katana
 

Just started working on this sword. I'll make some kind of a scene out of it hopefully. lots of work still to be done, especially on the handle. Not sure yet how I am going to do it yet.

Going ok..but aplly bumps and some difuse..

Here is some progress, not sure I am totally happy with the bronze/gold look of the metal piece, any comments? Still lots to go.

hey minstrel that sword looks so cool!!!!

Looking very cool! Very impressive!

I don't reccomend using a bronze material for your guard. It makes the sword look dull. I would stick with gold, and I reccomend a chome material for the gold textures. All you have to do to the crome change the color, and reflection attributes to a yellowish color and experiment unti they look good.

Hey THX, thanks for the comments. I was a bit torn between doing a flashy sword or something that resembles better a real katana but after doing some research I found that Katanas are just not the flashy type, they are a lot more functional than artistic and that's why they tend to be a bit duller than other swords. Here is a picture showing the look I am trying to achieve. I dont want it as dull as this particular sword (which happens to be an antique), but not too far off...

Ah, I see. Makes sence. I'm modeling a midiaeval sword, and if you need a refference for anything in particular, feel free to visit my WIP thread. I still have a little bit more work to do to it, but it's just almost finnished.linkage

Thebumps are ging ok so far i think...but the bronze looks plastic, anyway good work, keep posting ;)

Here is an update

Here is another update, that grip is really giving me headaches. I am really trying to avoid doing more details that what is already there, so I need to play around with the textures. I'll start working on the scene this weekend.

are you gonna make a sheath for it??

I like your sword, japanese swords look so elegant. Do you know what the kanji (the chinese letters) mean? This guy in my college got this tatoo and some japanese girls explained him there are the symbols for "roof" on his arm now. He was quite pissed, obviously he chose them because he thought they looked cool.
Maybe it doesn't matter but you seem quite concerned about detail.

good stuff

Thx for the comments Farb, and yes, I do know what the kanji characters on the sword mean, the one at the top right is for "Warrior/samuari", the other 3 are for beatiful, love, and truth. I Had a blast reading all about japanese swords and looking for Kanji, hiragana characters to help embelish it. The symbol on the metal piece right next to the blade is actually the signature of a famous family in Japan, I found seveal but that one is the one I liked the most.

Its kind of sad that a lot of the detail I have put on the sword will go unnoticed once I move the camera away from it to make room for the scene, I'll have to see how I do this.

here is an update, nothing fancy, wanted to see how it would look with a nicer background.

I did some more serious work on the grip and its now almost done. I will start focusing on the blade next.