Greatsword design

Creating the Greatsword:

My next task was to create the greatsword my character would be wielding. However, I did not find much success in using Zbrush to do this due to inconsistencies and issues I encountered whilst trying to create a very straight and rigid shape for the sword here. I decided to try and create the sword within Maya instead of Zbrush since the sword will be a much less complex shape than armour plating, which needs to fit a character and curve smoothly in areas.  

Anatomy of a sword (Basic Sword Terminology, n.d.)

Quickly recapping the research done in my dissertation, the image above demonstrates the different components of a sword. The most important ones are the Blade, the Guard, Grip and the Pommel. The Guard, Grip and Pommel are usually referred to as the Hilt, with the blade attached to the Guard being commonly referred to as the Blade. This will help when defining the parts of the sword, and making sure all the major elements are in place in my design (Which is to be functional and accurate). 

Using Maya, I have created a very primitive shape of the sword, blocking out its silhouette. I have created four separate meshes, one for the Blade and three for the Hilt, done so by simply reshaping and extruding simple 3D primitive shapes such as Cubes and Cylinders. 

In one of my reference images, the shape of the Blade is slightly thinner at the Fuller, towards the Hilt, and widens slightly and sharply after a short distance. From what I can tell this is not a functional design choice, more for aesthetics. I liked this and decided to implement this in my design. 

In addition, the Blade of a sword are typically composed of two parts, the Blade itself and the spine, which is a long rod (usually made of iron) which extends across the bulk of the middle of the blade to help provide more strength and durability to the sword. This spine can also be observed in the middle of the Blade in the above image. As this feature offered functionality, I definitely wished to include some resemblance of this in my design. 

I have refined the shape of the Blade, incorporating both the spine in the middle of the blade and the thinnening of the blade towards the hilt to offer an extra layer of aethetic to my design. Despite not being a functional addition, I believe that a good compromise of aesthetic features where appropriate will be helpful in creating a design that is both visually pleasing and believable. As this feature does not - to my knowledge - hinder its functionality, I believe it is appropriate in my design. 

In order to achieve the spine in the middle, I simply added two edges (using symmetry) which extended across the vertical side of the blade in the middle. I then created an extrusion to create a gap, and then another extrusion to create the 'spine'. 

Here is a close up of the tip of the blade. To my knowledge the spine does not extend to the tip of the Blade, the Blade should have a sharp tip for increased effectiveness in combat. This would take some significant refining so I decided to address this later. 

I added some design to the Hilt of the sword next, extruding some areas to create some depth in the geometry. At the top of the Guard, I added a sharp point which connects to the Blade, the idea being that this will hold the Blade of the sword more securely in place. Though this was a little problematic to maintain with supporting edges to help when the mesh is smoothed, so I discarded it for now. 

Personally I was not keen on the shape of the Pommel. I felt that the cylindrical shape was too solid, and needed a more defined shape. I decided to take a look at some of my references for inspiration. 

Here is one of the references I have been using, a design of a Claymore sword. The Pommel for this design is a lot more ornate, using a more sphereical shape with a lot of detail. I didn't want to overcomplicate the design with lots of complex and detailled engravings, but I did prefer the more refined shape the Pommel used in its design. 

Here is another design for the Pommel from another reference image I had been using. The shape is detailled without being too ornate, featuring a very spherical shape. I wanted to aim for this sort of shape without being too identical. 

Here is my current Pommel design, now refined. I took inspiration from the prior reference image, and adapted it into something of my own. I went with a less perfectly rounded shape and something more oval. 

Here is a view from the side. Instead of the shape being spherical, I have stayed with a more cylindrical shape. Though I have used a lot of extruding to create a more defined shape. In addition, the tip of the Pommel meets at a rounded edge, something I liked as it created more of a finer and less-harsh edge to the bottom of the sword design. 

Here is the Pommel, now smoothed for the purpose of preview. Due to the addition of supporting edges, the Pommel retains its shape whilst smoothing over the rough edges. I was pretty pleased with this so I moved back to the rest of the Hilt. 

I experimented with the design of the Guard, trying to find a shape I was happy with. I added extruded edges to the Guard and a more cylindical center, but I wasn't happy with this design. 

I worked on smoothing out the center of the Guard to something more smooth and less of a harsh slope to the outer section of the Guard. I was much more happy with this smoother look and decided to keep it. 

Here is an alternate view of the sword with a smooth preview applied. 

Here is the view of my sword from the front, again smoothed for the purpose of preview. 

Here is an up-close view of the Guard, where you can see it correctly meets at the handle. The shape is very smooth and also encapsulates the Blade in its width as well, adding realism to the design. 

I decided to revisit the pointed edge at the middle of the Guard. I used a similar shape but allowed the point to curve smoothly towards the blade to give a more smooth appearance. In order to maintain the smooth appearance without losing its shape, I had to add supporting edges to the Guard and this point. The topology had to connect properly, else you would see pinching of the shading of the mesh. Although this took some time, I managed to succeed in creating supporting edges across the complex shape of the Guard, allowing the smoothed look to be maintained. 

In addition, I also created a slight extrusion of the central section of the Guard giving the appearance that the outer-section of the Guard may have been attached at a later date and was not all one singular piece of metal. I liked the appearance of this extrusion and decided to keep it. 

At this point, I decided to revisit the tip of the Blade, specifically the spine across the middle of the sword. Before, the spine would incorrectly extend all the way to the tip of the blade. This wasn't ideal, and I wanted the spine to stop just before the tip of the blade. This took some significant time to redo some of the topology at the tip of the blade in order to get a very nice curved shape, but eventually I was able to achieve it. Now in the above image you can clearly see that not only does the spine fall off just before the tip, but the shape of the blade is very nicely defined and yet smooth. I am very pleased with this appearance of the blade so far. 

Here is a realistic Greatsword reference I had been using in my design process. You can see the resemblance of my design of the Hilt with this design. One thing I was curious about were the two small 'prongs' near the base of the Blade. After doing a bit of research, I discovered that these were known as 'Lugs'. Specifically for the Zweihander (a German Greatsword design), "Most have small, pointed lugs or flanges protruding from their blades" (Clements, 2004). The functional purpose of these would protect the wielder, and could "bind other weapons or prevent them from sliding down into the hands" offering additional protection to the Guard. They also added some extra aesthetic to the design. I decided to incorporate these in my Greatsword design. 

Here is my implementation of these Lugs. In comparison to the reference image, they are about the same distance from the Guard and are only slightly wider than the ones in the reference image, albeit a minor difference. Since the sword in the previous reference image is a real Greatsword, I believe following the proportions and shape of these Lugs was a good idea in order to keep my design accurate and functional. In order to achieve these Lugs, I created two horizontal edge loops where I wanted the Lugs to go and simply extruded geometry out to a pointed shape, using symmetry to achieve this on both sides. 

Furthermore, some Greatsword designs would feature Side Rings to offer even more protection for the wielder. These would be two circular rings on opposing sides of the Guard, perpendicular to the handles on the left and right side. These were simple enough to implement, using a Torus shape and Cuboid to connect the Side Rings to the Guard without just simply attaching them on. I was pleased with their implementation. 

Here is an updated screenshot of my design with the recent implementation of the Lugs and Side Rings from an alternate angle. Since my last image, I have made a couple additional tweaks to the design. Firstly, I have removed the extruded ends of the Guard since I personally wasn't keen on that design, and I believe a flat appearance looks better. Secondly, I have added some smooth indentations on the Grip of the sword, with the functional purpose of offering more grip for the wielder of the sword. 

From here, I considered my design for the sword to be completed. 

Here is an alternate view of the sword design. 

Here is another view of the sword, highlighting the blade. 

Bibliography:

Albion-swords.com. n.d. Basic Sword Terminology. [online] Available at: <https://www.albion-swords.com/swords/sword-terms.htm> [Accessed 2 January 2021].

Clements, J., 2004. The Two-Handed Great Sword. [online] Thearma.org. Available at: <http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html#.YKrkrKhKiUk> [Accessed 19 February 2021].