Student Katana, looking for crits!!

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

Hey guys! This is my second time posting a thread, I did this katana today in class and it is for an animation we are doig for our demo reel, I've been doing 3d for just under a year now!

Anyways, I'm kinda stumped on what details need to be added to the sword and if it looks correct? Help is greatly appreciated!

ralusek · Nov 2009

looks cool. i don't really think you should feel obligated to detail it anymore. i mean if you feel you have to, maybe some cloth or leather overlays. maybe the little ridges that are sometimes engraved along the sharp edge. good job

Dippndots · Nov 2009

looks good, digging the handle. my only crits would be that the small diamond shaped cutouts on the gold piece look really strange in the 1st picture and seem to be causing smoothing issues? Also the way the reflection is showing up on the blade, especially along the cutting edge gives the impression that the blade is convex instead of flat like a knife. here's an example

japanese-swords-samurai-swords-musashi-maou-kaze-katana.jpg

japanese-swords-samurai-swords-musashi-maou-kaze-katana.jpg

Will Faucher · Nov 2009

Looks great.
However, as a Katana Enthusiast, it is lacking a few crucial things. First off, the Hamon. The hamon is the temper line along the edge of the blade. Here is a picture:

Secondly, the blade is not fullered. A fullered blade is a long, carved out part of a blade that helped reduce the weight of the blade without sacrificing strength. You can see an example of the fuller in the above picture.

Apart from that, good job! Perhaps putting in some leather overlays on the grip to make it look like softer leather, instead of rough leather. Unless you are going for the rough leather look of course!

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

yeah dippndots, now that you mention it, it looks like i need a few more edges in the diamonds before the smooth is applied, the blade was a real tough part for me, maybe its to rounded as apose to sharp? if thats what you mean

Dippndots · Nov 2009

well the blade looks sharp what i meant was that the lower 1/2 of the blade looks like it curves into this sort of shape () ...instead of looking like this \/. But it could just be the point of view of the renders

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

yeah i think its the angle, or the shape of the handle giving that impression

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

updated pic with floor, shadows are really light cause of the intense light

gives a better shot of the balde to

Dippndots · Nov 2009

yeah you were right it was just the perspective, nice looks a lot better in the new environment

System · Nov 2009

Nice! Like the metal shader

However there are a few inaccuracies as I used to own a real Katana myself and not a cheap one either...

Tsuba (hilt) - Is too thin and flimsy making it look like a replica. The edges of this are always bevelled slightly for two handed comfort and usually they have some shape and decoration to them rather than being flat and planar.

Habaki (blade collar) - Is way too thick and this part is usually made of copper, not brass. It tapers down to the blade about 75% of the thickness from the end that rests against the hilt.

Kashiri (Pommel end) - Needs some texture. There are many different precious and semi-precious stones used here amongst other materials so alot of possibility.

Blade - The specular on this seems strange, guess it is because of the construction in your model which btw looks much heavier here than anywhere else.
In a real Katana the blade is made of folded steel and is one solid piece. The streaky striations you see from the folding run along the shape of the entire blade and give a distinct look in the right light.

Here's a link to some real competition blades for reference http://www.lastlegend.com/05kat/taketoshi/taketoshi.html

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

thanks for the imput gcmp! im gonna take that all into consideration and have an update ready for later today

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

remodeled guard with rescaled handle, tried to update the metal shader but the folded steel effect is rough, trying to get the right lighting for it

ErichWK · Nov 2009

It needs some sort of shadow under the sword for the render.. cause right now it looks like it is floating. Try doing an ambient occlusion pass.

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

yeah i dont know how to do lighting well yet, shadows are on in the 3-4 lights but none show up

ErichWK · Nov 2009

Well. I am not a Max user. But there are tons of tutorials on TEH INTERNETS. I just did a quick search and found this. It may help. http://scottdewoody.com/tutorial_occ.html But don't quote me on that. =D

sltrOlsson · Nov 2009

Looks pretty cool! But i think the handle needs more work and detail. Look at this,

The handle are leather or cloth knotted in a special way..

System · Nov 2009

OcR Crimson wrote: »

thanks for the imput gcmp! im gonna take that all into consideration and have an update ready for later today

coolio

one thing you did in the new model with the materials is make the hilt copper when it should have stayed bronze/gold. It's only the blade collar that is copper and this is a seperate piece, I thought you knew, sorry about that:\

ps: if you still don't know what I mean here's a diagram http://www.gungfu.com/pics_general/pics_swords/swords_terminology_definitions.jpg

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

that diagram is actually really usefull, i didn't know anything about katanas when i made this haha

sir-knight · Nov 2009

sharkskin handle weave... very nice looking, this is a very fine detail that only sword collectors and martial artists know about. I think it would definitely be worth it to do that correctly, the handle wrap you have looks more like tennis racket wrap with holes cut in it.

dv8ix · Nov 2009

works for me.

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans, happy thursday to the rest of you!

I updated my sword, and put it in a new scene and did a few renders....

Also made some Tatami tiles for the scene.

Snefer · Nov 2009

Looking good! Kinda hilarious, I made the exact same pic a few years ago, more or less ^^ First on the floor, then the same scene as you did now, hehe

OcR Crimson · Nov 2009

man you should post that, i'd be interested to see someone elses take on it! and thanks haha

Student Katana, looking for crits!!

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