't change the material sample settings, but only the general render sample setting. Maybe I should.
just to add: I just found out that the ground material doesn't have its own sample setting! And my render samples are at 64, high enough normally..
I made an updated version with blue backplate and better ground shadows and reflections.
this is so dang nice. Nice work Roy
Ed
Heck yea ! That's what I'm talking about. If you drop a ground down you would have been able to control the samples on the ground. But as we can see you worked around that on this last shot.
Great work Roy !!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing
Tim
Something to think about control the samples on the material. Don't rely on the samples on the render. Doing it through the render options will increase your render times.
90 of my renders I use these setting in the render options
16 samples
16 bounces
3 on ground shadow.
I use more sample on the materials not in the render settings.
I hope that made sense.
Let me know if you would like me to go deeper into how I set up my renders...etc
Tim
Tim,
I did put a ground plane in and gave it a ground material. But indeed I needed to up the render samples to give it a decent quality and so it did indeed take a while to render. All because the ground material doesn't have it's own sample setting.
So yeah, I am curious about your (general) render setup.
I often use 32 samples, 12 bounces, 2 anti-aliasing, 2 shadow (sometimes more).
I do like the addition of the ground material, but I don't understand why these settings (specular, roughness, IOR) are not integral part of the environment/ground settings instead.
That said, I am very curious about the new features of version 5!
Roy
I want to clarify the fact that the ground material does have control for the samples, it's currently located under the roughness drop down ;)
Ah! I wasn't aware of the drop-down menu there. Thanks!
Roy
hey roy, sent you a pm