[Fineus]

After very little persuasion and the eternal desire to show off I've created my very own guide to creating beams in Adobe Photoshop.

Note that the ships were made lighter than normal on purpose to make the whole thing clear to the eye. Normally I'd have had them darker than they are here.

Any questions can be posted right here although I hope the tutorial speaks for itself. Enjoy!

EDIT: For the sake of all the 56K-ers out there, this amazing, yet simple tutorial has been thumbnailed and is available here. Enjoy, and yes... you're welcome!  

**BA**

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[This message has been edited by Black Ace (edited 08-03-2001).]

[Setekh]

I've got to start getting into the habit of taking credit for my own techniques  

Top stuff dude, very well explained. Next time thumbnail them, though  

[Sushi]

Agreed...nice work.  

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[Carl]

neato, but my way of making beams allow for far less limitations...but is much harder.

[Kazan]

thanks... this may help me figure out how to do good beams in truespace

i'm thinking use the FreeSpace 2 beam textures and also making a bump-map out of it.. apply it bump-mapped to a plane

can you tell us how you do your backgrounds?

[Fineus]

I'm glad it's going to come in useful. My backgrounds are done using a special program....

Setekh As I'm just this minute about to leave for nine days can you tell anyone who asks how I do the various aspects of my renders. I think you know how by now (even if it's not as good as yours). Cheers.  

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[Joey_21]

This tutorial gives me some ideas for something in PSP! Thanks Thunder!

Edit: Here we go. My first render. Everything was done in PSP.  

jgmart.tripod.com/render1.jpg

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[This message has been edited by Joey_21 (edited 08-03-2001).]

[Stryke 9]

Love the new post count, Thunder. You must have stayed up al night, getting it from 6 to 10010.

Oh, and for Photoshop, you can also use the Paintbrush (soft brushes) and Shift tool similarly, making a big, colored outer glow as a straight line then a smaller white one down the center, and then rotating the line into position. You can get the foreshortening effect with a little skill by rotating the line partially and drawing another one. Sounds morre complicated, but actually vastly better and simpler.

[Pez]

Nice tutorial Thunder. I haven't been all to successfull with beams in PS. My first beam in 3d sucked, but I've tried a new tecnique (sp) in 3DS Max.

 

[DragonClaw]

Technique


anyway.. That technique i think is used on the FS2 box... just look at it... dang thats good!

mmm I need to know how to do that LOL

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[Stryke 9]

First, you hire a bunch of professionals, and then second, you give them several days...

[Kazan]

Joygasm! i did these in truespace - those two beams are the same geometrically and texture wise - just different rotations  

 

[Daedalus]

Those look very true to FS, Kaz. Nice job.

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[NeoHunter]

Finally, Thunder has done a beams tutorial involving Photoshop. But I find it to be rather vague. Maybe more details are required? Because I'm not an expert user of Photoshop. I just use it occasionally.

I'll try to create a beam in Photoshop based on your tutorial. If I got any questions, I'll post them here for clarification.

Hehehe.......now time try...


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I want a better title!!!            

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NeoHunter<                              [b][email protected][/b]                                            >
Not to mention a FREDder!  

[This message has been edited by NeoHunter (edited 08-03-2001).]

[Kazan]

Daedalus i used the FreeSpace 2 textures  

You should see what my computer just got done drawing - i'll mix the audio before i let it out though

[Joey_21]

My 2nd render using Thunder's method (except the engine glows aren't too good in this one).

jgmart.tripod.com/render2.jpg

[Setekh]

 

Originally posted by Thunder:
Setekh As I'm just this minute about to leave for nine days can you tell anyone who asks how I do the various aspects of my renders. I think you know how by now (even if it's not as good as yours). Cheers.    

*waves* Nah dude, I just gave you a few guidelines, you did the rest  

As for those backgrounds - check out Gliteratto (I'm sure you've heard it a million times before) at  www.flamingpear.com . Just don't overuse it, as it rapidly gets old.  

Oh, and kudos to BA, good job on the page  

[This message has been edited by Setekh (edited 08-03-2001).]

[Kazan]

I need something that isn't photoshop based - i cant use photoshop

[NeoHunter]

Okay. Here's what experimenting with Photoshop 6.0 produced.

   

I admit its not good but its a start.  

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I want a better title!!!            

GTD Excellence Webmaster
NeoHunter<                              [b][email protected][/b]                                            >
Not to mention a FREDder!  

[This message has been edited by NeoHunter (edited 08-04-2001).]

[Kazan]

Then there is always this