Project Overview
Summer 2025
If this were to be a game asset, I would have baked the details of the blade Into the normals in order to preserve polygon count.
This 3d model done using a pipeline through Blender, Zbrush, Substance 3D Painter, and Marmoset is one of my first fully finished props. I wanted to create a really unique fantasy sword with lots of detailed elements that all work together in order to create an interesting composition. I thought it would be really interesting to try and incorporate stained glass into the sword, and did this by adding it into the blade and reinforcing it with a metal edge so that it could still be practical.
I thought it would be neat to add both symmetrical designs in the stained glass as well as something to break that symmetry and make it more interesting, which I did by including the rose. Now that I have added the rose imagery, I tried incorporating a thorn-like feel to the hardware of the sword to carry the design through the rest of it.
The model with added emissive properties to make the blade glow.
I wanted the viewer to be able to see through both sides of the glass, so I used different layers in order to show the metal through to the other side. The rose design is only on one side of the blade, and you can still see it reflected.
During this process I thought that it was really interesting to be able to create something that was somewhat “hard surface” while still being able to do a lot of organic modeling for it. I began with much more simple shapes in blender and created the swirly shapes using a Bézier curves. Then I bring this model into Zbrush to sculpt out the final shapes, and create a new low poly model from that.
I found a lot of enjoyment in choosing the color palettes of each sword. Originally I planned on creating one color set, but ended up wanting to include multiple to show different options as they are all beautiful. I aimed to choose colors that compliment each other well and feel as though they could be seen in their own unique worlds.
Transparency and glass was something that I had never worked with before so it was an interesting challenge. I was able to use both solid and transparent materials within the same object in order to create the look of the lead between the glass panes.
