Fantasy Sword(s)

billymcguffin

Hey all, here's a sword I've been working on, based on this concept: http://www.freakygaming.com/gallery/concept_art/age_of_conan:_hyborian_adventures/sword_types

Here's what I have on the high for the top one so far; I'm not sure if I'll do the others.



I had to do a bit of improvising on the notches in the blade but I like how it turned out.

C&C please!

SaboR1996

Get some forms on that handle. its like the most boring part.
would also love to see some high poly wires.

billymcguffin

Here's wires:



Thanks for the tip on the handle, I'll see if I can make it more interesting.

locater16

Looks a bit thick and silly, a cool sword should also look dangerous, as in this case a lot sharper.

Suba

Silhouette is good but you need to work more on the details. Right now it looks like a toy, I think it is because you have to make your blade thiner, and sharper like locater16 said.

Also it would be cool to have some scratches. Scratches are always cool as fuck on metal.

billymcguffin

A small update: I added the pommel bit from the concept and modified the handle a little (handle's still pretty boring though). I think the pommel balances out the bland handle but it could probably still use more detail (might do that in texturing).



@locater16 & @Suba: thanks for the comments. I'll see about making the blade thinner. About scratches, I'll add those when I texture it. Any ideas to make it less toyish, beyond the blade width?

locater16

billymcguffin wrote: »

A small update: I added the pommel bit from the concept and modified the handle a little (handle's still pretty boring though). I think the pommel balances out the bland handle but it could probably still use more detail (might do that in texturing).



@locater16 & @Suba: thanks for the comments. I'll see about making the blade thinner. About scratches, I'll add those when I texture it. Any ideas to make it less toyish, beyond the blade width?

Take a look at actual swords, even fantasy swords EG LOTR movies stuff keeps a good job of looking like a "real" sword. Which were meant as a tool to cut people in half first, and as an aesthetic consideration second.



If it's also a cool fantasy sword then it needs to be that too. But keep how much it looks like it weighs to a minimum.

billymcguffin

Hey guys, I've done some updates. I thinned out the blade and made some of the hilt more angular. I want to stick pretty close to the concept so I didn't change it too much.

billymcguffin

Another update: I changed around the crossguard some

Gazu

Man i like this sword very much.
With some nice normal details it will look very cool!
Keep it up!

Suba

billymcguffin wrote: »

Another update: I changed around the crossguard some

Really nice update mate.

billymcguffin

Thanks Suba!

I've finished the lowpoly and started texturing. Here's what I've got so far:


The lowpoly is at around 3200 polies currently.

Looking at the texturing with fresh eyes, it seems too green to me and the leather handle needs work. I like how the blue stone contrasts with the brass sort of texture though.

This is my first project with substance designer (maybe you can tell?), so I'm still getting used to the workflow. I'll probably take it in to Photoshop or Substance Painter for some more unique scratches and damage once the base materials are looking good.

Nosslak

The sword looks a lot better after the updates, but I don't think the form of the handle works very well with a leather material to be honest. To me that kind of handle would make a lot more sense for a metal handle. I'd wrap some leather strips around the handle instead of what you have now as that would probably provide some better grip and would break the otherwise pretty simple shapes of the highpoly.

Some kind of pattern on the black parts of the handguard would be pretty nice too.

I think the blue stone feels a bit too light in color which makes it stand out a bit too much in my opinion. I'd make the spherical brass inset in the handguard (right above the grip) out of the same stone as the other one as well.

billymcguffin

@Nosslak, thanks for the comments. You're right about the handle, I didn't like it much anyway so that'll be one of the things I look at first. I've added some wear to the black paint on the crossguard (not in the last screenshot), but some sort of design would be a cool idea too. Good idea on the blue stone in the handguard, that should be easy to set up.

SaboR1996

I think leather wraps would work pretty well

billymcguffin

I kinda restarted the material from scratch so it doesn't have all of the detail that was in the previous texture. Currently SD doesn't seem to be baking the curvature maps properly so most of the filters that rely on that look pretty terrible right now.

I'll see if I can start on the leather wrap handle option tonight, but I'm a bit busy because it's the last week of the semester so it might have to wait.

JoshWilkinson

New option looks so much better, and a lot better color scheme. Just be aware of foreshortening when rending out your images. It's a common problem I see on blades. Camera's focal length should be very, very low; something like 18 instead of the default 55-70.

billymcguffin

Thanks Sunkist! I'll keep the FOV in mind for future shots. This most recent one is pretty straight on so I hope it's not too big a deal?

billymcguffin

A bit of an update:



I've had to spend a bit of time making edits to the high and low poly to improve baking quality and to get it to look a bit better in Marmoset.

billymcguffin

Another update. Added some scratching to the painted parts.





C&C appreciated!

slosh

While I like the scratching you added to the painted areas, the blade and other metal areas are far too clean IMO. I'm assuming you're going for a clean unused look but if you want to gain more traction, add some wear. It always brings metal to life and adds a story that instantly makes it more interesting to look at. Clean stuff is boring and MUCH less appealing. just my 10 cents...

billymcguffin

Thanks for the tips slosh. I'll definitely add more wear to the metals, it's just a matter of getting around to it :P

Suba

Pretty happy to see where you going with this blade. It's really nice now.

pointcache

Sweet i really like the design