A skyrim sword

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Hello , I hope I can get some help and nice sugestions as long as I go with that project .... I want to make a skyrim sword for fun by scratch , having noticed there are no dragon bone / scales craftable weapons ingame I was thinking to make one ...here is the concept orginal and here is what I am coming along , I 'd be more than glad if you can help me sketching out something over the concept or model picture itself to help define better the shape and the look .....

second update

Edit:
Almoust completed ....

Sculpture Concept

Original Concepts

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE5HSyoouGg&feature=youtube_gdata"]Video[/ame]

Ingame Pictures

1

2

3

Ingame Pictures Material Tweaking

4

5

Scabbard Wip

Scabbard Preview 1

Scabbard Preview 2

Ingame Scabbard

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Ok I completed the sword blade shape and quadrified for Zbrush where I will add eventually some scratch and carve in the Dragon letters ...

as for the hild it is very much provisorial and I am stillopen to sugestions

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Well I know it sucks compared to the manyother better works on this forum but may be I can get some hitns , I am undecided if make a carved hilt or a bone structure wrapped with leather strips ....

http://www.kitrae.net/Scrapbook/New%20Connor%20Hilt.jpg

almighty_gir · Dec 2011

it matches the concept.

ZFerguson · Dec 2011

I notice that in your sculpt you're losing the shape of the spikes on the hilt of the sword, it looks like it's too smooth at the moment. I'd also like to point out that I don't think those spikes work very well on the hilt of the sword, how is one supposed to hold it without impaling their hand to the blade? :P

I like the slight curve to the blade, as well as the dragon language inscription, I'd say take the spikes off the hilt and add them somewhere else, or get rid of them entirely.

I like the concept though, can't wait to see some progress

NAIMA · Dec 2011

How about now i what you meant? reducing spike on the grip?

is it good or perhapsI could change or add something even to the same concept?

Ican easily change the rip since its just blocked out in low poly ....

BCos · Dec 2011

I think the ridges you have on the grip now are good, much more comfortable looking hand-hold. You may considering bringing the spikes back in other places like you mentioned, possibly adding intricate horns to the dragon head itself, and maybe some tail spikes?

heres a super quickie

Lovin the blade forms, looks very sinister in an awesome way. jsut be sure to alot the necessary topo resolution to make your symbol sculpting process less tedious

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Hee cool idea , what yu mean for the topo?

bout the lower spikes that halfmoon area is also a blade part altugh may be I need to carve better the sign of the blade , as for the tail I like the concept and the fangs surely cona be in , I like the idea of the top head too but I am not sure as I wanted to give a more "oriantal" feel with western breed not sure if I can explain well .... tha blade itself is double edged , but looks more single edged like a katana , but indeed its usable both sides and has two sides perfectly simetrial andusable apart for the curvature , this means it can beused as a slight falx on a side and cuting sword on the other , as for the halfmoon blade part I tought it for close quarter punches somehow very sharp razor , the sowrd is to be held with 2 hands so its a long sword not one handed , surely it has a preferred direction of use wich woudl be the one seconding the curvature shape of the point ... as for the hilt I am not rally 100 % sure o how to develope it so since is beginning please keep posting me sugestions and ideas

... one Idea I also had was to acctually use this as surface sculpture of the hild eventually .... http://www.drachenserver.de/wordpress/wp-content/images/news/2011/alduins_wall.jpg
but arranged more in this shape ... http://www.students.sbc.edu/smith04/trajan%20column%20detail.jpg like a spiral somehow , but still didn't throw away the bone with leather wrappings around .... the whole hilt is and shoudl be of ivory look , with a jewell in the dragon eye eventually some metal parts extruding from it ...

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Here a new update have extended a bit the lenght of the grip and I balanced to be more alinged with the center of the sword as shows the red line in bottom , since it is a two handed sword it seemed to me a bit unbalanced with a shorter grip , I also tried to give the bottom tail part the same curvatur of the top tip .... Not sure yet if to make the central crip totally smooth and with carvings so without the up and downs or leave them and carve the same ... as for the blade now shoudl be more visible the falx blade part ... the writings wil be coming out ofthe mouth like a "shout" ...

Comments?

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Ok give me a sugestion on that , woudl it look better with the hilt one block carved of ivory or separate the grip from the head hilt and make the grip in iovory and the head and bottom fang in gold or the like?

BCos · Dec 2011

either way would be really cool, just a matter of execution. Have you worked with replicating either material before? The gold would be really nice, but only if the ivory is done awesomely as well. If one texture really out-does the other material, your going to lose texture consistency and may put off the quality of the piece as a whole.

As it is with portfolios, the same applys to individual pieces. your portfolio/asset is only as good as its weakest piece/material (unless that material will largely be occluded in-game aka grips beneath hands) so really its up to you.

and in regards to my earlier Topo res comment, I was suggesting that in that groove on the blade where you plan on sculpting very small symbols, you going to want a high concentration of quads in there before you bring it into zbrush so that when you sub-divide there will be enough topology to allow your symbols to be created without distortion. After baking your normals you'd then take these quads out for your final game res sword.

As a side note, you may consider thickening up the grip just a bit. your hilt reference http://www.kitrae.net/Scrapbook/New%20Connor%20Hilt.jpg shows that the grip is wider than the blade while the grip on your sword becomes narrower. I could see a slightly thinker grip being more comfortable and allow for better input from the wielder into the blade

hope this helps

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Yeh thanks a lot

you are definetly right about the more quads on the central blade part I didn't tought of that and I will certainly do ... as for the shape of the hilt other ideas ?
I am still blocking out the thing in 3dsmax and continuously uploading into zbrush to check so I didn't start sculpt anything yet , I am not sure if to make one single block with head and grip or separate them to make so a differentmaterial as well ... also for the junction between the head /neck part and the grip where eventually the material gold ivory could split , how if the base of the neck makes a sort of wider cape? not large but enough to cover some the top of hands or is better more flat and straight design?

May be shoudl I sculpt first the whole head and grip and only later decide if to split into two materials? and btw I didn't do any of the materials befoure .. do I need may be to check some tutorials ? I tought about texturing it with a base texture of gold and ivory for projection and then overbrush on high parts highlitnening and darkening the inside carvings .... then pass some brush to give a slight brownish to the holding parts of the blade on the ivory material ...

I just carved this out of mind but not having a clear sketch to follow I am just been lead by brainstorming ideas...

so I am open to ideas and sugestions... :poly121:

Btw I was also thnking of weightening the bottom part by enlarging it a bit or make a more sculpted heavy zne to balance the whole sword ... may be a second head ? or may be a tail with some stuff attached?

for making a carving in the grip is better if I remove the anatomical zigzag design ? the idea was to make a sort of spiral continuouse storylike engraving for the whole grip ...

NAIMA · Dec 2011

and ?

:poly131:

almighty_gir · Dec 2011

expecting a response every couple of hours will fast track you into being ignored completely.

remember when i said this:

almighty_gir wrote: »

it matches the concept.

it's because it does. you should work on having a fully fleshed out, working concept, and THEN start modeling. right now nobody can advise you any further than they have, because your model looks like it should be finished, according to your concept.

NAIMA · Dec 2011

yeh but its not a "serious" project it's for my fun and carving out stuff as it comes along , I have a general idea in mind but I haven't conceptualized all , as sometimes I think when you sculpt or develope something you get new ideas midway ....

Chimp · Dec 2011

ah your latest picture has vastly improved geometry, much sharper and less sloppy. good work, keep it up. i had my comment ready and as i scrolled down you had already solved it

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Hi Thankyou ....

I have made an alpha as is showed in this picture , then I dragged it over the central blade indent and this is result ... how looks? I see that there is some jagged border on some letters , but I rised already the density to 7 and that central part was also presubdivided so it shoudl be really smooth but seems not realy likes so ... is there a way to fix or I did some errors?

Illusive · Dec 2011

i remember having this issue once but i can't remember how i got around it.. i think it has to do with the res zbrush brings alphas in at? (i could be wrong) maybe try HD geometry and see if that helps. if not you might have to overlay it on your normal map later on.

LRoy · Dec 2011

Something like that would probably be better handled by adding it to the normal map after the bake.

You can use any of the Photoshop filters like Ndo, crazybump or xnormal.

PixelMasher · Dec 2011

yea....zoomed out you would never notice. as lroy said, add this as an overlay in photoshop/crazy bump, way more efficient.

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Yeh but in first person you see up close really ....

anyway is no idea why those little pixellated borders may arise? I can still pass over a mild smooth I guess to fix but .....

what about the knotwork does it fit there?

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Reworked the shape of the handle , I think that may be with this slight curve and more continuity with the neck / head shoudl look more fluent and natural ... what do you think? Shoudl I instead go for a proper guard hilt?

I am still trying to see the balancement of the sword while building it by look , since I do not have any concept to follow ....

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Ok here is for a sugestion ....

I believe that going into too much detail woudl make the sword thing unrealistic and that I shoudl keep more vague and less crafted the sword what do you think?

Stuff like leaving with no teeths and may be add some knotwork carvings instead of detailed scales and such ....

Sugestions on how to work that handle?

NAIMA · Dec 2011

I think I am skipping the overdetailing to for a more rough detail ...

n88tr · Dec 2011

i know it would drastically change the shape of it but have u considered having a handguard? when it clashes with another sword nothing is stopping the other blade from coming down and slicing off your fingers/hand

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Yes but I tought it coul dbreak the line flow of the sword itself ....

but I am open to sketches and concept sugestions

....

NAIMA · Dec 2011

How about a more sketched and edged design? like more stylized form for the dragon and overall ?

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5830/dragoncut.jpg

planned eventually with decorations like those?

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/6258/65184445.jpg

or is better a more fluid and dynamic shape?

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Ok check not some sketches done by hand and then scanned ... I need to find a look to go with as I find quite difficult to work without a concept ... As I put stuff in then I do change and I waste lot of time ...

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Here some sketches to clean that could be used to sketch over if someone wants to suggest some variations .....

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6952/dragonsketches.jpg

Rafazchies · Dec 2011

Hey!
I dig the number 3 of post #28. The number 6 is beautiful too but have more rustic\tribal feeling. The number 3 reminds me something powerfull and maybe rare, valuable.

Oniram · Dec 2011

i agree. number 3 looks good. but id maybe add a bit more to the handle instead of just a spiraling bevel. i like where number 5 is going as well.

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Ok thanks for the feedback , since most of the people ( even on other forums where I posted the same question ) agree on the number 3 style , I evolved other 6 concepts for similar to the 3rd style ... what you think of those , wich one you like what parts of wich to adapt to ?
Distinguishing between the head , the grip and the bottom ?

ayoub44 · Dec 2011

8 and 12 look aweomse,

they have good details and shapes

good luck

Oniram · Dec 2011

9 looks good for the grip. i like the head on 8 and 7 better tho. and 11 has the best bottom

SsSandu_C · Dec 2011

Hey! Nice concepts. I really like 9 and 10. By the way, the concepting part of a project is really important. It is not a waste of time to make a concept. I see it more as an investment, mainly because in this stage you flush out a really good design. The designs you came up with are really good. I think that these sort of designs might have never been able with direct concepting in zbrush. I know that some might disagree on this matter. Anyway... Combine and settle on a design and start the fun part... sculpting the details.

Lazerus Reborn · Dec 2011

Looks very good mate!
10 and 12 look promising you might end up mashing together the profiles of different ones though.

10's hilt is good, 11's dragon is the best and 12's grip stands out more as war torn.

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Thanks a lot for all the feedback

.....

In effect I was going a bit too blind without a concept sketched out , and just going with the "idea" I had in mind wasn't good couse I am not making a Dragon monster that I can sketch out how it comes out but I need ot make something crafted that has also to have a proportioned balance so I guess It was needed to put down some ideas...

most of the people chose the number 3 so I sketched out other 6 variations .... they shoudl have some "nordic" feel so I think I am mixmatching some parts , I was thinking to take the bottom of 12 or 7 , the grip of 9 and for the head I think I am going for a mix mostly but leaving some larger portions undetailed like sort of plaques and the underdetail made of celtic / norse knots with dragon motifs or the like .... may be thyat could work....

may be the 11 and 12 have a too much thailand or chinese look?

as for the falx blade part I forgot to sketch anything but I shoudl either put some spikes or nothing ....

what about teeths shoud they fit or best instead without and more stylized?

I am not convinced from the 8 grip not couse I do not like but couse seems more practical for a Horn ornament than a sword grip .... probably the 12 is better....

but as Idea ...the 9 how about if the head is made either of ivory or gold like metal .. together with the over parts of the grip same metal as the circlets too and instead ( only for the grip ) the undercarvings of wood?or ivory if the other is metal? or better one single material ....

NAIMA · Dec 2011

This is a preliminary test on how the Decorations woudl or could look on the main hilt ... what do you think sugestions and critiques befoure I go on?

Oniram · Dec 2011

im concerned that most of those details wont project nicely onto a low poly. you would want some sort of bevel on all of the details in the hilt.

(there's some picture everyone posts for this but i dont know where it is, hopefully someone will post it)

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Those details are temporary as to me looks more Aztec than nordic atm , I need to change something .... as for the bveling I didn't pass over yet a smooth but I fear it woudl runt most of the deco , how coudl I do to bevel them ?and what you mean it won't project well , that it won't capture very in detail the deco or that it will give errors and stuff like that?

I woudl like to add those two styles actually but Somehow I failed and I am not sure why , it gets out Aztec more or chinese more than nordic / atlantan feel ...

http://www.pizzini.at/shop/contents/media/l_16-116_ConanAtlantean4.JPG

http://www.lore-and-saga.co.uk/assets/images/Stormy_Fiord_300w.jpg

http://swordswap.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/af1_2_l.jpg

any sugestions on how to be able to give that Vibe of those two styles ?

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Update on the hilt deco ... how 's like that?

it's good for a map extraction ? too light ? too strong?

BIGSOG · Dec 2011

looks great!

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Thankyou but how about the carvings are too strong too heavy ? woudl they extract well on normal map extraction?

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Someone couldpoint me to a good tutorial on how to extract maps from an object in zbrush like that? I never donethat b4...

NAIMA · Dec 2011

How bout that?

Tokaido · Dec 2011

If you want to export the normals for the object there are a few ways to do it. My personal preference is to export the High and Low poly meshes, bring them into Xnormal and generate the normals using that program (its free). All you have to do is specify the high poly and low poly meshes in xnormal then go to the baking options and bake out the normal maps at whatever size you'd like.
But I'm sure you can find a different method to do it somewhere on google.

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Do you sugest for the low poly to use lower res versions of the model or use the plugin to reduce polygons? I doubt I can export the high poly as is now ...

iWeReZ · Dec 2011

n88tr wrote: »

i know it would drastically change the shape of it but have u considered having a handguard? when it clashes with another sword nothing is stopping the other blade from coming down and slicing off your fingers/hand

I agree with this Your sword reminds me more of a katana at the moment, perhaps using the wings for the handguard? Like my epic paintover ;D
http://i.imgur.com/U0MGI.jpg

NAIMA · Dec 2011

Actually the Slight Katana like profile is intentional , the sword is like a hybrid mix of oriental and western feel , and I liked the single length profile but eventually I may add a claw here?

Added a Slit like Eye m a claw guard and teeths , how about those changes ? does it still has a nordig look? ofc those changes are PS made ...

and please eventually suggest me a way tomake it feel more nordic in the look without altering the overall shape?

NAIMA · Feb 2012

I finally put this sword into Skyrim game ....

What do you think?

Sculpture Concept

Original Concepts

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE5HSyoouGg&feature=youtube_gdata"]Video[/ame]

Ingame Pictures

1

2

3

Ingame Pictures Material Tweaking

4

5

Scabbard Wip

Scabbard Preview 1

Scabbard Preview 2

Ingame Scabbard

A skyrim sword

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