How to do a light swirl?

This effect has been around for a long time but now I have a project where I could really utilize it. Can this be done in photoshop or is it a 3d Max thing? Either way, could you give me some pointers on where to start looking?

Image from www.cubadust.com (Look a the swirl effect in the upper left)

If you create multiple layers of the line, blur- guassian blur some of them (or one), change to different blending modes, then you can achive that effect.

You might look into light sabre or some effect like that on google, to give you an idea of the blending modes.

Sorry I couldnt be more specific, I am not anywhere near PS right now....

The glow and blur I can do it is the shape that I can't. It looks so easy, bah. Thanks for the help.

Use paths. If you use the anchor points to create the odd shapes it is real easy. Also try out that path tool that has different shapes, you can tweak those. Then just switch to the path panel and click the make path into selection option on the bottom of the panel. Go back to your layer while it is selected and stroke it.

Yes.. it should be possiblr by using paths..

paths will do what you need. if you got a wacom, just a steady hand will do.

I spoke with the artist and he did confirm that it was all done in 3dMax. I replicated it in PS, but the shading is too hard to replicate the depth.

you could try doing smooth curvy thingies with drawing a line that ends up in a very sharp point, maybe fading out even, and then use the distort > shear - filter with some imagination.