The helmet for the Fire Set.
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The development blog for my Honours project. Here you will find sources to research I have done, as well as the steps taken to achieve my final goal.
~ Wednesday, May 2 ~
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~ Saturday, April 21 ~
Fire shield final design.
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~ Wednesday, March 14 ~
Sketches for the fire and water weapon set. The water set will be painted right after I finish the challenge for Darksiders 2 (see my next post).
With the elemental sets I tried to stay away from making the weapons look like their respective elements, and instead make them seem affected by the element. Therefore the fire set is covered in melted material and blisters, and the water set is one that an island refugee would use/make.
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~ Friday, February 24 ~
Weapon set design: organic weapons
Since so far I have only spoke of expanding into discussing firearms, as well, I decided to change the situation. The “organic” theme came about as I observed so many melee weapons designed after (or containing) organic elements: spikes and claws, which, for animals serve other functions than on weapons. However, they do make for compelling designs, and so the Crustacea set took form. A few notes on each of the weapons:
Karkinos:
This was the first design and less thought has been put into it than into the others (at first). The mobile claw serves as a storage device for the energy sphere. When it hinges upwards, the energy is released in the form of a beam. Additionally, the entire “claw” may be fired as a grappling hook, using the attached winch. Not only can the Karkinos be used as a climbing device in this way, but it may also be used to tear down light cover (such as metal containers, ungrounded concrete blocks, etc.)
Alpheus:
Based on the pistol shrimp’s claw, the Alpheus has a relatively simple firing mechanism. The lower claw (designated as the hammer) hinges upwards into the body of the gun. Pistol shrimp use this system to create an immensely powerful blast of air, which stuns prey several times larger than themselves. However, this only works under water. The Alpheus solves this issue by adding a secondary firing mechanism: as the hammer rises, a jet of fluid (different fluids may be used to achieve various effects) is pushed into the upper chamber, and then propelled through the primary firing mechanism. A fuel-filled hammer will result in a short-burst flamethrower effect, for example, while a thick gel will be more effective at knocking opponents prone and immobilizing them.
Thermidon:
Based on lobsters, the Thermidon uses a complex array of thermal devices and storage systems. It consists of two firing modes. If the “cilia” on the inside of the claw face backwards, the gun absorbs all heat emissions in a straight line, effectively acting as a freeze ray. The heat is stored in the sphere at the back of the claw. When the storage sphere becomes overheated, the user may reverse the direction of the cilia and release the stored heat with the Thermidon’s secondary firing mode. This firing mode has a shorter range, but a wider arc of fire. Because of the complex devices within the Thermidon, it is used with both hands safely away from the firing systems, with an additional clip over the shoulder (the segmented design of the shoulder clip allows it to be easily adjusted to various body types) for added support.
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~ Saturday, February 18 ~
Dieter Rams' principles of good design
Tags:
weapon design
design
form/function
dieter rams
Honours Project
mihai georgescu
allbrotnar
During my last pitch, my evaluation of some weapons came into question: what did I regard as “good designs”? Dieter Rams has composed a great list of principles to follow, and one that coincides rather well with good weapon design.
1. Innovative
As demonstrated by the multitude of modern-day blacksmiths who still create original pieces, I would argue that weapon design can still be innovative.
2. Product usability
This aspect of design is at the very core of this project. Weapons that we see in museums are products of thousands of years of iterations and evolution. Their form reflects exactly what they were supposed to do. So should new weapon designs, as we have thousands of years of history to draw from.
3. Aesthetic quality
This point is rather difficult to argue, as it is the one I was specifically berated on during my pitch. However, I think a good, universal understanding of aesthetic quality can be drawn from the more traditional principles of design.
4. The product is understandable
Relates to point 2 above. A minimal knowledge of weaponry is required to understand its functions. One would expect a sword larger than a man’s torso to be held in two hands, yet many games show weapons such as these held in just one, for example. In games where weapons have stats, one would expect a long-barreled rifle to confer an accuracy bonus, for example.
5. Unobtrusiveness
Here, I somewhat disagree with Rams. While this is true for real-life weapons (where simpler is, indeed, more beautiful), weapons in games or films have the additional function of informing one of the character’s role or status. Decorations should be used on weapons in games, but with restraint and relevance.
6. Honesty
Again, with reference to games. A weapon that looks like it should do a lot of damage, should, indeed do that much damage. This ties a lot into animation and character design, as well as the design of the game itself.
7. Long-lasting
Along the years, swords have changed very little. Their form is so easily identifiable, that they have become iconic. The same can be said about other weapons, as well. Anyone can recognize a sword, a spear, an axe, a revolver. The reason their forms are so long-lasting is because they do what they are intended to do so well.
8. Thorough
Every detail must be carefully considered. This point speaks for itself, I believe.
9. Environmentally friendly
Unfortunately, this point does not really apply to weapon design in general, much less so to digital weapon design.
10. Minimalism
This ties in to point 5 above. Rams suggests here that use whatever deign gets the job done, and nothing else. As above, however, I would argue that weapon design in media should be a little over the top, to give the respective piece added character, especially in the appropriate setting.
~ Wednesday, February 8 ~
The beginning of the media analysis. I have begun with the first Conan the Barbarian film (John Milius), and continued with the 2011 version (Marcus Nispel). There were interesting weapon designs in both of them, but there more more, by far, in the 1982 version. Nispel’s film seems to have a lot of weapons that are not just impractical, but they are not particularly interesting, either. Even Conan’s sword, which is designed around a fairly recognizable form, has a very unappealing crossguard. This is an example of how form does not necessarily trump function, and that the two need to be in balance. Milius’ version has some bizarre weapons, indeed. I found one of the more interesting ones to be the triple (!) headed axe, which is beyond wild. The bizarre shovel-looking thing is also rather baffling, and, while it seems like it belongs in the setting of the film, it is not of a particularly appealing design. Luckily, it appears in the film for only a few seconds before it is discarded.
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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.
~ Friday, February 3 ~
Texture fail.
Tried to scan bits of my two axes in order to get high resolution textures. However, they were of a less regular shape than I thought, so some areas were further from the glass than others, therefore resulting in blurred textures.
Hopefully, the photos I will take today will turn out better.
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.
~ Tuesday, January 31 ~
Progress on my very first sword model. This was completed last Thursday, January the 26th, 2012. As there is a 10-image limit to photo posts, I will follow up with some images of what is wrong with the model.
The model itself is based on an earlier prototype, from an experiment in Alchemy. In terms of form and function, not much thought was given, it was meant to be an exercise to establish workflow in Maya (and, as can be seen, to experiment with various methods of modeling).
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~ Wednesday, December 14 ~
Gantt Chart completed
Along with the rest of my proposal. It was a hell of a week, as I got caught up in a different project, as well, so time was pretty tight.
In other news, here are a few more swords I made in Alchemy:
And an organic-looking axe (which reminds me, I need to finish that draft post about organic weapons). I got a bit carried away with this one, I admit.
…Now onwards to keeping up to date with my Gantt chart!
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~ Wednesday, December 7 ~
A few (big) pages of the sketchbook
Here I looked at some swords from Oakeshott’s “Records of the Medieval Sword” and picked out the more bizarre/interesting elements: atypical pommels and crosses.
After a while, I have come across the revelation that, out of the melee weapons (or weapons based on historical designs), maces are the most versatile (though flanged maces seem to be an exception, and I will expand on this in a future update). As long as the top is heavy, there are few limitations to the form. This page explores this idea:
Finally, a short exploration of curved blades and crossguards. A lot of the blade shapes are based on falchions, which, put simply, are weaponized cleavers. They work differently to straight swords and are a sort of middle ground between swords and axes.
~ Friday, November 18 ~
A couple of silhouette exercises
I fired up Alchemy today and recorded my session. This function takes a snapshot of you progress at set intervals. I decided to use this to make sure I don’t lose any sketches regardless of how bad they may be, as they would give me source for commentary. For now, I have focused on axes, because they are simpler than swords, and, I feel, easier to deviate from the historical and practical examples without losing too much authenticity.
Here is the first couple:
With this first example, I wanted to keep the process fairly loose, mainly focusing on finding good shapes.
For my second run through, I started off with symmetry on, the beginning of a double-bitted axe, which, for me, is a true bone of contention with fantasy art. More on that later, though:
With this one, I made conscious design decisions: I have constructed and eliminated most structural flaws (possible weak points in the blade, such as points that were stretched too thin), brought the blades closer to the hilt and eventually shrunk the unnecesary second blade into a stylized set of spines.
Later edit: This exercise was a very, very welcome break from paperwork and reading.
