I found one of your tuts about making lightsaber blades a while back and have since come accross, what I believe to be, a better one.

Here's one I wrote myself based what I've learned so far.

Step 1:

Open your starting image:



Step 2:

Select a solid, 4 diameter brush.



Step 3:

Drawing the blade is probably one of the easiet parts. Create a new layer ([Ctrl]+[Shift]+N). Name the layer "Vader Saber". With the brush selected, click once at the base of Darth Vader's blade. While holding shift, click, again, once at the END of Vader's blade.



Step 4:

Duplicate "Vader Saber" 3 times. Select Layer > Duplicate or hit [Ctrl]+J three times.



Step 5:

Now we're going to make this thing look like a lightsaber. The general rule I've found when creating the glows for the lightsabers is to use gausian blurs that are multiples of the blade width. You'll see what I mean.

Select "Vader Saber copy 3" then do:
Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Radius=12

Select "Vader Saber Copy 2" then do:
Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Radius=8

Select "Vader Saber Copy" then do:
Filter > Blur > Guassian Blur > Radius=4

Select "Vader Saber" then do:
Filter > Blur > Blur More

Merge all the layers down to "Vader Saber" by selecting "Vader Saber copy 3" and hit [Ctrl]+E three times so that you have an image similar to this:



Step 6:

Now, open up the layer style for "Vader Saber" and Give it an Outer Glow. You're only changing the color and contour to these settings:

Set the Color to Red : #FF2A00



Ok, that's it for one saber. Here is what you should have so far:



Do the EXACT same thing for lukes saber starting with a new layer. The only difference will be the color of the outerglow which is Green: #12FF00.

Once you've done that with luke you should have this:



The only thing left is the lens flare. To add this, make sure you do a
Layer > Flatten Image.

Now, Select them image then add:
Filter > Render > Lens Flare with these settings:



And there you have it. You should now be left with something similar to this:



I know this is geared toward the newbish but I figured I write that way so that everyone can use it.

I hope you enjoy it.

woa its awasome good job! ^^

wow thats a pretty sexy outcome

good job

Thanks. This is also an AWESOME effect for rotoscoping. I think that's the word. I did this to a short film with my cousin swining around a pipe . . . it looks awesome.