In this assignment, I was asked to model one of the following items:
Windmill.
Mantel Clock.
Treasure Chest and Treasure.
Sword And Shield.
Sci-Fi Door.
Old Well.
Magic Staff/Wizard Staff.
The Idea:
I chose the sword and shield as it sounded like it would be fun to model but easy enough to texture, as I am a lot better at modelling than I am at texturing and so I chose a model that I saw was a challenge to model but fairly simple to texture.
As I started this assignment, I wanted to create something unique and un-generic. When thinking of sword, I I didn’t want to model a sword that naturally came with a shield, like a long sword or broad sword. Instead I wanted to model a sword that traditionally was not accompanied by a shield and my choice was between a Spanish Pirates-Saber Cutlass or a Japanese Bushido-Warrior Katana. I chose the Katana as it gave me more to work with and I am bias toward the Katana as I think its blade is one of the nicest looking blades of any sword.
The reason I chose a sword that is usually wielded on its own with no shield is because I wanted to be creative with my shield. Modelling a shield that doesn’t exist in history or really anywhere was one of my goals during this assignment because I didn’t want to model a simple, metal, triangular Knight shield as you can find that kind of shield all over the place, in history, in films and in games. And so choosing a Japanese sword was a good move because you very rarely see Japanese Samurai wielding shields, they mostly travel on horseback, with an inventory of a Katana, (Sword); Long bow, (bow); And wear a woven leather armor that has wooden plates. A samurai’s armor is the reason they do not carry a shield as their armor is more than versatile and strong enough to protect then during the first initial minutes of combat.
To make my model completely original and somewhat fictional, I decided to give my Sword and Shield the colour’s of a combat medic. Which throughout history has been the colour’s of red and white. This gave me a reason to add a lot more detail to my model. Where a regular medieval foot-soldier would have a basic sword and shield, and a good amount of their equipment on a sling around their back or attached to a belt around their waste, a combat medic would have some of their equipment on their sword and shield as they’re farther away from the front line and it would be more practical for them to have say, bandages or liquid medicines in pouches on their shield, which would make it easier for them to reach into the pouch and pull out a medical supply.
The Reference Images:
Now that I my idea is well fleshed out, I needed to find some reference images to help me with the shape and proportions of my sword and shield, they can be found below:
Image Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/forhonor/comments/5vhm8g/murasame_unique_kensei_weapon/
This is the first image which came to mind when thinking of the shape of a Katana. I was initially quite intimidated by the hilt (Handle) of a Katana as it bends just a little bit but is mostly straight, I tackle this problem later on in the assignment.
Image Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbEco-1D9oM&ab_channel=LordJinx
This image showed me two things, how big a Katana is compared to the size of a person and what kind of armor the Samurai used. The armor’s material is important as it lets me know what material I need to make the shield out of, which is of course hard wood and leather.
Image Link: https://aminoapps.com/c/forhonorofficial/page/blog/new-minion-screenshots/4oW3_VpCYublqLmLWvkGrqWNrBbdLoJoG0
This screenshot helped me determine the shape and style of a shield used by the Samurai, obviously the image above is from that is not all historically accurate, as it show’s Samurai using shields. Nevertheless this image helped me with the style of a Samurai shield, which loosely resembles the shape of the Japanese sliding doors which are made of paper.
Image Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=880285787
The image above really helped me the shape and composition of a Samurai themed shield and this screenshot is what inspired me to add metal hinges to my model which were attached to a thin piece of wood set at an angle to add more defense to its user.
Image Link: https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Das_Feelinbeterbager
These are the kind of medical packs/pouches I had in mind when looking for a design. Simple to model and even simpler to texture, although I I did not add a blue or red cross onto the medical packs I was modelling, instead I gave them red buttons.
Image Link: https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Das_Feelinbeterbager
This image was helpful as it told the proportions of the medical pouches compared to that of the size of a person. Which in turn helped me to model a more realistic handle for the shield.
The Modelling:
I initially thought that the modelling process would be a lot harder than it was. But I just took my time with it and kept adding more and more primitive shapes and as time went on I grew more and more confident in making those primitive shapes look more realistic and detailed.
This image shows about a third of my progress made at the time. Instead of giving the Katana a straight hilt (Handle), which, as I mentioned earlier in this post would have been more awkward to angle, I gave it a slightly curved one, like the kind of handle Count Dooku’s light sabers have. This in my opinion added more detail to the sword as well as making it look more aerodynamic, given that curved objects have less air resistance than that or straight objects. This is one of the reasons why actual Katana blades are curved.
The image above show’s that I am around half way through the assignment. As you can see, I added the combat medic colour’s to the model in the form of three simple lines. These lines reminded me of the grains and indents wooden textures have and so I kept the three coloured lines in and never changed them after I had added them in. The pouches mentioned earlier in this post have also made an appearance in the form of two simple pouches, one above the other strapped to a leather belt. I later add a small medicine bottle to the Katana which can seen later on in this post.
The U.V. Mapping:
The U.V. mapping wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was gonna be. I did try different methods of unwrapping the textures, but after I had made too many mistakes in moving objects, and then not re-centering their pivot’s, I decided to create a simple U.V. map which wasn’t as detailed as a U.V. map that has been unwrapped using planar controls, but it doesn’t look bad, just a small bit stretched and I was happy with this outcome.
The Texturing:
I was having a lot of trouble getting Substance Painter to work during this assignment, But I did not want to hand in an un-textured model, so I used Photoshop. My skills with adding textures to U.V. maps in Photoshop are basic. But I understand the process enough to make a model look somewhat convincing in its realism and so I painted the albedo texture maps onto the U.V. snapshot, however I did not have enough time to add normal or roughness texture maps onto the U.V. which I am a bit disappointed about but I’m still happy with the textures.
The Final Result:
After i had finished the textures, I was very happy with the end result, as the textures were mostly seamless and didn’t have any splits or breaks which would take away from the models immersion.
Close up view from the back:
Far away view from the back:
Side-view:
Close up of the hilt, this is how that small medicine bottle I mentioned earlier in this post looks on the Katana:
Far away front view:
Model Sketch fab Link: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/samuraiswordandshield-d336599e3f244255bd28021fec49c070
Conclusion/Self Reflection:
Overall I am very happy with how this project turned out. I’ve had experience in Maya, unwrapping U.V.’s and texturing before but I had forgotten a good bit of it between then and now and this assignment has helped me remember a lot of what I learned. This assignment was also a good confidence booster for me because I had never done something so detailed as this before. As in I have not had a modeled anything that has small tassels, ropes or buttons like this model has.
I am also very happy with how the textures came out. I was worried when I had incorrectly unwrapped the U.V.’s on my first attempt that the textures would look bad, and they did but I got up and tried it again using an older and simpler but much more reliable method to get a more preferred outcome. However I will be doing my best to avoid that simple technique and learn how to unwrap U.V.’s using the more complex but also more realistic planar technique in the future.
Overall I am happy with how the model turned out. There are a few things I’m disappointed with such as the fact I never got to add in the Normal and Roughness Texture maps and that I had to use a simpler U.V. unwrapping technique instead of the more complex planar technique but other than that I feel I have made good progress in my ability to model, U.V. unwrap and texture and that I am more confident in modelling more complex shapes and objects.