Not quite started painting my Legion minis yet, but am thinking about how I will eventually paint them, and one thing I've not quite decided is if I'm going to do OSL (Original Source Lighting) on my lightsabers. So have to start by saying I'm not the biggest fan of OSL, because IMHO unless it's done perfectly it looks bad, and from all the OSL I see 95% doesn't look perfect, most of the cases the colour is way to strong and/or the placement of the lighted areas is off, and in some cases it just looks like someone had an accident and spilled paint on a mini . Having said that when done well it can look amazing, it's just a shame you don't see it that often.

Now I've never attempted OSL myself, but it something I've always wanted to try, I consider myself a decent painter and have over 25 years of painting experience, I actually have a mini of a girl with a lantern somewhere in the leadpile that I bought specifically to try OSL. But having mini's with lightsabers in this game presented itself as another good opportunity to attempt OSL.

BUT, and here's where I would like to hear your opinions, after doing a bit of research on how it should look, I'm not convinced I should paint lightsabers with an OSL effect at all. In an effort to see how it should look I went back to the movies and quickly came to the conclusion that in the Original trilogy at least there's little to no OSL effect coming from the lightsabers. which makes sense when you know how the lightsaber effect was done in the first place, the Actors shot the scene using lightsabers that were basicly a white Rod and the glowing effect was rotoscoped on, so at least in the Original Trilogy the lightsabers were actual no source of light on set. I'm not sure when this exactly changed, in the new Trilogy they actually use lightsabers with lights during the shooting and the effect is enhanced in post, but even during TPM they basicly shot the scenes with coloured rods in their lightsabers, so there's very little actual OSL.

Now the question is do I see this as a limitation of the FX work of the time, or do lightsabers just not glow bright enough to become a noticeable source of light. it's probably the first as the Darth Vader scene in Rogue One is a good example of the lightsaber as a source of light, compare that scene with how a lightsaber looks in Empire or Jedi and it's night and day. Still I'm not sure I should do OSL on my lightsabers, at the moment I'm leaning to not doing it, for that OT look, but would like to hear other opinions.

You have to consider the prevailing light conditions.

Reslky to me, unless you are basing with the intent of showcasing dark models on ship or station interiors, or perhaps dark lava cracked bases, the assumption is going to be outside in bright light... where no noticeable Glow is needed.

Im going to do it despite the fact that it contradicts the OT. The reason being that on a mini theres no reference for the lightsaber being lit up or glowing without it. They just look like baloons or something. I agree that it often hasnt been done well though. Thats why im taking my time and seeing who comes up with the goods first.

Colour wheel theory helps btw

Do it. The lack of OSL in the movies isn’t very noticeable because it’s always in motion, and they can give the blade its own glow by having the center be white...minis aren’t like that. It’s a different medium, and the sabers just look dull without.

(Also...isn’t it object source lighting?)

I'm personally not going to do the OSL as I also don't like the way it looks for the most part. I'm also learning the skills necessary for it as I'm going. I'm not scared to do it, it's purely aesthetic thing for me.

I plan to replace the saber blade(s) with an acrylic rod. No OSL for me. It's an interesting technical exercise suitable for competition entries, but I don't particularly care for on a tabletop model.

I tried it on my IA Darth and Diala... With mixed results. I painted my legion Luke without it and am quite happy, so I doubt I'll use OSL on Darth either.

Personally, I'd like to try OSL but I really don't think I will: instead, I'll just stick to shading so the light sabres don't look like plain colored pipes.

Not. Too hard to do it well, and when it is wrong, it is WRONG.

13 hours ago, SFC Snuffy said:

I plan to replace the saber blade(s) with an acrylic rod. No OSL for me. It's an interesting technical exercise suitable for competition entries, but I don't particularly care for on a tabletop model.

My experience with this is that it usually looks much worse then even a basic paintjob.

The necrons of 40k come with colored acrylic rods for their weapons and compared to the ones with said rods painted the acrylic ones look terrible.

think this through before cutting up your minis!

On the topic of OSL, I think it will do wonders for a mini such as Vader since the overall black n grey paintscheme is otherwise pretty uninteresting and boring. A little color can do a lot!

Assuming its done half decently at least!

I do not do OSL on any of my miniatures for one simple reason.

George Lucas didn't use it in the Original Trilogy and with his multiple revisions still didn't find it necessary to add the effect.

24 minutes ago, C3POFETT said:

I do not do OSL on any of my miniatures for one simple reason.

George Lucas didn't use it in the Original Trilogy and with his multiple revisions still didn't find it necessary to add the effect.

He found it necessary to cut out David Prowse and replace him with Hayden Christensen though so his credibility is kind of stomped through the ground, buried and peed on...

9 minutes ago, Soulless said:

He found it necessary to cut out David Prowse and replace him with Hayden Christensen though so his credibility is kind of stomped through the ground, buried and peed on...

It was actually Sebastian Shaw who was replaced, and I too disliked that Hayden was added in that scene. I guess it was to be continuity since he actually did plan on making episodes 7, 8 and 9 and Force ghosts were to play a part in his telling of the story before he sold the whole thing off to Disney.

People typically associate lightsabers with the ominous glow they give off.

Problem with that is they actually arent all that bright. Unless they are in extreme close proximity or darker areas, theres never any OSL effects given off them.
Luke makes sense to have some OSL on his face since hes holding it so close, but Vader technically shouldnt have any except on the extreme metal bits edges, and even then extremely faint.

That being said, OSL is just cooler so if you can pull it off it will definitely give that wow factor, even if it technically shouldnt be there. There is such a thing as going overboard with OSL though, what Sorastro did in his vids is about right imo.

22 minutes ago, C3POFETT said:

It was actually Sebastian Shaw who was replaced, and I too disliked that Hayden was added in that scene. I guess it was to be continuity since he actually did plan on making episodes 7, 8 and 9 and Force ghosts were to play a part in his telling of the story before he sold the whole thing off to Disney.

I did not know that, was sure it was the same actor! Thanks for the into, but my disgust with Lucas for doing it stays the same. Not only was it unnecessary, but it doesnt even look half decent...

I know Lucas put his heart and soul into Star Wars, but the more he cut into these movies afterward the more he cut that heart and soul out of them.

Thanks for all the input guys, will be a while before I start painting any lightsabers so I'll have some time before I have to make up my mind, but for now I'm heavily leaning against it.

As for replacing the blade with acrylic rod, I think you will have the same issues, if done well it can look great, if done poorly it will look ****, plus you could still go OSL and replace the blade with acrylic rod, or even light it up with LEDs

And as far as the Special Editions are concerned , I just try to forget they exist, until Disney releases one of the Original Theatrical Cuts on Blu-ray my preferred cut is Harmy's Despecialized Editions

While George Lucas never used lighting effects in the OT, I believe this was more due to the technology available at the time than artistic choice.

How much glow does a lightsaber give off?

It actually doesn't matter. On the screen, we can tell that a lightsaber glows. In reality, it's impossible to replicate that glow on a three dimensional object since we can't paint the centre of the lightsaber. We can only apply paint to the edges. And if we highlight one edge to replicate the glowing effect of the screen lightsabers, our models will only have that effect if viewed from a specific angle.

So the best option, IMO, is to apply OSL (sparingly or excessively is up to the painter. Are you going for a 'Rey on Ach-To or Vader in the Hallway?) so that it is evident to the eye that a glow is coming from the lightsaber. In this way the lightsaber can be painted in very faint colours, similar to a lightsource in any other OSL, and the real colour of the glow can be revealed through the OSL.

The catch of course, is that OSL is notoriously tricky to get right. The plus side is that there's going to be only a tiny number of lightsabers in the game, so you'll only have to do it three or four times.

(IMO) All the best Vaders in the Painting forum have had OSL.

Conversely, Luke seems better without it...

(with the exception of THIS phenomenal one)

It may have something to do with Vader's all-black (just varying degrees of gloss/matt) outfit needing it to give the mini more dimensionality.

I guess people can agonize over this if they want to. The bottom line is do what YOU think will make you happy with the model.

Personally, I think any kind of highlighting can look bad unless it’s done right. I think lack of highlighting can look bad. I also think most people’s miniatures look great, if we remember we are painting tiny toys to play games with.

1 hour ago, ABXY said:

All the best Vaders in the Painting forum have had OSL.

Conversely, Luke seems better without it...

I actually think there’s some truth to this. Although shades of black and gray are acknowledged as hard to work with, its relatively easy to translate this to OSL with Vader. Luke has his lightsaber pressed to his face, which is a much more complicated surface to attempt OSL. The way the light would reflect off his hair should be really different than off his face. So it’s tough to do. Conversely, because the saber is so close to his face I think it’s more obvious without it.

For myself, I did OSL on my IA Vader and it didn’t come out perfectly but I still like it. I will almost certainly do it on Vader. For Luke I will probably not, and if I do I will do a very small amount.

4 hours ago, BigBadAndy said:

... Luke has his lightsaber pressed to his face, which is a much more complicated surface to attempt OSL. The way the light would reflect off his hair should be really different than off his face. So it’s tough to do. Conversely, because the saber is so close to his face I think it’s more obvious without it.

... For Luke I will probably not, and if I do I will do a very small amount.

Exactly! - and for anyone who does decide to do Luke, that LED mod should give them a great idea of how he should be lit, and especially how subtle it needs to be.

25 minutes ago, ABXY said:

that LED mod should give them a great idea of how he should be lit, and especially how subtle it needs to be.

Can you provide a link to this? I haven’t seen it.

7 hours ago, BigBadAndy said:

Can you provide a link to this? I haven’t seen it.

14 hours ago, ABXY said:

(with the exception of THIS phenomenal one)

It was in my previous post - click on 'THIS' above.