Star Wars is back, and back in a big way!
Star Wars has been around for as long as I can recall. Years ago, I remember watching the movies with my family, dressing up as Darth Maul on Halloween and having lightsaber battles with the other neighbor kids.
As I got older, so did my appreciation for the movies. Each time one was released, I would go back and re-watch all of the previous films to build suspense and try to get prepared for the next big thing.
>> Skip ahead to the how-to video
This year, I found one more way to build excitement and prepare for The Force Awakens. I designed and built my own lightsaber in SOLIDWORKS!
The idea came to me because I wanted to get some extra practice in with SOLIDWORKS and, well, what better way to practice than to make something I have been thinking about all week!
The entire design from start to final render took a little less than an hour to create. Honestly, the hardest part was figuring out what I wanted my design to look like and what color would my blade be.
>> Check out Part 2 where I break down the design and render of my design
I must confess. I had so much fun that I actually ended up making three different designs, each one turning out better and more creative than the last.
Some useful features to keep handy when creating your own lightsabers are the revolve tool, linear and circular pattern, extrude and cut extrude and the dome feature. Using those basic tools and a few others, your design is only limited by your own creativity.
After the basic design is completed, just add your appearances and get rendering! I found that the neon tube works great for the blade with a little tweaking of the properties.
See the video below for a rapid speed video on the creation of one of my other lightsabers. See if you can guess which famous Star Wars character it belonged to.
Now, check out Part 2 where I break down the design and render of my design.
