SWORDS!

[Deleted User]

So me and a fine chap from London are making a couple swords for Oblivion. My theme is evil and his is good. I gotta finish by the end of tomorrow lol



His HP is done as well, I'll wait and let him post it though.

My reference! I know not the gentle soul who penned it.

DanielB

This is definitely a good start. Are you planning on projecting this to a lower poly model?

My main critique is that the horns are very rigid as they curve. I think it holds up but it would look better if it was a smooth curve and you added detail in z brush. The handle is different from the concept, what material are you planning on making it?

whipSwitch

I'd say the biggest problem is that everything is overly smoothed, and looks as though a lot of the detail are constructed from the same mesh(i.e. the wraps on the handle) You should try to model closer to how it might be constructed in reality.

Also, the hilt doesnt match the concept. The horns should wrap over a separate straight piece of bone(?) jutting out from each side.

jacob07777

I like what you have so far, but there are a few things I would change. In the reference image, the gaurds in between the hilt and skull look very organic almost like twigs or pieces of wood that have been quickly carved to create that section. Although in your model they seem too synthetic almost like pieces of metal or plastic.

Here's a paint over

[Deleted User]

Yeah those things are probably going to be metal.

Here's a bit of a wip... I'm still trying to figure out the grip area



Final TC ended up being 3k btw... a bit over :P

Narodnik

ATM it looks as if you're making the metal to be like a worn coated AR receiver or something. Not like how sword usually wear/the metal used for this wears.

If you've got something concrete you're going for though, I would just ignore what I just said.

E/

Also i think the skull is meant to be a representation of a dragon skull, not a real one lol. It could look just as good in copper. If you're doing it in bone, I'd differ the horns from the skull some texture wise.

[Deleted User]

The metal is a bit stoney, isn't it



I think taking the damage out of the normals and declouding the base a bit will fix it right up.

With oblivion you have to use grayscale specular maps, unfortunately, otherwise I'd get some blue or gold in there and that'd help.

Narodnik

I'm not familiar with oblivion, but in source you can use envmaps and then tint the outcome in code as a way to do such metals. Only problem is you'd have to map whatever regular metal seperately or not use envmaps at all. I'm not saying you really should do it in metal, but if you run into problems like that in the future on engines not supporting colored spec maps. It's worth checking.

I think if you based more of your wear on stuff like corrosion, blackies etc and not just edging. http://blindhogg.com/temp/sword1.jpg this for instance would look good. It's hit directly on by a flash and looks kinda overly shiny there

E

I love the cranium plate cracks.

Autocon

I think the leather handle would look better if you closer fallowed the concept of tightly overlapping wrapped leather.

Whats your spec map look like? Looking nice for the bone but maybe the metal needs to be pushed up more.

Looking good so far though

[Deleted User]

This is the final iteration before I see it in game

DanielB

The texture on the blade looks more like stone then metal. It helps to put a tint of blue in your diffuse when making metal. I think your specular needs some work too. Keep up the good work!

Kimono

Well I'm the chap from London with the "good" sword :shifty:

[Deleted User]

DanielB wrote: »

The texture on the blade looks more like stone then metal. It helps to put a tint of blue in your diffuse when making metal. I think your specular needs some work too. Keep up the good work!

Yeah...

Kaskad wrote: »

With oblivion you have to use grayscale specular maps, unfortunately, otherwise I'd get some blue or gold in there and that'd help.

Valandar

Hate to say it, but IMHO, the "chap from London with the Good Sword" won.

[SF]Three9

I'm a bit confused...
It's a nice sword and all, but were you just showing it off or did you want critique at all?
You got several points from various people that would have helped you in your process and it just seems like every single one was ignored. I suppose you didn't actually ask for critique though.

[Deleted User]

A crit is not a contract, I'm not obligated to take everybody's advice. I listen to people I trust, usually on IM, or who make those rare well-thought-out posts like Narodnik's. I blow off people who just point out ways in which it doesn't match the concept art, because that's useless.

e/ and gratz again mr. garnell, great result

Autocon

Kaskad wrote: »

Yeah...

He said blue tint in the difuse, not the spec. and your spec is too weak making it look like stone. A colored difused wouldn't really make that much of a difference when it seems the its to dark for the metal.

I really like the bone of your sword, a little to shinny for real bone I think but then everything in Oblivion seemed a little too shinny.

Still think the hilt of your sword dosnt fit the style as the concept depicted a more barbaric/evil sword with the over lapping leather.

Also your blade seems a little soft on the cutting edges. A harder edged normal would give you a more realistic cutting blade on a sword that would be constantly sharpened for each new battle. I think the scratches were a nice touch to show wear, maybe not as harsh but you removed them compeletly from your final giving it the look of a brand new stone sword.