Fantasy Sword

Hey guys, here's a LOTR inspired sword I've been working on. This is only the high poly model with basic materials in Toolbag 2. I'll probably be moving on to modelling the sheath today or saturday.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Any criticism is appreciated!

Also, yes another weapon

That's a really nice render--I've never heard of Toolbag. I like the uniqueness of the loop at the end of the grip and the embedded jewel.

Thanks Mike!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is a really neat lightweight real-time renderer. It pretty much sets the standard for real-time rendering tech these days (although it is missing some features which are present in modern engines). It's got a whole bunch of neat features like IBL and SSS. The best part about it for me is that it's really easy to set up and you don't have to mess with getting all of your assets into a game engine, but it still has a lot of the cool rendering features present in modern game engines.

I agree about the pommel. I've tried quite a few different options and the ring is the coolest to me.
Here's an update, with some reference for materials and inspiration:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
(This one was rendered in the Blender viewport with a matcap because it's quicker)

I'm thinking for the grip it'd be cool to do sort of a bullwhip style leather diamond plait pattern on the half nearest the pommel, and a more standard leather wrap on the hilt side of the grip (maybe with stitches like in [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for visual interest and contrast).

I'm not sure if I'd prefer emerald or ruby for the gemstone, but once the rest of the texture is done it'll be easier to see what color would fit best in the overall scheme.

Tell me what you think of the material ideas!

I agree with your idea for the plait pattern, it is different then the grips I commonly see--making it unique and stand out. The character would probably always be holding on to the grip half, so leaving it as a leather wrap would make sense since it may rarely be seen. The stitch pattern in the video could go feminine if used with white string, so it would be good for a female character's sword--a shade of brown or yellow seems better for a male character, but then you will run into contrast issues--so white for both sexes would probably be the best way forward. I see a lot of sword designs with a tennis racket style wrap (where it spirals up), so doing something different with the stitching will also help set it apart.

I know nothing about weapons aside from the Colt M4 and Berretta M9, so I am really just grasping at straws here--I think as is it looks great and the modifications you described would really increase the uniqueness even further than it already is!

Great modelling!
And I think your choice of material for the handle and the way you choose to model it, will determine how "natural" the sword will turn out in the end.
Depending on what you want to use it for, it would look really cool with a few scratches on the blade and a worn handle - imho.

cheers

chapel

Thanks Chapel!

I've added a sheath, and various surface details, including making the whole grip the weave pattern, which I think turned out quite well if I may say so.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I also started working on the "frog" (what a weird name), which is the bit that holds the sheath onto the sword belt. To me it feels a bit Japanese styled which is cool I guess, despite the sword being mostly of European design.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
I think a lot of the fabric details are too small for leather at the moment; leather wouldn't flex that much I suspect. I'll have to strike a balance between boring stiffness and the folds (which are quite difficult to make).

Tell me what you think!

Good grief, ANOTHER weapon... hahaha. Looks great! Only 2 questions from me, the first one is: what's the little dots, or they kinda look like v's, going down the length of the sword in the center? And how big is the sword? Part of me is getting a regular sword vibe while another part has the feeling that it's a greatsword. Other than that, it's coming along really great, the detail is just phenomenal (show some wire frames).

Thanks Scott! The little highlights along the blade is just some random detail I added to the fuller to make it a bit more interesting, and to add some of the angled bevel motif to the blade. I have it modeled out as 1.2 meters from tip to pommel, which is pretty accurate for a two handed longsword. It's also quite a bit wider than a typical medieval sword so that might throw of the sense of scale. Here's a wider shot which shows the scale a bit better:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Here's some wire shots:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Grip/Pommel

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Crossguard/Blade

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Sheath/Frog

Holy modeling skills, Batman--that looks fantastic!

I imagine you'll be doing normal maps and a low-poly version and such--what is the target price you are aiming to sell this for if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks Mike! I wasn't intending to sell it, just use it as a portfolio piece. I spose selling it is an option, I hadn't ever considered selling my stuff.

Another update, I think I finished the belt part, although I'm not completely sure about the ring thingy that the straps connect to.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Wow! Jealous!! Nice job all the way around, and I second the selling bit! You should try it.

Lowpoly and textures!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Better textures!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

All the modeling looks great, but there is one thing that's bugging me. The metal. It's way too shiny for a sword.

Typical sword:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Now is your intention to have the sword a battle worn sword, or maybe ceremonial; but whatever the case, I don't think a sword could get that shiny.

From a material scientist standpoint:
~just looking at how the metal is shaped, all of it would have had to have been cast (most likely) vs forging. Since forging would be turning the metal while hitting it, giving a flat shape. Whereas casting would be pouring it into a mold, giving it a complex shape. Just a note: metal that is forged is stronger than metal that is cast. Usually blacksmiths would cast swords when having to make a lot in a short amount of time.
~Gold is a soft metal, one that is easily scratched (also might not be the best choice for a cross guard). Also, the gold would've had to been cast, especially the ring.

Overall, due to the amount of gold I'd say it's a ceremonial sword. The blade may have been cast or forged, if forged it would've required a lot of skill. Which this is all fine, my only issue is just that the materials don't quite look right.

No--don't listen to him! Never let science get in the way of art! Lol

I think it came out great... What are the polygon counts for the low and high poly versions?

Thanks for the comments Mike and Scott!

Mike: The high poly is about 1.6 million triangles; 800k in the blade/hilt/grip, 300k in the sheath, and 500k in the belt and frog.
The low poly in total is about 13k triangles; 4k in the blade/hilt/grip, 3k in the sheath, and 6k in the belt and frog.

This is pretty high for a game model sword, however polycount is somewhat less of an issue in a portfolio piece, and is reasonable for a modern PC game (I'd cut down the sheath and frog if it were going into a game because they wouldn't be seen as much or as closely as the actual sword).

Here are wire shots for the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (4k resolution images so I didn't embed them here).

I think I'm done with this project. I'll be leaving for Florida on Monday (1 week trip), and then after that I'll be starting spring semester so it's a good time to be done with this one. Here are some of my final shots:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks for all of your suggestions!

Looks great! The metal looks a lot better now.

Thanks Scott, I forgot to thank you for the material suggestions earlier, but as you noticed I heeded your advice with the roughness of the metals.

Also here are the final textures!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

No problem. Now that I actually have a degree in materials I just hope I don't get too annoying, haha. I have to ask though, what's your method from start to finish with all of this? It'd be great to see the process, even a simple tutorial if you could.

Hmm, roughly my workflow is model highpoly, model lowpoly, unwrap lowpoly, do test normal map bakes and tweak high and low accordingly to fix any baking issues in the normal map, then throw it in Substance Designer for texturing and a loooooot of tweaking various values for the textures. Unfortunately it's hard to do a more specific tutorial post-mortem because I don't have much progress shots. For my next project I'll be sure to document my workflow a bit more closely.

As a side note, I'd be really cool if we could start up some sort of Blender World Skype chat or IRC again if enough people would join in. Real time feedback on projects is just so handy! With Skype or Google hangouts we could also share our screen so that people can watch in real time if they wish.

But Cole! There's the chat box at the bottom of the forum that logs you out after 5 minutes!

I agree that we should try something else. Maybe not Skype since I'm always logged in and it might get a tad annoying. I'd be down for IRC, I'll try to be in the old ##blendernewbies more. I also registered ##creativenewbies.

Cool, I'll join you there whenever possible!

one word - beautiful

cheers

chapel