“Tobi Saber” – for the cybernetic boy Jedi

Hello Everybody, today we venture back into the Star Wars Visions universe and take a look at the story of a cybernetic boy scientist who dreams of being a Jedi Knight. This droid is named To-Bi and he works with his creator and father figure Mitaka on a project to “terraform” planets. During the pairs’ experimentations To-Bi makes it known he wants to be a Jedi and also asks what is in the basement of their home. Mitaka tells To-Bi that to become a Jedi he needs to find a Kyber Crystal and construct a lightsaber, which To-Bi starts to search for. He wanted to look in the basement but was forbidden to go down there. .. but he decides to disobey and he sneaks downstairs. Upon venturing into the forbidden room To-Bi discovers an inoperative shuttlecraft which he then begins playing in and pretending he is a Jedi on a mission. Unfortunately the radios are functional and he transmits a message which is overheard by dark forces…namely a Sith Inquisitor. Inquisitors were used to hunt down the remaining Jedi after Order 66 wiped most of them out. Even worse though, the Inquisitor traces the transmission and shows up at the scientists’ home world.

Upon learning that an Inquisitor has arrived Mitaka confides to To-Bi that he was once a Jedi but as he was injured so couldn’t continue (Mitaka had lost both his arms). Mitaka hides To-Bi in a secret hideaway along with his broken lightsaber hilt. There is a bit of a commotion and when To-Bi finally emerges from his hiding place a terrible realisation happens….the laboratory has been ransacked and ….Mitaka has been killed. I think I have talked enough about the story so I had best show you the first gallery of “Tobi Saber”….

This is a rebuild of Mitaka’s hilt which To-Bi takes into hiding with. In the cartoon we don’t get to see really clear images of it as the action is frantic so I had to make some decisions and use artist license as to how it looks but I think it worked. This saber has clean lines with a pair of shroud plates on the emitter which kind of follows the aesthetic of Cal Kestis’ lightsaber from the “Jedi Fallen Order” computer game. Back to the story and To-Bi continues his creator’s work and during this endeavour he discovers a truth…To-Bi is himself powered with a Kyber Crystal! To-Bi manages to repair the hilt but all this renewed activity is sensed by the Inquisitor who returns. Now I had best show you Gallery Two with a few close ups…

Yes! To-Bi was a Kyber Crystal powered droid and it turns out the Inquisitor detected that and tracked back to confront the new source of possible Jedi. Then there was….well I don’t want to spoil the ending so I’ll end here. Sorry folks but I was going to have to end soon as my posts have been cut short recently for security reasons surrounding my on Jedi Mission. Hopefully you will have still enjoyed my posts. And as a treat here is a quick image of To-Bi as he prepares to face the Inquisitor…

I think he looks kinda heroic, let’s just hope that he is successful and defeats the Inquisitor. Check out Star Wars Visions to find out if you haven’t seen it already. And just some quick news, it seems that a second series of Visions is coming to screens very soon (or by the time this post publishes it may be out already!). I am all over the place at the minute and things are disorganised but please hang in there and call back next week as I do have another new design to showcase….a flaming hot Speedster!

But for now I will have to bring this post to a close, thanks as ever for checking in today and having a look. Whether you are a regular viewer or a newcomer it means a lot that you have supported me and FTSabersite. If you have enjoyed today’s offering please comment, maybe leave a like and if you’re not subscribed then consider signing up to get notifications of my latest posts! Stay safe and….Till next time….

“Tobi Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the character of “T0-Bi” from Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars Visions anime series. The design, models and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “T0-BI” and Star Wars Visions, along with all other names, logos images and related material are Trade,ark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Speedster – Ronin” Edition – Inspired by Star Wars Visions

Hello Everybody and welcome to today’s post. I have another of my BARC Speederbike inspired models today and this time it has some custom artwork on it! I watched the Star Wars anime inspired show “Visions” and one of the best episodes was titled “Ronin” which centered around a lone, mysterious warrior with a red bladed katana lightsaber. He travelled the lands and stopped off at a village to have repairs done to his droid. However, the remnants of the evil Empire (?) arrived and attacked the village whilst demanding “rent monies”. The locals resisted and a skirmish broke out forcing the lone warrior to step in and defend the locals. That warrior was Ronin, for whom I recreated his saber in a previous post (you can view that post using this link: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2022/10/22/ronin-katana-inspired-by-the-traveller-warrior-in-star-wars-visions/). Ronin was a mix of a traditional Japanese Samurai and a Jedi but with a dark Sith looking set of robes (so we don’t truly know his status, either light side or dark side following). Ronin was very iconic and popular, featuring on the advert posters.

Ronin is the dark character at the bottom of this image and I thought he would feature higher up and more prominently. So I decided I would “promote” him and feature him on a Speedster…so here is the first of a set of custom speeder-bikes, this is Speedster-Ronin….

I had recently seen some examples of “Cameo” styled jewellery pendants that feature an oval panel with a carving of a facial portrait in the middle. I realised that those “Cameos” were a similar shape to some of the panels on my Speedster so I wondered, “Could I add Ronin’s image onto my bike on those elliptical parts?”. The answer was yes and I found Ronin’s image on the poster and felt that might look good applied as a custom hotrod style paint-job. The process involved selecting the areas I wanted to paint and creating a “secondary material” which was the poster image that I could position on top of the selected areas and paste the image on. Early on in my 3D modelling efforts I did use this technique to add logos and details (such as nameplates on my Knight Rider and Red Dwarf inspired sabers) but I never thought about using the trick to create hot-rod style decoration like this. I think it worked well. Anyhoo, too much chat…here is Gallery Two…..

I reckon this looks like a suitable mean machine street cruiser, and certainly has presence (I know I can sense it’s presence!). Jokes aside though I am afraid I will have to end this post shortly as life in Tyeth Towers is getting very busy as preparations for my “mission” intensifies…I am in the process of compiling TWELVE weeks of articles because I have no idea when I am going to be called into action or for how long….I have to be prepared for action. So that means I have more Speedster variants in the works, some “classical Rapiers with Claws”, oh yes and some more Katanas with claws…more Visions hilts, some original designs, more props….I think you get the message – I still have tons of projects to show to you! So I hope you will all call back to FTSabersite to check all of this out in future posts. (And I haven’t even listed everything…plus I am watching the new season of The Bad Batch so that might inspire me too!)

So for now I will have to end here but thank you all for checking out this Speedster design and for all the support you show me. Whether you are a new reader/viewer or one of my regular friends of this site all the comments and likes mean a lot to me. If you like what you see maybe you could subscribe if you aren’t already and tell your friends about FTSabersite. Thanks again, Till next time……

“Speedster – Ronin” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the BARC Speeder-bikes seen in Star Wars movies and cartoons. The “Speedster” design was created , built and rendered by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and all models/images are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Star Wars”, “Visons” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm Ltd

“Zhima’s Fifth Saber” Inspired by Star Wars Visions The Ninth Jedi

Hello Everybody, well today we are rapidly nearing the festive season so I had best deliver this final saber design before I take my Christmas break. Today I have another saber inspired by the animated show Star Wars Visions and the episode “The Ninth Jedi” which tells of a reclusive Jedi Master’s attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order after many decades of decline. This Master named Juro, enlists the help of a lightsaber smith to construct a batch of sabers for a new group of Force Sensitive individuals that could bring the Jedi back. There were seven potential Jedi who received a cryptic message to invite them to a Jedi Temple floating in space to collect a saber (if they are worthy). The sabersmith was called Lah Zhima but unfortunately Sith Jedi Hunters discovered his activities and tried to stop him delivering the weapons to the Temple. Zhima was taken captive but his daughter, Kara, escaped with the sabers and she battled to get to the clandestine meeting place with eight lightsabers. They looked like this….

These hilts were designed and built to reflect the personality of the wielder that brandished it so, the Kyber Crystal would “tune in” to the person and cause the blade to take a particular colour based on the person’s character. The potential Jedi were aboard the floating Temple and when Kara arrived they each chose a hilt while they awaited the appearance of Master Juro, who was late turning up. And speaking of late, I won’t keep you waiting any longer, here is my latest offering, “Zhima’s Fifth”….

As you may be able to tell this is an attempt to model the saber seen in the middle of the line up of sabers seen in the screen capture image above. I chose this hilt as it was the one in full view so was easier t replicate. It isn’t 100% the same but about 90%. I managed to recreate the bell shaped emitter with the twin fins and embedded brushed gold activation button. The saber has a traditional Tsuka Ito style wrapped handgrip which is finished off with a brushed gold hexagonal pommel block. I think my recreation is identifiable, which is more can be said for the potential Jedi!

Back to the story, the recruits were waiting for Master Juro to appear and while they stood around they picked their sabers and it was then that they ignited the weapons…..and a startling event occurred. It was expected that each saber would have either a blue, green or maybe yellow or purple coloured blade befitting a Jedi knight BUT THESE LIT UP RED! The Kyber Crystals in each hilt detected that the recruits were actually SITH darksiders not lightside Jedi! Kara and Master Juro’s protocol droid were out numbered….but then the droid transformed and it’s bodyshell opened to reveal Master Juro was sat inside! He had been watching events from inside the droid as he suspected that the Sith had learnt of his plans and would try to stop him…he was correct. Now before I carry on I had best show you the second gallery with the detail shots….

This saber has a nice blue Jedi coloured blade because I modelled it but the collection of hilts constructed by Zhima were definitely red. So Master Juro and Kara had to battle the seven recruits and after a…. wait I can’t reveal what happened just in case you haven’t seen the episode yet (you should check it out if you haven’t seen the Visions series). And that just about brings this post to a close but first I have a few things to let you know about.

First I have been busy “flying” again in the online simulator I discovered recently and I decided to pay a “Virtual Visit” to a blogging friend of mine and I took a screenshot so if you recognise the location I might have “visited” you! Here is my snapshot….

And as I mentioned at the start of this post we are approaching Christmas (if you observe the holiday) and as such I will be taking a break next week as it is Christmas and I’m getting older (literally as my regular viewer/readers will know my Level Up day happened this week – I’m nearly 900 years old now!) However, I will be busy and I’m putting my end of year extravaganza post together and it has been a busy year! I hope you all have a happy peaceful holiday season however you celebrate /enjoy the time. I might have time to post my annual Ecard.

I have to finish now but thank you for looking in on today’s post and for all the support you have given me, it’s much appreciated. Please stay tuned to this site as there is still so much more I have to post yet, including sabers, speeders, props and other SW related stuff into the new year. Till my New Year Extravaganza….happy holidays ….see you next time!

“Zhima’s Fifth Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the hilt seen in the Star Wars Visions episode “The Ninth Jedi”. The model and renders were created in Blender 3D by me, For Tyeth and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. Star Wars Visions and all related names,logos, images and other material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm ltd.

“The Twin Saber” – Inspired by Kare from Star Wars Visions episode “The Twins”

Hello Everybody, today we visit the Anime adventures set in the Star Wars universe and the “Visions” animated series. This time I focus on the episode titled “The Twins” which revolves around a brother and sister who were conceived by a group of Darkside/Sith Acolytes with the intention that the pair gain control of the galaxy using a super weapon. That super weapon is a massive double hulled Star Destroyer that carries an even bigger hyper cannon between the ship’s two fuselages…and that cannon is powered by a Kyber Crystal. The episode begins with Master An, the sister, making final preparations before using the super cannon and she talks with her protocol droid, explaining how she and her brother were created to carry out the mission to dominate the galaxy. The droid is concerned about An’s safety as the armour that she wears is powered by Sith energy and it seems it is consuming her beyond what was intended. An however dismisses the droid’s concerns and ploughs on with the plan. BUT…just as the weapon was about to fully charge…the Kyber Crystal is stolen – and only two people had physical access to the crystal….Master An and her brother, Kare.

It turns out that Kare, who was also created by Sith alchemy isn’t as corrupted by the Darkside as his sister is and he feels a twinge of consciousness that compels him to stop his sister before it is too late. This leads to an inevitable clash between the two siblings. Kare manages to partially escape with the crystal in his X-Wing but his sister uses the Force to pull his spaceship back to the super destroyer. A battle of wits and lightsabers ensues as Kare tries to convince An to “do the right thing”. Anyhoo…too much talking you need to see some pictures and I was able to screengrab these pics as reference…

The saber is quite distinctive and has a “Darth Vader-esque” appearance but has a blue blade – unusual for a Sith. The hilt also has a large unique black emitter shroud and large red activation switch and belt hanger loop. These images are from the animated show, so shall we see how close I got to modelling this lightsaber? OK here you are, Gallery One of The Twin…

Considering I only had two good reference images to work from, I came pretty close to replicating Kare’s lightsaber! And I am really happy how this turned out as I think I got most of the details. The emitter has a neat detail with a strip of light that edges the shroud matching the blade. During the battle the Kyber Crystal is destroyed but An is still intent on domination and resorts to using her battle armours’ full power to harness the Darkside. Kare needs to stop her but how? Well he realises that he can use a shard of the Kyber Crystal in his saber to supercharge it. Which he does. Now here is Gallery Two showing a few closeups and the main feature of this hilt…

I managed to model the very unusually shaped emitter, I added a few bits of exposed wiring, I even fitted the belt hanger loop….but again the star of this hilt is the Crystal Chamber. This time the chamber is located under the hinged activation switch box, which can swivel open to expose the chamber housing and cradle. This saber has a piece of the blue Kyber that was destroyed…but it still had a bit of power in it. Was it still powerful enough to defeat Master An and her Master Plan? You’ll have to watch the show if you haven’t already!

All I can say is that Kare came up with a very “out of the box” solution to his predicament. I hope you enjoyed this offering because I really had fun building this one. My designs/models are getting to the point that they are looking more real than ever which I am proud of. Anyhoo, I still have much more to offer and show you all, so I hope you’ll all return to see that in future posts. Till then thank you so much for your visit today and the continued support I receive – it is awesome and keeps me designing and posting. Till next time….

“The Twin Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design based on the hilt seen in Star Wars Visions episode “The Twins”. It was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite. All models and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars Visions”, “Master An and Master Kare” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Margrave Saber” – Inspired by Star Wars Visions episode “The Ninth Jedi”

Hello Everybody and welcome back to the warmth of Tyeth Towers as I bring you a new saber design from the world of Star Wars “Visions”. “Visions” is a series of animated short stories produced by famous Anime and Manga studios. The cartoons have a very Japanese style to them and the fifth episode titled “The Ninth Jedi” centres around an individual named Margrave Juro who attempts to reform the Jedi Order many decades after it disbanded. However as always darkness lurked and the followers of the Sith had other plans. Margrave Juro was mining the Outer Rim territory planets for Kyber Crystals and he enlisted the services of a Sabersmith named Lah Zhima to build the lightsabers to put the crystals in. The Margrave then sent out a coded message to potential “lost Jedi” inviting them to meet up at a floating Jedi Temple to receive a gift of a lightsaber ready for them to restart the Jedi Order. And to reassure the recruits, the Margrave had a lightsaber ready which he gave to a Padawan named Ethan. The saber looked like this…..

This saber was crafted by Lah Zhima but the remainder of the hilts weren’t ready yet and before he could deliver them, he was taken captive by agents of the Sith Order. Zhima’s daughter however escaped with the hilts and attempted to finish her father’s mission. The daughter named Kara was Force sensitive but wasn’t fully attuned or trained to use it. Despite this she manages to escape the Sith spies and travel to the floating temple meeting place where the Jedi were waiting for the Margrave and the sabers to arrive. So I had best show you Gallery One of the saber I remodelled in Blender so you can see how close I got to replicating this beauty…I named my version “Margrave”….

As you can see I attempted to recreate this regal looking hilt as closely as I could, but with out using pasted on graphics for the details. All of the gold filigree markings, banding and logos are physically modelled in 3D which makes this saber more intricate than it looks. I had to divide the handgrip’s cylinder to create panels which I could re-arrange and colour gold to create the patterns. The Jedi logo is another “extruded” piece which I modelled then “wrapped” around the hilt.

Back to the story and Kara….she arrives at the meeting place where the 7 other Jedi were waiting but when they are handed “their” sabers to test, when ignited all the blades lit up SITH RED! The Padawans were really Sith agents in disguise…there to wipe out the Margrave and any true Jedi that turned up. It was now that the Margrave made his entrance – and unbelievably he had been present all along hidden, disguised as a droid! The Margrave, Kara and the true Padawan Ethan battled the Sith spies. So before I spoil anything I best show you Gallery Two of my tribute saber….

From the images I was able to pick out from the show I couldn’t see an activation switch on this hilt, or see what was located in the emitter or pommel openings so I created a “dartboard-like” shaped object that I used to form both an illuminated switch as well as an insert for the emitter and pommel! I think the design pattern works with the hilt. And I almost forgot…in the image above taken from the show you can see that the first lightsaber built was presented in a display box sooo I felt I should build a case for my version…Gallery Three….

This display case is slightly different than the box used in the show as I wanted to try something out. For a while I have struggled with Blender to create transparent or glass objects that show up in my pictures (due to how Blender formats rendered images). I could model the glass but it was either completely clear so you couldn’t see it or was “blanked out” with a solid colour and not see through at all. But this time I found the correct setting and this display case has a removable glass lid!

Ok back to the Ninth Jedi and the story….Kara begins to become attuned to the Force and her lightsaber begins to change colour to reflect her connection to the mystic power. But I can’t tell you any more about what happens in case you haven’t seen it yet! I can say there are more lightsabers in this particular episode which I have worked on so you will see those (and some more from other episodes) in future posts. Star Wars Visions has been a good series and if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you search it out!

This brings me to the end of this “Visions” post – and thank you so much for checking it out, I hope you liked it. As I mention above I still have more hilts from this series to show you all, plus I have more Star Wars inspired Speedsters and vehicles for future posts so I hope you’ll return to FTSabersite to check them all out. For now, thanks again for your support, all the comments and likes keep me inspired and are appreciated. Till next time….

“Margrave Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions saber inspired by the lightsaber seen in Star Wars Visions “The Ninth Jedi” episode. The 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars Visions” and all it’s names, images, logos and related content are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Ronin Katana” – Inspired by the traveller warrior in Star Wars Visions

{Ki-Shiiiiish} Hello Everybody…..If you can hear this then I am not at Tyeth Towers {kshhhh} I am away on a secret last minute mission to investigate an occurrence in a nearby city….{SHHHhhh} I, and the Jedi Council have sensed a growing disturbance in the Force as if hundreds of Geeks and Nerds are gathering to celebrate all things Comic and Sci-Fi based…..{Beep!} I am actually at a Comic Con! The Council are worried that the Dark Side might rise there and so have sent me to restore the balance.….I can’t talk now as I am investigating but stay tuned as I transmit a pre-recorded post inspired by Star Wars Visions. More about my adventures will follow afterwards,…I hope. Over….{Shhhhhhh}…….

Ronin Katana – Inspired by Star Wars Visions: Hello Everybody, today I return to the Star Wars Universe sort of, or rather the Star Wars Visions universe and I have a saber inspired by the first episode titled “Ronin”. It centres around a village that is being oppressed by a squad of Imperial looking troopers that are led by a mysterious Sith worshipping lady with an unusual spinning llightsaber. The villagers are hounded to pay taxes and provide supplies for the invaders until a young village boy stands up to them. Unfortunately the young boy’s “bite” wasn’t as big as his “bark” and the invaders easily dismissed him and carried on. However this time another mysterious character was in a nearby hut with his droid getting it repaired and heard the commotion in the village. At first he seemed uninterested but after he nearly gets hit by a stray laser bolt he decides to take action.

The mysterious man, Ronin

The mystery man, named Ronin walks calmly into the village which is now the scene of a pitched battle between the locals and the “Imperials”. But it is a one-sided battle. Ronin intervenes when the strange Sith woman attacks with her spinning umbrella-like lightsaber (which has multiple blades). This contraption gets damaged, so she resorts to using a regular saber to attack Ronin though she stops when she sees him reach for his saber….expecting it to be a Jedi colour….but to everbody’s surprise he draws his saber and it has a RED BLADE!

A RED blade! What are you?

The saber was amazing and looked a bit like this one I have built…this is Ronin Katana….

To see this saber with a red blade was a bit of a shock to be honest as not many Jedi or Force users use such a weapon. We normally have Lightside colours like blue, green or Optimism Yellow (like Rey has). But the saber looked good combining a traditional style katana with a red Sith blade. As a result I enjoyed modelling this hilt. I had to wrap it with Tsuka Ito wraps and build the distinctive emitter and Tsuba handguard. Luckily I have the hang of wrapping a hilt and can do it much easier now, The battle between the Sith Witch and Ronin moves to a nearby river where the two combatants carry on their fight whilst balanced on a floating log. And just downstream there lurked a waterfall, where the batttle came to an end…..But before I carry on with the story here is Gallery Two with a few detail shots….

The battle as I mention took place on/around a waterfall but the duel was finished by a clever piece of “Saber Sleight of Hand”. However, I won’t reveal who won or lost, you’ll have to watch the series (if you haven’t already. And sadly I don’t have time to explain the ending as I am near the end of this……

{SHHHHHSHSHHSHH!} Hello? Are you all still there? Oh good! Well, it seems there was a gathering and I am……{SQUEAL!} just about to make my way inside the venue.My…….message……may break up…..I’ll boost my signal……. and in a future post (probably next week) I hope to be able to publish my report to the Council and all of you my …….my viewers. In the meantime may the Force be with me and I’ll activate an automated closing to end this post….{Pu-SHHHhhhhhhh}

{Automatic Closing Activated} Thank you all for checking this post out and I hope you enjoyed it and the design. Whether this is your first visit to this site or you are a regular, you and your support is much appreciated. Please call back to see many more sabers, vehicles, props and if I survive…. maybe even a report from a Comic Con! Till next time……

“Ronin Katana” Saber is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the katana styled saber seen in episode one of Star Wars Visions “Ronin”. The design, 3D models and renders were produced by For Tyeth/FTSabersite in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars Visions” and all names, logos, images and related material belong to Disney/Lucasfilm and are Trademarked and ©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Sith Katana” – An FT Visions Katana Re-wrap

Hello Everybody, I am sorry but today (and this past week) I have felt a bit below par so I don’t have as big an offering as I normally have. The reason is that I suffer with a long term medical condition that requires me to take some seriously strong medication to control the symptoms, and for the past two years due to COVID restrictions on hospital appointments and access I have had to reduce the number of tablets I’ve been taking (cos I couldn’t get refills) and in the past 6 months I have had no new meds, I have just this past three weeks gotten a new prescription and the medication is just getting back in my system – and the meds are a little bit nasty in their side effects! Nothing a Jedi can’t handle but I have slowed down a bit. SO…I just have a “re-wrapping” of the Star Wars Visions inspired Katana hilt to show you today. I did promise I would tinker with this hilt anyway and now I have a few renders in much better lighting so you can see the details a bit better. OK enough chatter, here is the Sith version of the Katana…

I changed the background location to a more light friendly outdoor scene. The changes to the hilt include a new blade colour which is now obviously on the Darkside of the Force Sith red. I also tweaked the colour of the leather Tsuka Ito wrap to be a nice “dried blood red” leather much better suited to a Sith Warrior’s weapon, and peek beneath the wrapping you will see that the actual handgrip has been changed from a green wooden handle to a now red and black marbled Ivory handgrip. The new exterior location for these pictures also help you to pick out the etching detail on the gold parts and the blade. The pommel and Tsuba handguard have delicate carvings on that didn’t quite show up as well in the dark moody images from the original seen here in comparison.

Actually, now that I am looking at the two the original images weren’t quite as bad as I thought, it just depends on the angle they’re viewed from. You can see the big difference changing from the black and green to the new red colour scheme makes, again it has a regal/noble or dare I say “Bling-like” look now – very high status.

Finally I just wanted to try and get some full length shots of the saber and I wondered if the background image with the lake would make a difference so I put the saber out over the water to see what effects it had…

Well, I figured why not have two sabers? The Sith have been known to enjoy overindulgence. Whilst taking these pics I did have an idea on what I could do next to this design and I may have 5 or 6 new versions I can work on as I recover.

And that I’m afraid brings me to the end of this post. I hope to be back 100% next week as I want to showcase my new Qui-Gon Jinn replica saber I was recently gifted, plus I have been digging in the hard drive of my laptop and found some designs that I never posted (I kept them because I hoped to submit them to a manufacturer should they ever hold a design contest but they didn’t). SO thank you all for checking out this “Re-wrap” design and I hope you enjoyed it. Please do call back to FTSabersite to see more in future posts. You are all much appreciated and remember to comment, maybe leave a like or two and if you really like what you see here…subscribe so you won’t miss a thing, Till next time….

“Sith Katana – FT Visions Katana” is a For Tyeth Editions creation and was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The design, model and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022.

Katana FT – For expands his Katana Collection

Hello Everybody and welcome to my new Star Wars Visions inspired design. I think I previously mentioned that I had watched Star Wars Visions, the anime inspired TV series but was finding individual characters to build a hilt for difficult. Most of the big characters already had sabers but I really wanted to build a Japanese inspired hilt from scratch so I modelled one for myself – after a bit of a struggle. I did make some Katana styled hilts before but they were either using the old Adaptive Saber Parts builder from Saberforge that I stopped using or the hilts I modelled in Blender didn’t have the iconic Tsuka Ito handgrip wrapping. Well today I set that straight. First however I need to explain the issue I had modelling that handgrip!

One of the reasons I hadn’t gotten round to modelling a Katana is the fact a Katana is very simple but very stylised. Almost everyone on the planet would recognise a “Ninja” or “Samurai” sword from the long narrow blade with a subtle curve and the diamond patterned handgrip made from a wrapping of silk. The blade I initially managed to model using a “Curve Modifier” that allowed me to model a straight blade with the cross section shape I wanted then I created a Curve Object to match the Katana blade’s bend then instructed Blender 3D to “bend” the straight blade to match the “Curve Object”. But the diamond pattern handgrip was a whole different problem. I have modelled a leather wrap before on a saber (such as my The Quartermaster and Nerf Frightener hilts) but that entailed curving a flat strip along a spiral path. Blender has a function called the “Screw Modifier” which like the Curve Mod takes an object and morphs it along an outline path except the Screw Mod curls the object into a spiral or screw like shape. (See picture 1)

Picture 1: Basic strip

The problem is that a Katana has a “criss-cross” pattern and it is easier to make using two long strips curled into spirals – so I duplicated the strip seen in Picture 1 and rotated it so it would overlap to form the criss-cross. Only problem? It didn’t because both strips just interlaced to form a nice looking regular wrap. This was because I needed an anti-clockwise strip to overlap a clockwise strip and no matter how I rotated or altered the settings in the Screw Modifier I couldn’t work out how to wind an object Anti-clockwise (See Picture 2 and 3).

Picture 2: Two strips but both wind clockwise

Picture 3: Two clockwise strips just interlace as one.

I finally turned to YouTube and looked up Katana modelling and in one video the 3D artist made one spiral strip rotating clockwise which he duplicated as I had done BUT here was the magic, he then RESIZED the strip so the height, width and length values were NEGATIVE.

Picture 4: One strip (L) wound clockwise and second (R)wound anti-clockwise after resizing it to negative

This resulted in all the geometry being twisted Anti-clockwise! I went back into Blender and duplicated my spiral strip then resized it into Negative values (Seen in Picture 4) and I had two strips which, when positioned together formed a criss-cross or plaited arrangement. I just had to tweak the size of the duplicate strip so it fitted over the original and gave the illusion of being woven or plaited. The final step was to add some thickness to the strips then apply textures to them. You can see the final result in Pictures 5 and 6.

Picture 5: Both strips overlapped, creating the “Diamond Pattern”

Picture 6: Strips with textures applied and adjusted to appear “woven”

Sorry if that explanation was long winded but it’s sometimes hard to describe something in 3D so that people can visualise what you are talking about. So I think you deserve to enjoy the Glamour Shots, here is Katana FT…

I am kinda proud of this saber as I can now say I’ve ticked another Iconic blade off my “To Do List”. On an actual Katana handgrip there are usually small metal plaques visible in the diamond cut-outs but I left those off as they are usually decorated to represent particular clans or families that own the hilt. I did add some etching on the gold accent parts – the pommel end cap and the oval handguard called a Tsuba. I also envisaged the activation switch would be incorporated into the handguard – by pressing one of the inlaid panels created by the etch meaning the switch is “hidden” in the pattern…but I did add my initials as a decoration on the pommel end cap (the letters FT are in Aurabesh which looks a bit like oriental text). And of course the blade has a plasma edging to it – I could have had a regular lightsaber blade but when you extinguish the power the blade disappears but with this Katana you retain the metal blade to allow you to sheave it in a scabbard.

And with that I think I have covered everything and I am coming near to the end of this post. As ever I’d like to thank you all for checking this design out and hope you liked it (ok maybe the design lesson was boring but it gave context to the design!) I sincerely hope you will al return for future posts as I have some more LEGO Forge builds including a Mandalorian ship and speeder bike! I also hope to have more news on my recent Nerf blaster purchases too. So again, thank you for calling in today, it is much appreciated. Till next time….

“Katana FT” is a For Tyeth Editions design and was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D. The model and image renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars: Visions” is Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm ltd.

“Rhapsody Saber” – Inspired by Episode 2 of Star Wars Visions

Hello Everybody, today I have another new saber design to show you all while I wait for another delivery (EDIT: See update at bottom of post!). This time I was inspired by the recent anime style animation series called “Star Wars – Visions”. The series was 9 episodes long and each episode was directed/produced by a different Anime studio/artist. It was a very interesting and different take on what most of us consider Star Wars, The first episode was titled “The Duel” that featured a story mirroring a tale from feudal Japan of a village terrorised by a “gang” and saved by a mysterious “wanderer”. This episode also featured a Katana styled lightsaber and the now famous “Lightsaber Umbrella”. Well these are quite well known so I decided to look at Episode 2 Tatooine Rhapsody. It focused on a young padawan named Jay during the closing event of the Clone Wars , Order 66. Jay was chased by a horde of B-1 Battle Droids and during the chase he fell and damaged his lightsaber. Jay and the saber look like this:

Jay the fallen padawan

Jay’s damaged lightsaber after his fall(Disney/Lucasfilm)

Jay’s fall left him unconscious on the floor of a spacecraft and when he awoke found his saber no longer worked. He also discovered this when he needed the hilt to protect himself from a Hutt named Geezer. However Geezer was not hostile and Jay ended up accompanying the Hutt and even joined his band. Geezer was a musician in a touring band. Jay became the singer, and he repurposed his broken lightsaber to make a microphone! Well, I thought it needed to be repaired as a lightsaber and not gutted to make a microphone so I modelled a “factory fresh” version of his hilt. And I named it….Rhapsody….

This is a fairly simple hilt, but it is the simple ones that are the difficult ones to model and get right. This is because complex/detailed hilts can hide little mistakes but on a simple design the mistakes would stand out. Fortunately I think I nailed this pretty well, especially as I only had two decent screenshots to use as reference and they only showed one side of the hilt! The other side was always obscured. The hilt features a nice flared emitter with several recessed bands before narrowing to a thin neck section. The thin neck has multiple rings that give good grip and would make this a good saber for spinning/choreography. Most of the handgrip is a smooth cylinder with two slanted bands and an inlaid panel on the visible side I could make out. This meant I had to imagine what the other side had so here are a few more pictures to showcase what I cane up with…

I chose to keep it simple and just added two indicator LEDS in red and green to show the saber’s power mode. The activation switch is a sliding two position type. I kept it simple to keep with the anime style yet still be functional. The pommel end of the hilt is interesting however as it features four lozenge shaped fins reminiscent of the bulges and fins found on 1950’s/60’s style American sports/muscle cars (particularly like Chryslers and Cadillacs). Again to keep with the Anime style I modelled a basic pommel speaker vent.

In all I think I got pretty close to the subject matter with this hilt and still added my own little touches. I may return to this design and possibly add more detail or produce a few different colour schemes, but for now I am happy how it turned out. I am afraid once again I’m running out of time and will have to end this post shortly. I am awaiting the arrival of one of my sabers which I needed to send in for repairs and I am really excited to get it back.

I still have more new content to share in upcoming posts including more sabers and more LEGO digital creations, so I hope you’ll call back to check those out. Thank you for visiting and supporting FTSabersite, it means a lot and keeps me designing . Whether you are a new first timer or a regular visitor, you are all appreciated. I think I can hear a delivery person…well I hope….so I’ll end here. Till next time….

EDIT: Breaking news! Just after I finished typing this post and scheduling it to publish….my saber turned up at my front door. And from the limited time I have had to examine it, it is BETTER than it was before! I hopefully will do another post detailing the improvements.

“Rhapsody Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions creation inspired by the microphone lightsaber seen in “Star Wars – Visions”. The saber was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Star Wars – Visions” and all names, images, logos and other related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.