Devo Tutorials: Star Wars LightSaber – Maya Modeling Tutorial << Part 1 >>

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART

PART 8

The Lightsaber tutorial is a simple entry level Autodesk Maya modeling tutorial and assumes that you have basic navigational and editing skills prior to attempting this tutorial.

Before you start to model anything, you need to research what it actually looks like. Find as many references as you can, close-ups, different angles, materials, action shot, and anything else you can find. Ideally you to try to find blueprints or orthographic views, but that does not always happen. In this particular case I even bought a light saber replica, but wasn't the most accurate. Anything you find could help, some times I end up looking for more as I get to trickier areas. I always create a folder and dump all the images find there. Basically you need to find tons of reference images or take your own. There is no rule of thumb for the number of images; you just need the appropriate number for what you are making. With that said, try to find at least 20 good images.

Collect Images and save them to a folder! You will need later for the modeling process. Make sure you also get the blueprint.

PART 1: PROJECT FOLDER & IMAGE PLANES

Organization is very important, particularly when you work on a team and you usually are. Even if you are working by yourself, you will find that your projects can become huge and labeling is essential. So it is really important to keep organized, name objects in the scene and create a project folder to organize all your assets.

Let’s first start by creating a project folder. A project folder is a way to keep all your files associated to the project all in one place; basically it is a folder of folders. It also makes it easy to transport and share the project with others.

INTIAL SETUP

Start a new project. File > Project Window
Name project Lightsaber, set location to desktop or your personal drive, choose Use Defaults and then Accept.
Now we have to assign or ‘Set’ the project to our file. File > Set Project and then browse to find the folder you just created and press Set.

SETTING UP IMAGES PLANES

To simplify this lesson, I provided a blueprint that I laid out from reference images and existing blueprints. First we have to bring import the main reference image or blueprint.

If you just opened Maya, you are probably in the perspective window by default; tap the {Space bar} and it will switch to the four panel view. Move your mouse over the front view and tap {Space bar} to open just a single front view. The space bar allows you to toggle between single and multi-view and this works with any window type. If you hold space bar longer, it will also bring up the marking menu; we will talk about that later.

In the ‘front’ Panel View Menu, go to View > Image Plane > Import Image browse and find the Light Saber blueprint.

The image should come in centered on the x-axis. With the image plane still selected, we are going to move it from its default location (0, 0, 0). Switch to the Channel Box – {Ctrl + a} this toggles between the attribute editor and the channel box. If you happen to deselect the image plane, you can bring back the attributes by selecting the image plane.

The first thing we are going to do is move the image plane back in the Center Z direction. This pushes the it back in the Z direction and places it behind the grid, your model, and your workspace. In the Channel Box change Center Z to -20. I use -20 because generally it is large enough to push it back out of way.

The blueprint image was pre-centered horizontally (in the x-axis) but we have to move it vertically in the Y direction. Select the image plane attributes and then switch to the Channel Box, highlight the words Center Y and with the middle mouse button depressed drag the mouse left and right until the bottom of the saber sets on 0 on the grid. I zoomed in really close for accuracy and then ended up using 4.77 for the Center Y position. Yours might be different, the key is to zoom in really close. *You can also manually type it in.

In the FRONT VIEW, create a cube scale and move it appropriately as shown below.

In the Side View, import the blueprint again.

In the side view under the Panel View Menu, go to View > Image Plane > Import Image browse and find the Lightsaber blueprint again.

*Remember you are moving the image plane not the cube.

With the image plane still selected, we are going to move it from its default location (0, 0, 0). The first thing we are going to do is move the image plane back in the Center X direction. I use –20, this pushes the it back in the X direction and places it behind the grid and your workspace. Switch to the Channel Box – {Ctrl + a} this toggles between the attribute editor and the channel box. If you happen to deselect the image plane, you can bring back the attributes by choosing View > Image Plane > Image Plane Attributes > imagePlane2 (unless you renamed it).

The blueprint image was pre-centered horizontally, but we have to move it vertically in the Y direction again. Select the image plane attributes and then switch to the Channel Box, set Center Y to the same value as the front view 4.77 units. Yours might be different, the key is to zoom in really close. IT SHOULD BE THE SAME AS THE CENTER Y.

This time center the blueprint to the Activation Plate. I moved the image Center Z direction 4.195 units. See image. You can also see that I scaled the cube to line up with the width of the Activation Plate by scaling it in the Z-Direction.

We will now repeat this for the top view.

In the Top View, import the blueprint again.

In the top view under the Panel View Menu, go to View > Image Plane > Import Image browse and find the Light Saber blueprint again.

*Remember you are moving the image plane not the cube.

With the image plane still selected, we are going to move it until it lines up with the cube. The first thing we are going to do is move the image plane back in the Center Y direction. I use –20 , this pushes the it back in the Y-direction and places it behind the grid and your workspace. Switch to the Channel Box – {Ctrl + a} this toggles between the attribute editor and the channel box. If you happen to deselect the image plane, you can bring back the attributes by choosing View > Image Plane > Image Plane Attributes > imagePlane3 (unless you renamed it).

Move the image plane to line up exactly the way we did it with the front view. This time we are line it up with the cube we made. I moved the image Center Z-direction 0.205 units. Everything else seemed to line up. See image.

PART 2: Now that the image planes are all lined up, lets make it.

In the Top View, create a cube and place it as shown below.

in the Front View, scale it appropriately.

They should be placed like this . . .

Lastly, I always hide the image planes from the perspective window; I feel they just get in the way in this view. In the perspective window, uncheck Show > Image Planes. AND the reference cube we will use later for the control box.

PART 2: MODELING THE HANDLE

Now let’s start making the handle.

I divided the Lightsaber into seven sections and each section we will model separately. I have a modeling rule of thumb, if it is separate in the real world model it separately. This is just a general rule, but it keeps the geometry cleaner and can solve a lot of modeling issues.

Make the Emitter Matrix. Trace the right side of the Lightsaber's Emitter Matrix with the EP Curve Tool then we will revolve the curve to create the Emitter Matrix. From the main menu, choose the EP tool’s option box Create > EP Tool □ . Change the Curve Degree to 1 Linear. This allows you to create straight angular lines.

First of all, zoom in close so you can see all the details of the emitter. Starting from the center top part of the Emitter Matrix draw the contour of the right side – it is the red curve. Try to stay in the middle of the red line for consistency. Hold down the {shift} key to lock the curve tool to 45 & 90 degree angles. For this piece you can hold shift down until you complete the entire part – it is all 90 degree angles. Take your time and try to do it all in one pass. Notice I am in the center of the red line.

Before you revolve it, lets make sure the first and last point are snapped to 0 on the X axis. It is very important that you snap the first and last vertex to the origin. If it is not the geometry may overlap or a hole could be created at the top and/or the bottom.

Switch to vertex mode - Right mouse click (RMB) on the curve and choose Control Vertex.

Select the very first vertex on the top and switch to the Move Tool. Select the X or red handle on the move tool, this constrains it to move only in the X-direction. The handle now turns yellow. Move your mouse to where you want to go, hold down the {x} key and press the middle mouse button and wiggle over where you want the vertex to snap to. towards center line or 0 on the grid. *Repeat for the last point on the curve. By ing down the X key it will snap to the grid.

SNAP to GRID

{x} +

REVOLVE HANDLE:

Switch to the Surfaces Menu Set {F4}, select the new curve and open the revolve tool option box Surfaces > Revolve□.

In the Revolve Options, change the following settings. Change the number of divisions to 36, this will produce a fairly smooth revolve. I used 36 because we will extrude six nubs at the base of the Lightsaber later and 36 is divisible by 6. We will be working entirely in Polygons for this project, switch Output Geometry to Polygons. Switch Tessellation Method to Control Points, this sets up the revolve to only create edges where you place vertices on your curve. Then press Apply to revolve.

Segments: 36

Output Geometry: Polygons

Tessellation Method: Control Points

Your Emitter Matrix should look something like this, it maybe in wireframe or solid. You can toggle between wire frame and solid by pressing {4} (wire frame) or {5} (solid). Press {5} now.

It should look something like this.

BEVELING HANDLE:

For the most part, everything has some kind of beveled edge. The table in front of you table has a very defined beveled edge. The keyboard keys have more of a micro-bevel. Look around you at various objects and their edges. How does the light react with the edges? We are going to bevel parts of the Lightsaber giving it more of a realistic look. Beveling an objects edges plays with how the light reacts with it and gives it the illusion of more depth.

To bevel an edge, you must right click (RMB) on the object and switch to Edge mode using the pop-up menu. Once you are in the Edge mode you can select any edge you want then bevel it. In this case, we are going to select one from each horizontal ring and use another tool to select the rest for us or you can just manually select them all. Ha! To select multiple edges at one time, hold down the {shift} button and continue to select.

Since we have a continuous ring of edges, a faster way to select them is to select an edge a number of edges, {CTRL RMB}, chose the Edge Loop Utilities > To Edge Loop. This will select all the edges in this loop. OR double click on a edge and it will automatically select the entire ring unless it is not a complete ring.

At this time, I also generally assign a Blin material, this help to see the bevel results. Lets change the material to one that adds a specular highlight. The material by default will be Lambert, change it to Blin. Right click (RMB) on the mesh and choose Assign New Material > Blin.

Switch to the Polygons Menu Set {F3} then choose Edit Mesh > Bevel.

For this project we will:

Switch Offset Type: to Absolute, I prefer using Absolute because no matter how large or small a edge is, a beveled edge with a width of 0.02 will be the same size.

Set the Segments to 2, setting it to 2 will keep the bevel tight after smoothing.
Initially the width 0.02, this will change how wide or thick the bevel is.

Anytime you bevel an edge, history can be associated with it. Meaning, if you do not like how the bevel looks you can still change it after the fact.

Repeat for Lens Assembly (green)

Plate Separator (blue).

Rrepeat for the Crystal Focusing Shaft (light Blue), but notice it doesn't end back at 0.

Skip the Handgrip for now, we will work on that later.

Also repeat for the Crystal Focusing Shaft (Blue), but notice it doesn't end back at 0.

PART 3: HAND GRIP

The hand grip will be a little different in construction and can be a bit tricky. Basically, we will create section 1 and then duplicate it multiple times to insure standard sized sections

When you draw the initial curve, make sure the lower vertex on the curve is placed just below the lower black line of the first section.

First we will move the manipulator to the top edge of hand grip section 1, press <W> to activate the Move Tool, press the <Insert> key. This will allow you to move the manipulator tool without the geometry. Select the green handle (Y-axis) of the manipulator, this will limit the movement to only the Y-direction. Here is the tricky part, we want the manipulator to be at exactly the top edge of Section 1, so with the green handle (Y-axis) of the manipulator still selected, move the your mouse on the top edge of the Section 1 while depressing the middle mouse button and the <C> key. The <C> key activates snap to edge.

Now we are going to duplicate Section 1. Select Section 1 and press <Control + D> this is the short cut to duplicate a selected object. Move it down a bit to get it out of the way, then snap the duplicated section to the bottom edge of Section 1.

Look in the Channel Box find the distance it was displaced in the Y-Direction. Mine moved –0.769, yours will be different, but close. Zoom in really close to make sure it was completely aligned.

Select the new piece and using the Duplicate Special  change the following settings:

Translate Y: {your displaced value here.}

Number of Copies: 7

If done right the section should line up fairly close to the blueprint. Mine was just a little bit off, but manageable. If it does not line up, we will adjust it below.

If it does not line up, combine all sections of the handle. Mesh > Combine Switch to vertex mode, select all vertices, and then merge them – Edit Mesh > Merge. Then scale the handle in the Y-Direction until it fits the blueprint. You might have to move it a bit and then rescale it a few times until it fits. * I ended up moving it up in the Y-Direction 0.036 units and scaling it in the Y-Direction by 0.995. Yours should be a bit different.

Repeat revolve for Section 2. After revolving Section 2, the top edge did not line up for me, I snapped it to the bottom edge of the last duplicated Section 1 or the bottom section of the handle.

Repeat for the Focusing Chamber, if needed. Mine was not really aligned, so I selected the edges of the outside ring and adjusted them until they were lined up the the top of the handle. To do so, select the connecting edge of the Focusing Chamber, double click on the edge to select, then scale it until it lines up with the handle.

Combined all sections of the handle and the focusing chamber. Mesh > Combine Switch to vertex mode, select all vertices, and then merge them – Edit Mesh > Merge.

Beveling the handle:

When beveling the handle or anything for that matter, always check your reference image to see what it actually looks like. With that said, majority of the edges are micro bevels (small) except for the edges between each section. Those bevels are much larger.

I selected the edges that need to be a bit larger here.

The Nubs:

The nubs can be a bit tricky so read them carefully.

In the side view select six center most faces and then extract them. Mesh > Extract .

Select the lower handgrip minus the newly extracted piece and switch to Face Mode. Delete them.

Select the center 4 faces and then Extrude them out. C

Switch the Front View and pull the manipulator out to fit the image below.

Scale them in the Y-Direction to fit the image below.

Select the top 4 faces and switch to the Scale Tool. Scale the faces only in the Z-Direction until it creates a tapered nub, making it a bit more narrow. And slightly in the X direction to soften the curve. Essentially, you are flattening the nub a bit, but not completely.

Now we are going to Duplicate the nub a few times. In Object mode, select the nub. Choose Duplicate Special  and change the following.

Rotate Y: 60
Number of copies: 5

Select all the parts in the Lower Hand Grip and combined them. Mesh > Combined

Switch to Vertex Mode and Merge.

For the nub, we have to bevel all the main edges at the same time. First we have to select the two main perimeter edges. Since the main the edge is not an obvious loop, you can’t select it by double clicking on it. But if you select 1 edge you can select the edge loop by choosing Select > Select Contiguous Edges. Then while depressing the <shift> key repeat for the lower edge. And then while still depressing the <shift> key, select all the main corner edges for all the nubs.

Bevel all the rest of the Horizontal edges.

It should look something like this . . .

The Control Box:

Align Image Planes: To align correctly and efficiently, I first make a reference cube. Create a cube and line it up with the control box as shown. *Note that I made it to fit the largest part. We will use this to line up the rest of the image planes.

In the Top View, duplicate the last cube and scale it to fit image as shown below.

In the Top View on the last cube, insert 2 edge loops as shown below. Edit Mesh > Insert Edge Loop.

In the Top View, select the 2 top faces and extrude them out.

In the Top View, select the 2 top side faces and extrude them out.

In the Top View, scale to fit image as shown below.

Create a cube and line it up with the first ridge in the Side View.

In the Top View, scale the cube to fit the image. Then Bevel the edges of the cube. We will do this before we duplicate it. It is just easier that way.

We will repeat what we did earlier with the handle. Select the cube, duplicate it, move it to the second spot and then look in the Channel Box to find the distance it was displaced in the Y-Direction. Mine moved down –0.336, yours will be different, but close. Zoom in really close to make sure it was completely aligned. Then select the new piece and using the Duplicate Special  change the following settings:

Translate Y: {your displaced value here.}

Number of Copies: 9

They should all line up as shown below.

In the Front View, make a cube and place it as shown below. Select the 2 lower edges and collapse them. Edit Mesh > Collapse It should look something like this. Now Bevel it appropriately. For the second indicator, Duplicate and then move and rotate.

In my reference images there is a cover plate. Create a cube, place it and then Bevel it.

The last part are the screws. In the Front View, create a cylinder, scale, rotate and line it up with the image. Make sure you look in the Top View and line it up there as well.

In the Front View, create a cube, scale and position it as shown below.

In the Top View, scale and position the cube as shown below. Once that is done, apply a Boolean operation. Select the Cylinder then the Cube and the apply a Boolean difference. Mesh > Boolean > Difference This will subtract the cube from the cylinder.