... I use Adobe Photoshop. I didn't use any presets. Here's the steps I followed. If you are not familiar with Photoshop please refer to the Video version of this tutorial by clicking the link below.

Open the image file you want to add a lightsaber effect to.

Create a new layer.

Draw the outline of the "core" with the Polygonal Lasso tool.

Flood fill the selected area white with the Paint Bucket Tool.

Duplicate this layer three times. (If your image is smaller you can get away with only one or two copies)

Select the original layer of the core.

Under the "Layer" menu, select "Layer Style" and "Outer Glow" Change the color to white and move the "Opacity" slider to 100%. Under "size" leave it at 5 px and click ok. This softens the edges of the core.

Select the next layer of core and repeat the previous step, this time change the color to what you want for your lightsaber. Do this to each layer of core that you have left just increase the size of the glow by a factor of 2 for each layer (core- 5, first color layer=10, then 20, and finally 40). And voila!


Play around with the different settings within the Outer Glow window to get the look that you want. Depending on the size and detail of your image the settings will vary.