[R&D on Lumiya]

Greetings and welcome. I have no idea on most of your questions...but...

 

I was working on a fan film in which i told them i would NOT attempt rotoscoping their lightwhip (not enough time in mah day). Their solution was to use EL (electroluminescent) filament.

 

There's a lot of places that sell this stuff, but i stopped at my first google result. More info here - http://www.beingseen.com/cable.html

It comes as small as 2.5mm

 

Picture example of EL cable/filament being used:

 

 

Good luck. My gf wants to do Lumiya too, so i'm eager to watch progress.

[Darth Bandon]

I started working on my shirt/tunic today. I hand-washed my silk to get it pre-shrunk by doing it with woolite and baking soda. Baking soda helps get the "fishy" sericin smell out. Next steps are to cut cheap muslin for piecing/sizing/etc.

 

Drying out in some fresh air:

 

Close up after it was dried:

 

I will be making the "skirting" out of the same material. I may line it with some black cotton or the like. That comes later. I was going to do it as a 1-piece tunic, but decided to go with separates.

[Ganner Krieg, Imperial Knight]

First off....that's awesome...belated congrats at the likeness being used.

 

What material/method will you use once all sculptures are complete? Vacuum form, resin, etc?

[Fabric and Notions Suppliers]

Heh....and that was the cheapest I found for the color I needed. I mean, i saw that dharma trading had it for cheaper, but still required dye and well, the steel blue from thai silks was simply too perfect

 

I googled for about 3-4 days at 4ish hrs per day to find what I was looking for.

[Demon's Darth Traya]

Costume accepted or not, I'm hoping to be there too.

 

Demon...i STILL can't get over how awesome ur costume is....kudos to the costume maker....looks awesome.

[Fabric and Notions Suppliers]

I recently had a really good experience when ordering silk noil for my costume. From ordering online to mailbox = less than 1 wk. That was from the west to east coast (Cali to Atlanta, GA).

 

Thai Silks

http://www.thaisilks.com

[By Request: Photoshop Lightsaber Tutorial]

ya...i don't care...go for it...i had it up at one time somewhere anyway

[By Request: Photoshop Lightsaber Tutorial]

Thank you so much. I really really like your saber glow effect and I can see now how the multiple layers with differing opacities helps to get that.

 

Glad you like it....good luck

[By Request: Photoshop Lightsaber Tutorial]

A couple of folks hit me up asking me if i would share the method I use for doing the lightsabers on costume photos. Here's what I do....feel free to PM me with any questions.

----------------------------

 

pick brush size (based on size of saber), and set hardness to 35-50% (based on the image and personal preference, you will blur later) NOTE: Line tool work fine too, will have to blur later)

create new black layer

set that layer to "screen"

paint the one line to cover your saber (or use line tool & rasterize) on the black layer (if you used the line tool, once drawn, rasterize the layer, then merge with the black, and continue)

making sure still set to screen, duplicate 5 times

The rest = math (sorry)

 

core = whatever size covers your blade

 

(Note: The layers below may not be your layer name, just simply a numbering method)

 

layer 1 - gaussian blur: 1-5, depending on size...this will be the white core of the finished product

layer 2 - gaussian blur: core x .5 (so if blade = 10, this will be 5)

layer 3 - gaussian blur: core x 1

layer 4 - gaussian blur: core x 2

layer 5 - gaussian blur: core x 3 or 4 (personal preference)

layer 6 - gaussian blur: core x 8

 

Set opacities as follows:

 

layer 4 - 90%

layer 5 - 60%

layer 6 - 30%

 

From there do Layer --> Merge Down (or CTRL+E / CMD+E) until all your SABER layers are merged into one (don't merge onto the other image layers).

 

Then go to image --> adjust --> color balance. Tweak settings to your liking.

 

Note: Red is very, very difficult to get "right." If the background is even slightly light, it will look pink. If you "hide" (click the 'eye') the image/background layer and just do the saber with no background, it will give you a better idea. For the reds, you can also try duplicating the final saber layer and play with opacities and saturation levels.

[Leather Suppliers]

Also, don't forget that if you're in the US and have PowWows (traditional Native American dancing for those who don't know) close by, there's always leather sellers there (mostly soft deer).