glowing blades/other

[Hellraizr]

i'm not exactly a veteran with photo shop and i'm using it with a picture of a character holing two energy-type swords. obviously, it's not gonna look right unless they glow. can i do that in photoshop? if i can, and anyone knows how, PLEASE HELP ME! i am desperate for this to turn out good.

[reBirth]

Hey Hellraizr, It can be acheived through using your either or both your Brush ( soft or hard) depending what your taste is for the blade..Set to Color Dodge Mode as well as using the Dodge tool itself to maybe broghten it up a bit. I would definetly use the brush on the color dodge mode though.
Hope this helps
R

[Dirk]

In Photoshop CS i know that you can use the "inner and outer glow" feature on an object that is on it's own layer. You can get there in the layer menu, and control almost every bit of it.

I would suggest looking at the tutorials by Russel Brown (adobe creative director), he has some great stuff on his site: http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

enjoy.

[Datameister]

My favorite way to do it: use my method (http://s12.invisionfree.com/PSFX/index.php?showtopic=5&st=0). Make modifications as necessary, of course, but this technique works well as a basis for many energy effects.

[Snarfevs]

Knocked together a short photoshop action (http://users.tpg.com.au/terrett/downloads/snaglow.atn). it makes stuff like:

http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/956/snaglowy9yr.jpg

The general process is as follows:

1. Have a layer with a sharp pure white sword on it
2. duplicate layer, 2.5 px gaussian blur
3. duplicate blurry layer, merge with a completely black layer
4. colour balance, adjust to get a good glow in the colour of your choice
5. blending mode on coloured layer, colour dodge
6. duplicate coloured layer for good luck

To use the action, just have 2 layers, background and layer 1. after it's run you can do what you want with the resultant layers. best bet is to do it in a seperate document, merge the layers and paste them into the doc of your choice with blending mode colour dodge.

Hope this is useful :bashful:

[Hellraizr]

okay, i think i understand for the most part, and i appreciate your help. However, i still have a couple questions. Do i want to put only the swords on a seperate layer, or the entire workup? and if i only want the swords, how wuould i do that?

[Snarfevs]

I'm not quite sure I understand the question, but:

- The process will result in a number of layers (the sharp actual profile of the sword, the white glow, the coloured glow and if you want, another coloured glow). These can be merged down into a single layer wherein they will lose their blending mode information (the layer will be opaque white on black) but this is easily remedied by setting to colour dodge or the like for the same net effect. This makes the sword easier to handle. Also cutting the sword out from the rest of the useless black background that results will make layer transforms easier if you plan on tweaking.

- If you are really in the mood for serious tweakage of the sword itself, use a colour balance adjustment layer bound to the glow layer you'd normally just run the fairly irreversible colour balance adjustment on.

- If you're going to run the action (and I intend it only really as an example), place your sword on a new layer (layer 1 is what photoshop will look for) with nothing else and let the magic happen.

Hope this helps

[jrr]

this is pretty funny reading all your crazy ass complicated techniques (all works btw). the EASIEST way to make it glow is to "q" for quick mask , mask out the sword, invert that "q" again to exit quick mask, go to select->modify selection contract to whatever size you want your glow, and go to layers->adjustment curve, and pull the curve down to the glow you want it to have. see? easy!

[Datameister]

Jrr, that technique won't produce anything like a glowing blade...and there is no Layers>Adjustment>Curve command, either. Perhaps double-check your work?

[jrr]

oh disss!
layer---> adjustment layer ----curves. got that?
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/photoshopmonkey2/glow.jpg

see? gloooooow.

[Idiot Apathy]

You know, after trying all the different methods... They all have their uses. Jrr's method takes a bit of knowledge to use the curves properly but can create a more subtle effect as well as an intense effect, definetly the most pro I think, but maybe a little grainy?. The Color Dodge method is nice and quick, a few swipes of the brush and your there. More work in the preperation however, figuring out what exactly you want. The dodge I like least of all, it looks a bit, crummy plus dodge is bad for your soul I hear.

[Pixeldragoon]

There is a luminosity modifier in the color pallette, when combined with a soft brush and low opacity, this can be pretty effective.

[Fal$eProfit]

The method I would use is to make it without the glow. Then Create a layer on top of the blade and paint in the glow in what ever color at 100% and then adjust the level style from "Normal" to "Hard Light" or perhaps "Overlay" for something more subdule. You can find the option right there in the layers pallet next to were you would set the opacity for the layer. I use this technique for textures too. I will paint basically flat colors with gradiations and then create the textures by useing a layer above with texture added in black or white and mess with the layer style.

[Datameister]

plus dodge is bad for your soul I hear

When used indiscriminately, yes. It can be useful for certain tasks, but you have to be careful when you use it. Color Dodge can be useful when you're creating glowing objects--much like the Glow brush in Painter--but it can yield disastrous results if used poorly. Generally, avoid using Color Dodge or the the Dodge tool unless if you really want high-contrast, high-saturation, high-brightness areas. For instance:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/3306/episodeivlarge4xx.jpg

Naturally, this exact effect is probably too lightsaber-ish for your purposes. But the basic technique and underlying principles can be used to produce realistic glowing effects. Notice how there is a diffuse, medium-saturation glow that suddenly gains high brightness and high saturation right before reaching the white of the blade? That's how light sources look on film (or CCD, for that matter :D).

I mean absolutely no offense toward you, jrr, but I just don't really think those look like energy blades. Energy blades would give off a lot of light and therefore overexpose in the picture. The core should be very, very close to white; around that, you should see a glow that becomes dimmer and dimmer. The actual blade has hard edges, but the optical effects of the glow create a blurred area.