World of Warcraft sword ( from concept )

Nesmos

Hello guys, I'm still a beginner with 3d modelling in 3ds max and in general so i'm learning by myself and off other people's concepts if i do i always give credit the the original owner of the concept. although i've not used anyone else's concept so far since it feels wrong. I was looking through my blizzard art book and saw a sword that picked my fancy that wasn't in the game so i felt like modeling it.

When i get enough for my graphics tablet, my old one broke i will be able to draw my own concepts and try hand painted texturing.

so heres the concept from blizzard™ of course all the rights to the concept are blizzards.



Heres my first progress on the sword ( sorry for the pictures i didn't render them at the time and just wanted to show my work fast )

1.First attempt at the hilt.


2.Second attempt at the hilt since the proportions were wrong.


3.I modeled the blade in place.


4.Finishing the blade.


Here's a render of how it looks at the moment


I haven't started on the details on the hilt since i really dont know how to attempt to model them at the moment but i'll try a few things and update here.

If anyone has any critiques or tips or anything just in general will be appreciated

Baron Flame

Nesmos wrote: »

Hello guys, I'm still a beginner with 3d modelling in 3ds max and in general so i'm learning by myself and off other people's concepts if i do i always give credit the the original owner of the concept. although i've not used anyone else's concept so far since it feels wrong. I was looking through my blizzard art book and saw a sword that picked my fancy that wasn't in the game so i felt like modeling it.

When i get enough for my graphics tablet, my old one broke i will be able to draw my own concepts and try hand painted texturing.

so heres the concept from blizzard™ of course all the rights to the concept are blizzards.



Heres my first progress on the sword ( sorry for the pictures i didn't render them at the time and just wanted to show my work fast )

1.First attempt at the hilt.


2.Second attempt at the hilt since the proportions were wrong.


3.I modeled the blade in place.


4.Finishing the blade.


Here's a render of how it looks at the moment


I haven't started on the details on the hilt since i really dont know how to attempt to model them at the moment but i'll try a few things and update here.

If anyone has any critiques or tips or anything just in general will be appreciated

I'd say if you can get this tutorial : https://www.3dmotive.com/f101801
It should help you out here. I know it's Maya and you're working in Max but it's really easy to figure the core concepts out, I know I did. Hope this helps.
Cheers
-Baron

Nesmos

Baron Flame wrote: »

I'd say if you can get this tutorial : https://www.3dmotive.com/f101801
It should help you out here. I know it's Maya and you're working in Max but it's really easy to figure the core concepts out, I know I did. Hope this helps.
Cheers
-Baron

Thanks for that but i've already got those tutorials, i already know how to hand paint a little but not much but my graphics tablet broke and i'm saving up for a new one and i am able to get one at the end of the month.

thanks a lot for the advice though

SaboR1996

the cylinder that separates the blade from the handle needs to be thicker looking at the concept.

Nesmos

SaboR1996 wrote: »

the cylinder that separates the blade from the handle needs to be thicker looking at the concept.

I noticed that thanks

Here's a update:

Nesmos

Hey here is a update. I've added the transition between the hilt and the sword also blocked in the teeth, the block between the blade and hilt seems really off but if its a full round circle like the hilt it doesn't look right since it doesn't look like it transitions properly.

any tips is welcomed this is my first time modeling like the teeth.

Wireframe


Render

Genosis

Seems awfully high poly to me, unless that's what you are going for...

Nesmos

Genosis wrote: »

Seems awfully high poly to me, unless that's what you are going for...

At the moment its only 1380 polys which isn't a lot especially with today's gen. at the moment i'm not worrying about the poly count this is mainly a project to learn. but i'd say i'd want the poly count in the mid range.

Twoflower

Hey man, just wanted to drop in and say that you should think about what you spend your polys on. Currently you use alot of polys for the the decal on the bottom of the blade which gives the least amount of character to the silhouette. The same with the cylinders, you could trim away alot of polys without losing any information in the silhouette especially on the smaller ones

Nesmos

Twoflower wrote: »

Hey man, just wanted to drop in and say that you should think about what you spend your polys on. Currently you use alot of polys for the the decal on the bottom of the blade which gives the least amount of character to the silhouette. The same with the cylinders, you could trim away alot of polys without losing any information in the silhouette especially on the smaller ones

Thanks a lot for the advice, I've redone the whole hilt and i got the poly's from 1540 to 808 there is probably more i could do but i'm comfortable with this number now

here's a picture of before and after for the hilt

ahendowski

Those extra edge loops don't define a silhouette really. You can easily take these out and lessen the polycount. There's no reason to have them in there at the moment.

Nesmos

ahendowski wrote: »

Those extra edge loops don't define a silhouette really. You can easily take these out and lessen the polycount. There's no reason to have them in there at the moment.

Thanks for the advice, I've done as you have said but i'm mainly thinking of uv mapping for the spikes or 'cones'

I'm not very good at uv mapping and i just had a look and everyway i look at it they appear to be stretched or slanted.

Stirls

When you UV map, you don't need to add in extra edge loops. UV mapping is just "unfolding" the mesh so that you can add textures onto it. If you were to just throw a texture map on there, sure, it would be super stretched.

While I primarily work with Maya, 3Ds Max should have some sorta "UV Cylinder Unwrap" where you can add a cylinder cage over one (or each/both) of those cones to unwrap it into a sorta fan shape. Hopefully this eases your mind, as I assume you think that a lower polycount = stretched textures. This isn't the case unless you're "polypainting" in zBrush or somethin'.



Kickass drawings by the way.

Snafubar7

Baron Flame wrote: »

I'd say if you can get this tutorial : https://www.3dmotive.com/f101801
It should help you out here. I know it's Maya and you're working in Max but it's really easy to figure the core concepts out, I know I did. Hope this helps.
Cheers
-Baron

I second this, it really helps to start making weapons and get the blizzard style going. Tyson Murphy is nuts.

onewinged

Here is a quick paintover for some things you can change to optimize it a bit more.

Nesmos

onewinged wrote: »

Here is a quick paintover for some things you can change to optimize it a bit more.

Oh right thanks a lot i missed that, here is a update I've done what people have advised me to do also made the teeth lower in poly count and generally better i think.

Nesmos

Stirls wrote: »

When you UV map, you don't need to add in extra edge loops. UV mapping is just "unfolding" the mesh so that you can add textures onto it. If you were to just throw a texture map on there, sure, it would be super stretched.

While I primarily work with Maya, 3Ds Max should have some sorta "UV Cylinder Unwrap" where you can add a cylinder cage over one (or each/both) of those cones to unwrap it into a sorta fan shape. Hopefully this eases your mind, as I assume you think that a lower polycount = stretched textures. This isn't the case unless you're "polypainting" in zBrush or somethin'.

Kickass drawings by the way.

Very helpful thanks also i didn't draw them unfortunately they are concepts from a blizzard art book. when i get my graphics tablet hopefully i will be creating my own to show you guys

aaronmwolford

Overall, your proportions are lacking in areas that will make the style fit in WoW. Take a look at this.

Nesmos

aaronmwolford wrote: »

Overall, your proportions are lacking in areas that will make the style fit in WoW. Take a look at this.

I see what you mean now, WoW does have a tendency to be it over the top and more stylized which isn't bad its a good aesthetic


Here's another update I've changed the proportions again and uv mapped the blade, To be honest i don't know of any other way and i can paint on it with ease. I forgot to add the teeth thinking about it but i will do that in a future update. thanks

Twoflower

looking better! keep it up

Chris Krüger

I changed the proportions a bit to something I personally think is better. It's not perfect doh. Here it goes:

Nesmos

Chris Krüger wrote: »

I changed the proportions a bit to something I personally think is better. It's not perfect doh. Here it goes:
ng

Thanks a lot, it does better since there is variation in the spikes but in the concept there isn't but it is only a concept i can change a few things around.

Here's a update but i'm really stuck on something which I've been dreading. the sword and hilt connection the middle block in between the hilt and sword connecting them.

I have no idea on how to create one like it shows on the picture I've not really made anything as intricate and finding it hard I've tried copying the spiked then insetting them, then extruding then making a ring around then and the sword but it doesn't really look right.

So I've added a default connection at the moment.

could anyone help, i apologize haha

Nesmos

Twoflower wrote: »

looking better! keep it up

Thanks a lot

Nesmos

bump, anyone at all ? I've been trying for a few hours now and none seem right.

Chris Krüger

You could probably extrude four pieces out from the hilt itself. Then add edge loops and move them into the right position. If it makes any sense?

Nesmos

Chris Krüger wrote: »

You could probably extrude four pieces out from the hilt itself. Then add edge loops and move them into the right position. If it makes any sense?

haha sorry i dont quite picture what you mean. thanks for the replying though

Nesmos

Update time

I took the bottom half of the teeth and made them another object and made a loop around them but i really dont know how to finish this off now.

do i let the teeth stay out with just a back on them or should i make the whole thing extrude down inwards.

Thanks chris as well

Nesmos

Hey, i'm really quite stuck with making the last bit now trying to extrude it down in a pain i've been trying to get this right but it doesn't seem to be working

Rafferty_Eggleston

Nice progress so far! You can really drop the polycount on your hilt. Keep in mind that most of all the details will be in the diffuse map so you can fake a lot of things. I did a quick mock up model to try and help out. You could probably optimize the embellishment more than I did, but hope it helps!

Rafferty_Eggleston

You might be hesitant to go down to four sided geo, but the correct smoothing groups and diffuse will really give it the cylindrical appearance!