Black Blade development...

[nartules]

Thought I would post this here, for all the tscc folks.* There seems to be some exciting developments on this contreversial discussion over at the fx-sabers forums.* I thought I would share for all that are interested.Here's the link to a thread titled 'Black Lightsaber Blade, a reality!!! Teaser first'http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=24111.0 Please remember to read through the entire post since a lot of the initial questions we had have had a few answers provided.I am not the individual who created the thread.* I am unable to confirm or deny authenticity of the pictures posted within. I am posting this link simply for those who may be interested.I am aware that this area is for pictures of lightsaber blades, but I did not want to post the picture directly here since it is not mine to post. Mod's, if this thread has been placed in the incorrect location please feel free to move, or delete it.* I was unsure which area of the site might be more appropriate over another.

[Knighthammer]

oh do keep us posted over here too =)

[TimeRender]

I anxiously await developments on this story.

[Strydur]

So you joined the forums just to make 2 posts pointing people to another forum where some guy says he has come up with a idea he is going to market.

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

[DJMoonbass]

lol. TIM PWNS!!!!

[Jase Kala Maris]

I think it's possible to get the dark saber effect to a degree, I've tossed around some ideas I think might work.

But... I don't think that effect could be as crisp as that. No matter how I think about it I just don't think it's possible. I'd like to see people try, like I said in the other Black Blade Thread? (maybe combine these two..) Contest? No Prize, or-unless someone actually pulls it off.

[nartules]

So you joined the forums just to make 2 posts pointing people to another forum where some guy says he has come up with a idea he is going to market.

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

I can understand how my recently joining could be seen as suspecious when I posted a link to someone who claims to be doing something other's claimed as impossible.

I tried to join previously,(back in august of last year). I couldn't finalize the process because I kept getting an error message. I sent notification several times from what the email provided with the pre-registration process and no one ever got back to me. I got frustrated and gave up, I couldn't fix the error myself and it wasn't worth it back then to try again. I have been a member of the fx-saber forums for quite some time, and had no issues posting there and most the people who post there duplicate the posts over here as well. I still have problems looking at posts where it requires you to log in to see the pictures (says something along the lines that I don't have permission to do so, or I have entered in the wrong account information)

Now that the forum is agreeing with my computer you will see many posts from me

When I noticed no one had let the saber peeps over here now about the current development I thought I would take the initiative and post about it, even though I had never done so before. Just trying to be friendly

[Obi-Ben]

I think the problem coming up with a workable "black blade" is that people are approaching it counter intuitively. LED blades are at their core...lit by a core LED shining up the hollow tube. But in the black blade, you want something the complete opposite of that, right? So for this to work, you're going to need to come up with a new method of illumination. Here's my idea--tell me if you've heard this one before...

You start out with a smaller diameter clear polycarbonate tube. The inside is coated with a black opaque film or paint. That's your black core. Now around this tube you wrap a diffusing film. This completed assembly is then slid into another larger diameter clear polycarbonate tube. In order to illuminate it, you would need a series of smaller LEDs arranged in a circle pattern so they shine up the clear outer portion of the blade assembly. So when viewed on the side, you would have an effect of a dim center and brighter edges.

Here's a crude illustration of what I'm talking about:




I know it's not perfect, and it's not going to be very bright far from the emitter because there is no reflector at the end so it would have to be pretty short, but I think it would be interesting to see how this looks in practice.

[Sunrider]

I think a black core inside a led string would not work. Whatever is on the higher surfaces of the blade will be seen but anything under that would not. If you mean instead of one led in the blade holder you have say ten? Then if you lined them up with the edge of the blade tube? This would act kinda like a light tube but the sides of light tubes don't emit much light unless diffused. Then when diffused the black core would be lost & light would diminish rapidly down the length. Not to mention placing & powering so many leds would be pretty difficult. It could probably look better than electrical tape tho.

The lenticular lens film is the only way to make a core dark that i can think of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_lens

You would need to get it printed black instead of the blue in the center of the lobes as shown in this diagram.




Small black lines would be printed along the lens lines where the blue is and would be left clear or something that could pass light like one way mirror where the green & yellow are. This pattern would keep light from being emitted straight off the surface but not at an angle.

This is what is used for those stickers where the image changes when you turn it side to side. So if printed as above looking straight at the sticker it would be black, and if you looked at it at an angle you would see light if there were a source behind the sticker.

[Matt Thorn]

Obi-Ben, the pros and cons of that very idea have been discussed at length here. I think at least a dozen different concepts (ranging from fundamentally flawed to theoretically-possible-but-impractical) have been discussed on that thread, so in order that we not be redundant, we might want to keep this thread on the topic of Senti's blade and use the other thread for more technical discussions. Just my two cents.