Start a new image 600x400 pixels in size, background colour black, and create a new layer (Layer/New>Layer). Using the marquee tool, draw a wide rectangle. When happy, fill it with 50% grey colour (Edit/Fill). Now we want to shade this to be like a cylinder, dark at the top and bottom edges, lighter in the middle. There are several ways to do this, using gradient fills etc. but you have much more control over shape and lighting if you make use of channels and the lighting effects filter (Filter/Render>Lighting Effects). It is also good practice to use this, as it is gives far better results when you use more complicated shapes.The rectangle should still be selected so save it to a new channel (Select/Save Selection).

Click the channels tab in the layers window, and you should see the selection, named #4. Click it and you will enter channel edit mode. Now your main image should display a greyscale image of your rectangle. We want this to appear rounded, and to do this we gaussian blur it to near death. Apply a gaussian blur of 16 pixels to it (Filter/Blur>Gaussian), then repeat with 8 pixels, 4, 2 then 1. Then deselect the image and gaussiam blur it 1 pixel again. Switch back to layers mode.

The rectangle should still be selected so save it to a new channel (Select/Save Selection). Click the channels tab in the layers window, and you should see the selection, named #4. Click it and you will enter channel edit mode. Now your main image should display a greyscale image of your rectangle. We want this to appear rounded, and to do this we gaussian blur it to near death. Apply a gaussian blur of 16 pixels to it (Filter/Blur>Gaussian), then repeat with 8 pixels, 4, 2 then 1. Then deselect the image and gaussiam blur it 1 pixel again. Switch back to layers mode.

Fig. 0.1

Create a new layer and fill it with 50% grey. Do not delete the old layer. Open the dialog for the Lights filter (Filter/Render/Render Lights) and shine a spotlight down and rightwards. Personally, I also create a spotlight that shines "black light" and make that point up and leftwards to accentuate shadow areas. Change the Texture Channel to our new channel, #4. The preview window will adapt to show our rectangle under lighting. Change the height requester to the full 100 and hit OK. Now switch back to the layer that had our original rectangle on and either select it (Select/Load Selection and make sure Invert check box is ticked) or use the magic tool and click anywhere around the rectangle. You should now have the area around our rectangle selected. This layer can now be deleted (Layer/Delete Layer or use button on layer window) Use this selection to cut (Edit/Cut) the surrounding grey from our image. Finally, trim the rounded edges using the marquee tool to highlight, and cut to remove them. You should have something similar to Fig. 0.1.

The next bit may take a while for you to get right, so persevere :) It's probably safest to make a copy of the layer, just in case things go pear shaped (Layer/Duplicate Layer). Make one of the layers invisible by clicking the eye symbol in the layers window. Make sure the "Preserve Transparency" checkbox is also unchecked. Using the marquee tool, highlight a thin section of the tube and make it slightly shorter by going into scale mode (Layer/Transform>Scale) and moving the top and bottom scale bars by 3-4 pixels. Select the line tool, and set paint type to darken, opacity to 15%. Deselect the image (Select/None) There isn't really an easy way to do the next bit. Starting at the left of the smaller section, start drawing vertical lines. Make it darker over to the left - It's really a judgement call. Darken the edges of the larger sections of tube to either side and when you are done, highlight the entire area with the marquee tool. Fill in the small gaps at the top and bottom of the image with solid black using the pencil tool. Copy the selected area (Edit/Copy) then paste it (Edit/Paste). Use the Move tool to place the new section alongside the original image. Merge the layers down (Layer/Merge Layer) or hit Ctrl-E. Repeat this until you have a corrugated effect simiilar to Fig. 0.2.

Fig. 0.2

Repeat this principle of highlighting sections of the tube and resizing and shading them until you have a satisfying effect. Layout the overall shape before adding shading (Fig. 0.3.) Once you have this technique down, you can use it in a multitude of places.
	Fig. 0.3

	Continue to add shading, and remember wherever possible COPY and PASTE. It saves a lot of time, and if not overused, should not be noticeable in the final image. Copy/Cut/Paste and Layer/Scale are two of the most useful functions at your disposal. If you are following my design closely, you should have something similar to Fig. 0.4. now.
Fig. 0.4

Add some smaller inset details by using the marquee tool to highlight a small rectangle. Using a 3 pixel wide paintbrush, set to 10-15% opacity, white ink, lighten the bottom and right of the rectangle, then repeat with black ink for the top and left hand sides. Finally, shrink the selection by 2-3 pixels (Select/Modify>Contract) and fill with 50% grey. If you have the Eye Candy plugin, you could use inner bevel to achieve a similar effect. I prefer doing it by hand though. Add the thin strips that join the head and middle of the lightsaber by using the Line tool, set to 20% opacity, white ink. Make them distinct by outlining using black ink. A lot of my images are done using simple functions like Line and Paintbrush. Do not get too used to using Plug-Ins to achieve every effect. They should be used to enhance an image, not to actually create it.

Fig. 0.5

Dramatic lighting can be the difference between an image looking OK, and looking really good. Most of the time, adding lighting is a breeze. Highlight a strip of your image using the marquee tool, the full width of the image, slightly below centre. "Feather" the selection (Select/Feather) 3 pixels and fill it with black ink. Then highlight the top section, and change the colour (Image/Adjust>Hue/Saturation). Check the Colorize box and slide the hue bar until you are happy. Repeat the process for the bottom. Hopefully, you have an image similar to Fig. 0.6.

Fig. 0.6

The finishing touches are just minor additions of detail in some of the more bland areas of the image. It is not a particularly highly detailed image anyway, but there's enough to keep it interesting. I was relatively happy overall with it. The truncated beam to the right was not ideal, and the image had a more cartoonish look to it than realistic. Fig 0.7. is the image in its final form.
	Fig. 0.7