Meat Cleaver

System

Started this a couple of hours ago, got the rough shape but now it needs some detail.







Decided to go with a wooden handle and a metal end cap some big appealing screws, that sort of thing. Here's the ref I used for the general shape...

MikeF

looks good, but if you're going to go for a wooden handle you should sharpen up the the area where the blade meets the top of the handle, rite now it looks fine for being one metal piece, but doesnt quite work if you want wood in there

AshleyTayles

I like it but I agree with Mike, it looks like one piece instead of two.

Zotter

I third it, the handle needs separation from the blade if its going to made by a diffferent material. Maybe also some more chamfers along the long, gripped side of the handle since most carved wooden handles have harder edges than plastic ones, but that all depends on the style of handle too.

System

@ MikeF, AshleyTayles and Zotter - Thanks for the reminder but I already knew that

Made a bit of progress but it's still kind of boring atm...

acidrain

The handle seems a bit small, but that could be the perspective. Looks good though.

Zotter

Awesome, I like the touch of the screws too.

Matuka9011

Screws look really neat man, keep it up.

System

Thanks guys



Another update, fixed the engraving - had to flatten the blade and delete all poly's to a flat plane then extrude borders and create loads of control edges etc. Should be able to load up the original blade shape and follow that with the improved edge flow...tomorrow!

System

Well that was embar.. er a journey into discovery!


Redone the blade, it's one solid piece now and as smooth as a babies bottom - thank god. Need to symmetry the other side yet, reshape the handle a bit and other tweaks.

Setting up the other system tomorrow as it's back from the repair clinic but will finish this soon

oobersli

looks cool, but why'd you actually model it into the blade and not just float it??? You could have even possibly just crazybumped that later on.

Neox

agree with obersli, its going to be a lowpoly model right? so next time use floaters instead of cutting this stuff in your model

System

Agreed too!
All these shortcuts you guys mentioned did cross my mind while running into problems and I understand that this may well be viewed as time wasting but it wouldn't have been done this way had I not wanted to display the high poly model.

Flewda

Man I would have lost my mind trying to cut all that detail in for a cleaver. Yeah like the above guys said, floaters, or if you really wanted to make it cut in, Zbrush.

Alternatively, you can actually apply a bump map (or even normal map) to your high poly, and in Max (not sure about other 3D packages) when you bake the high poly to the low poly, not only will it bake the high res geometry detail, it will bake the normal/bump map applied to your high poly as well. I find this to be very useful for small details like text and other engravings if I don't want to spend the time with geometry or zbrush details. AO even works too.

Rhinokey

yeah if you had to have it in the mesh stamp it in in zbrush or something, wowzers, i rember years ago tryin to cut in some sqirlys,, big pita

ThatDon

clean work man, I much preferred it sans ornate design though

HonkyPunch

That certainly is a cleaver, it is.

GugloPWN

This cleaver is extremely ornate. I can't picture it being used to butcher cows or people. A cleaver this nice needs a good story.

Ruz

the handle has very hard edges. perhaps soften it off a bit.
If I was a serial killer I would n't want to chafe my delicate hands:)

System

@Flewda thanks for the info, had no idea you could bake a bump map into a normal, thats very handy to know Presume you could do this with rendering too? Might save some time, like here lol

@Rhinokey sounds like you use mudbox? was thinking of taking it into zbrush for a few scratches here and there but not really sure if it's necessary as textures could provide all that sweetness.

@ThatDon thanks man I know what your saying but making all those edges hard for meshmooth would have been nightmarish, the design has been altered a little though to try and keep it flowing more. Hope you likee

@Jimmies_the_squirrel *chop *chop

@GugloPWN aye this will be Freddy's cleaver, covered in feathers and chickens blood!

@Ruz lol funny you should say that, psychos are always portrayed as being clean and fragile aren't they, consider it altered and thanks

Zotter

This came out really nice, I agree with what was said eariler about baking the detail into an normal map but as a high poly or just portfolio showpiece this is nice.

System

Cheers Zotter

imb3nt

Lookin good. Spec is gonna make a big difference.

System

thanks imb3nt, starting on specular and glossiness next. Added a bit extra to this as I felt it was lacking...

Zbrush handle grip



980 tri's so far

Joseph Silverman

I think your green channel is inverted man, those depressions on the hp look like extrusions on the lp.

beartraps

I think u need to work on the metal, your spec looks too dark but maybe thats what youre goin for.

Sorry, but I cant believe u modeled all that detail in top. Im sure it was good practice, but shit, would have been so quick and clean in projection master with Zbrush.

Nice bake, its coming along but needs some more lovin.

Orgoth02

The metal on the cutting edge of the blade needs to be a different/brighter value then the rest of the metal. Looking good though

System

SupRore - thanks, that did the trick, I was so tired when posting last :poly125:
beartraps - there was no specular until now, thanks for the encouragement :thumbup:
Orgoth02 - fixed and cheers

System

*updated

SnowInChina

the handle really looks flat

SyncViewS

The model is nice and so the textures, but the blood seems to be a little off.

It looks like stains on fabric and not on metal as it shows a darker color where is more dense, then a flat transition zone like red wine on tablecloth. That flat transition seems wrong to me, cause blood don't dilute, but curdle, even more if there's just a thin layer. Its color should be darker with less variation.

Its placement on the blade isn't too consistent. It is a cleaver, so it's meant to chop really hard meat pieces. Blood should be all over the blade, even encrusted around the juncture between blade and wooden handle. There should be blood in the engravings too. If you want to keep it a little less gory, I think it should show a sort of deeper blood stripes suggesting cuts, and not a sort of little splash like now. It seems it has been just tapped on a blood stain.

Maybe wooden handle should be less polished, and worn where fingers hold it, playing with specular in those zones too. The cutting part of the blade could be a little more shiny.

Anyway, great work!

rooster

great high poly! it looks to me like there's something funky going on with the lighting on the handle tho.. could you give a screen shot with only 1 light, infront of the cleaver a bit and above it somewhat?

System

SnowInChina - yer, might have to mess with that lighting then
SyncViewS - thanks, wasn't really going for the totally grungy, bloody look but just an indication that some chickens have been at the mercy of this thing! Will work on darkening the blade blood as suggested
**Rooster, updated thanks!

rooster

maybe it was just a trick of the lighting. in the other pic, it looks kind of like the wood is lit from above, and the bandage from below.. just to be a pain is there any chance of seing the same thing without diffuse? and mebes move the light fairly far away from the model so the light is hitting it more or less at the same angle all over (but still at about 45 degrees infront and above )

edit: also with the base colour tweaked to avoid any blown out lighting, just so it's dead clear

spahr

I dont know if its the normals, or the lighting/spec, but your not getting that depth in that shot like you had before. Looks cool thouh, might i suggest a *chip* in the blade, and some blood in the texture.

System

rooster, it was probably the light setup and textures that were messing with the model so I went back and messed with them some more, thanks for all your help

SyncViewS

Hi, good work on the blood, much better than before. The only thing is bothering me a little is the strip around the handle, it looks a bit too shiny. Anyway is a good portfolio piece.