lazerus: I'm not bothered by it -- in fact I find your interest, however impersonal as "practice", somehow gratifying
I did consciously preserve the hilt design, and the overall feeling of the sword as a whole, which is why I listed all four together as "versions" rather than just an assortment of works. Each time, my skill to model grew, and I learned from the latest version what met my fancy and what didn't. I knew instinctively that the first three versions would never have made it in a good looking game, so perhaps subconsciously I kept remaking it looking for a version that could perchance be the geometry I finally use, and I think I have now captured that. With some minor tweaks, version 4 could well be the geometry I use in the actual game. What now remains to be completed for my game is... everything else!
As for where I got the idea for the hilt, I was slightly inspired by King Theoden's sword. I took the general shape of the curvature and applied it to my own design. Version 1 captured what I wanted to do with it the most, and with versions 2 and 3 I was slowly straying away, which I didn't like. This last version has been a test to recapture what I had in version 1 that it itself could not express, except with the interpretation of my imagination, which was its source.
The blade, as you can see, was never intended to be the classical medieval sword blade that everyone thinks of; if the hilt is the only work of originality it doesn't seem to me like enough to justify its creation. Granted, this blade's design isn't "original" enough for me to say I made it first and last, but when in my mind I put it in the hand of the character I made it for, it makes all the difference. The inspiration that led me in the direction I went though the process of perfecting this sword, as far as the blade, was actually the wrist rest on the bottom of the Saitek Eclipse II keyboard
When I saw the Böker+ Rampage, I knew I had seen the kind of finishing touch that the simplistic straight blade was missing.
I had no clue what I was doing with the butt of the hilt. You can probably see that between versions (1/2), 3, and 4, they are all different. The only reason version 2 resembles version 1 is because that "worked" and I had no other ideas. I wanted something distinguishing, but ordinary and simple at the same time. The butt of the KA-BAR Next-Gen Marine Combat knife gave me just what I needed. I think it fits perfectly as-is, but depending on how I feel once it's on the character I might see fit to stick a ruby in there or something.
Remember those old guys? They made epic renders, I think one of them was called DaVinci, and all they used was MS Paint. Sometimes it's just skill....
