Hey, I did a fast sword project yesterday and made two alternate versions, Which do you prefer and do you have any other critique that could improve the swords?
I'd take the straight one - gives better protection to your hands.
Both of em look great. What I'd change is the blade texture:
There's an odd polishing line where the blade is attached to the handle, right at the edge where it meets the Cross-guard - swords are polished when it's still disassembled- this wouln't happen. Dirt and stuff can gather there from the blades oil when pulled in and out of the scabbard but apart from that there's no difference to quality of the polish in the blade itself.
The scratches make the texture look worse, especially considering how pristine the leathering on the handle and how shiny the handguard and pommel are. I think the model would benefit from a "fresh from the forge" -look.
The vertical lines in the blade itself are too deep in your normal- it should be more shallow and dense. Also looking at it closely I think I can see some iron grains that come out of the normal rather than having been carved to it by wear.
Metal color is too silvery in the blade as well - more accurate color is closer to the color of the metal in the cross-guard and pommel - perhaps hint darker.
If you are going with more worn look I'd go with a normal that has been toned down a lot for the blade and give the leather in the grip some sweat stains. Also a bit of lost polish and hint of rust to the pommel and cross guard.
Thanks for the reply, I took what you said into consideration and made some adjustments. The smudge on the very beginning of the blade was based on the fact that as the assembly of the blade looses compression (wooden handle shrinks after pressure) the guard often times starts to wiggle and hence scratching the bottom of the blade as it bumps around until the tang is resecured, but yeah, I totally overdid it. The fact that the leather is less worn is based on that it can be replaced way more easily than the blade and therefore has been rewrapped whilst the blade has accumulated damage without being regrinded or replaced (except for the edge which has been sharpened), but i reduced the intencity of the bumps as you said because it simply looks more cohesive that way!
Replies
Both of em look great. What I'd change is the blade texture:
There's an odd polishing line where the blade is attached to the handle, right at the edge where it meets the Cross-guard - swords are polished when it's still disassembled- this wouln't happen. Dirt and stuff can gather there from the blades oil when pulled in and out of the scabbard but apart from that there's no difference to quality of the polish in the blade itself.
The scratches make the texture look worse, especially considering how pristine the leathering on the handle and how shiny the handguard and pommel are. I think the model would benefit from a "fresh from the forge" -look.
The vertical lines in the blade itself are too deep in your normal- it should be more shallow and dense. Also looking at it closely I think I can see some iron grains that come out of the normal rather than having been carved to it by wear.
Metal color is too silvery in the blade as well - more accurate color is closer to the color of the metal in the cross-guard and pommel - perhaps hint darker.
If you are going with more worn look I'd go with a normal that has been toned down a lot for the blade and give the leather in the grip some sweat stains. Also a bit of lost polish and hint of rust to the pommel and cross guard.