More project on the sword, as well. I fixed the problem with the normals by beveling some of the edges. This created some complications with the geometry, and most of my time with this model has been spent fixing that. It is now finally at a stage where I can UV map it without complication, however, I will need to take high resolution photos for this, as well.

Began adding textures to the axe, from the high resolution photos I took earlier this week. Because the various bits come from different source files, they need to be better blended with each other, which I will do next. A bit earlier than that, I began sculpting in Mudbox to get a feel for the tools. I am quite pleased with how the sculpt turned out so far, but I will have to redo it from scratch, as the geometry in Maya has changed slightly.

I am taking a modular approach to the axe designs. The blades themselves are fairly easy to modify, as well as the haft (although there is not much to be done with the latter). Texturing will be done tonight, as I shall be taking photos of real wood and steel, for authenticity.

This is a “Dane” axe (long haft, for use with two hands) modeled over the past two days. This took far less time to model than the sword. Rather than using an image plane (which is undoubtedly more useful for more complex shapes, such as swords or perhaps some guns), I worked by extruding faces from a modified cylinder (almost tear-shaped cross section - in reality, this is done to prevent the axe blade from twisting to either side, as well as to give the user a quick reference as to which way the blade is facing). I believe that this method will also allow me to make some modular designs for this category, as the blade can be easily modified or replaced, as well as the haft.

This happened to the final model after averaging the normals in Maya. The edges don’t look a lot like edges.