Research

For this project I will be making a sword in celebration of swordtember. I plan to use the standard industry work flow that I have gotten used to create a sword of my choice, to influence my design I will be doing some research first followed by some artwork to aid me in the 3D process. It is important to note that I will be focusing on the 3D skill set for this project as I am looking forward to getting better at modelling in Blender. This means that I will spend the majority of time for this project in Blender modelling but I will ensure that I still focus on other aspects of the project like Art and Unreal engine.

Research

The first part of any project is to research what the model is going to be based on and what it is going to be themed around. This part of the project will be entirely based around discovering what swords I like and how they influence my design, I will also research the materials and textures that I might need to know about in order to make my sword.

Starting with the designs of the swords I will leave below some mood boards below that I will annotate to show what I like about each sword and how it inspires me:

Sketch Fab Swords

This mood board contains images from a site called Sketch Fab, that allows you to look at real 3D models of anything you can think of below I will leave some images of swords I like:

Moving on from the Sketch Fab mood board I am going to do some mood boards on swords from games that I play often, these games include Warframe and Destiny 2. Warframe especially is great for inspiration as there are so many different swords to choose from. I shall once again leave a mood for each game and annotate them both.

Identifying Problems to Solve

The sketch fab swords above are really nice and look great in there own way. One thing I can spot however is that the majority of them have a fragmented style meaning that parts of the sword appear to be floating around the model. I think this looks very cool but this is something I would struggle with as I have no experience in doing so. To help aid me in the creation of a fragmented sword I would use some resources like videos from YouTube, that can directly show and explain to me how I would complete this process. Below I will leave a video that could aid me in the process of making a fragmented sword:

Although this video above doesn't directly help with the creation of the swords fragments it does show some very useful ways to cut away at geometry leaving it floating which can come in handy for making some fragment design within the sword. Overall this should help me if I was to take this approach to the project.

Warframe Swords

These swords above are all from Warframe and all share the same theme, they are very complex and detailed. However, I still look at them at get inspired as they are very cool.

I will now look at my second game of choice Destiny 2, this is the main game I play in my free-time so I decided to use some of the cool swords as research as they inspire me allot.

Identifying Problems to Solve

These Warframe swords above all look incredibly cool and are extremely detailed. The detail on the sword is good but it is also very complex for my skill level. If I was to attempt a remake of a Warframe sword like the ones above I would definitely need some help from YouTube as I struggle when it comes to making a high detailed model. Below I will leave a video that should aid me in the process of making a more high detailed sword:

This video above was really interesting as it shows how to make a sword look more detailed and overall how to make a sword that is modelled really well. The video gives me a better idea for how I could model a Warframe sword from a reference image, I think that the technique used works well and I cant wait to try it if I pick to make this sword type.

Destiny 2 Swords

This has to be one of my favourite swords in Destiny 2 because of how awesome it is to use in game but also because it looks really cool. This is definitely my go to sword so I might lean towards picking this one.

This sword is the titan class exclusive sword that has a heavy playstyle when used. I like the simplicity with this sword as it looks great as a basic but deadly sword.

This Sword is the Warlock exclusive sword that has a balanced playstyle which isn’t to heavy or light so it is perfectly in balance. I love the details on this sword as it represents the warlock well due to the triangle pattern.

This final sword is the hunter exclusive sword which has a light weight playstyle which I enjoy as you are quick and agile. I like this design the least because it looks fragile and is too delicate.

Identifying Problems to Solve

These images of Destiny 2 swords look really great and look so realistic as well. The texturing on all the swords look really nice and I would love to be able to do that but sadly I do not have the greatest understanding of how to do it. This is a slight problem that I could solve by either doing a different art style for the texturing or using a video to help increase my knowledge and understanding of how I would go about using realistic textures. I will leave a video below that I think could help me out:

This video above talks about how to realistically texture a model using substance painter, in the video a basic cube is used to show how the process is completed, I could essentially repeat the process but on my sword to achieve a realistic look.

The Decision

After making the mood boards above I know feel ready to pick my sword to make. When looking back at my mood boards I felt that I was drawn to the more wide and tall swords rather than the skinny ones, based on this realisation I feel that I should gather my favourites and then choose one to make some design on and make in blender.

Below I will leave the images of my favourite three and then I will choose one to move forward:

As you can see I have left my three favourite swords above. Starting with Sword 1on the left I really like the shape and style but I don’t feel confident enough to try and make a sword that is fragmented as I feel allot of errors would occur. With sword 2 I really like the style but like the first one I feel it might be a bit too much for this project. Sword 3 on the right as I mentioned before is my favourite as I use it in game as well as liking the look of it because of this I am happy to say that I will be using this as my inspiration to make my own version of this sword.

Now that I have a sword to work from I can now make some sketches and a turn around for use in blender. However, before I start designing turn arounds and sketches I want to take some time to make a game design section for the sword I aim to create. I will leave a description below with details about the mechanics that the sword could have and a bit lore as well.

Calamitous Vortex

Calamitous Vortex is a Sword born in darkness that has no bounds of power and destruction. The wielder of this sword has the ability to leave darkness and terror where ever they tread. Calamitous Vortex posses the power to generate cataclysmic vortex’s that act like black holes. In a game scenario this black hole ability comes in the form of a rapid 360-degree spin that kills anyone in its way.

Here are some mechanics for the Calamitous Vortex:

· Light attack,

· Guard/Block,

· Spin Attack,

· Heavy Attack,

I shall leave a short clip of me using a Destiny 2 sword, (The reference Sword I chose earlier) to better show how these mechanics would work for my own sword Calamitous Vortex.

Here are some details about Calamitous Vortex:

Calamitous Vortex has an unknown element that powers its heavy attacks.

The sword is an Exotic rarity in game.

You can obtain the sword by completing a certain activity whilst being solo and never dying while in the missions activity.

Design and Artwork

Now that you have a better insight to what my sword is based on and how it will look and behave if added to a game, It is time I start designing a turnaround to help me in blender. Before I can just make the turn around however I must start some sketches that I will leave below. The reason I am going to do some hand drawn sketches first is to generate some different design of the sword I want to make. Once I am happy with a design I will take it into Photoshop and tidy it up into a turn-around.

Below I will leave some Images of my sketches:

This first sketch above is the first one I completed, overall it was good but it had a few issues. The main issue was that I didn't like the handle as it was to chunky and was not at the right proportion to fit the rest of the sword.

With this second sketch I decided to add more details and I slightly improve the handle. Making the handle more narrow worked really well but the guard was still to thick. I like this one more that the first but I still think I could do better.

With the third and final sketch I was much happy with the handle as I made it longer and ensured that the guard was not as big. By making these changes it really brought out the swords blade and made it look more menacing. This final attempt is much better and I am happy to move forward with this one.

After completing the sketches and choosing one I liked I decide it would be a good Idea to see what my design would look like in color. I have used Photoshop to make my sketch colored and I shall leave it below.

Here Is my sword all coloured in Photoshop, this is based on how I want my sword to look once I have finished modelling it. This is a great visual representation of the colours I will be using but I think that it would be a good Idea to make some mood boards of the textures that would make up these colours. I will leave a selection of mood boards below containing a few different materials and I will explain why I choose them.

Leather Mood Board

This mood board above represents what leather textures look like in real life on some everyday objects, I will use these images to help reference a texture in substance painter.

Neon Mood Board

This mood board above shows what neon textures look like on some cool lights and art works, these all help to portray what neon looks like as a material. I shall use this to reference a texture in Substance.

Metal Mood Board

This last mood board above shows real life metal but more specifically painted metal, this mood board will be great for helping decide what substance texture I should use for my swords blades and other key parts.

Now that I have made some mood boards that represent real life material references, I am happy to move on to choosing what textures and materials I want to use in substance. I will make a final mood board that displays the kind of materials I shall use on my sword once it is modelled.

Substance Painter Mood Board

Below Is a substance texture mood board for my sword:

These Materials above are from Substance Painter 3D, they are the textures I am going to use for my sword. These textures are also in the same colour scheme as the photoshop artwork I showed above. The materials used are mainly steel and painted steel but I have also include a rough leather for the bottom of the handle. The steel texture is for the handle and the guard, the other steel is a dark blue painted steel that is going to be used for the blade. The last two emissive texture are for the swords edges and for the energy capacitor in the swords guard.

With the textures now researched I am almost ready to start modelling all I have to do is create a neat turnaround to help me in blender. This turn around will be created in Photoshop and I will leave it below.

Here is my turn around drawing I can use as reference when modeling in blender. Its not the best looking but it should help to get started when I begin modeling. With this now completed I have officially researched everything for my sword. I will move on to the modeling process in the next post.