What I have here is a sword with some steam punk inspired stuff to make it all cool and hip.

I looked at some steam punk stuff and decided that my short sword wasn't hip enough for the kids these days, so I decided to add a device, like a radiator, that heats the blade.

This is what I have for now..

A handle, hilt is some sort of rubbery stuff holding the blade to the handle, and the radiator system, powered by some sort of steam/gas/water device internally.

Need more inspiration so I opened up this thread, also didn't want to keep cluttering the WAYWO thread.

I am super open to advice at this point because my mana is running low. I would like to make a low poly/game version, but I really want to just "finish" the model rather than thinking ahead... it kills me everything.

Also, is there a easy way to make a ring/weld type thing for the pipes? They looks really weird just coming out of the canister..

What do you mean by weld or ring? You could model a flat part coming off the tank where the pipes exit with a weld where it meets the tank. Then just add in some washers and nuts at the base of the exhaust pipes.

And I have to say, right now the design looks fatally flawed. The greatest source of heat on the weapon is going to be right next to the hands of the user. Whoever uses this sword is going to get burned a long time before their enemy.

I would move the steam tank up onto the base of the blade (it'll transfer more heat to the sword as well) and model a guard out of some type of non-heat-conductive material to go between the wielder's hands and the tank.

Thanks for the crit. but I want to know how to shape the washer, or something similar to the tank itself, you know? So it follows the contour of the tank.

Also the gas could be HHO, soo it's cool to the touch :P. Oh and I can't move it up more because then it'll get stuck when I'm slicking a guys head off, ya know?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyhydrogen

Originally Posted by XenoKratios

Thanks for the crit. but I want to know how to shape the washer, or something similar to the tank itself, you know? So it follows the contour of the tank.

Also the gas could be HHO, soo it's cool to the touch :P. Oh and I can't move it up more because then it'll get stuck when I'm slicking a guys head off, ya know?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyhydrogen

I stand corrected. You learn something new everyday.

As for modeling the washers to follow the contour of the tank, I would model them normally, position it over the pipe, then use the Align tool (in 3ds Max) to get the angle right to the surface, then set turn on Snaps with the Face option checked and snap the bottom vertices of washer to the side of the tank. A little cumbersome I know.

But wouldn't the pipes be welded on anyway? There are curved washers, but not, that I know of, curved nuts. So if you wanted to go the nut and washer route, at least all you would have to worry about would be curving the washers - the rest would be pretty straight forward.

just remember, when metal gets hot, it gets soft.

Hmm i have a idea.Maybe make something similar that projects a laser onto the blade heating it.Or something really crazy like a spiral of particles that is small magnetic dust the circles around the blade and your little device heats the floating steel dust.

reminds me of this:

I thought the twist would be that it was really long

I don't have anything actually helpfull to contribute... sorry.

I think you should rethink the design, right now it looks neither balanced, nor functional. How does one hold the sword? And why not just hollow out the grip instead of adding an external tank?

i thought it was a shortsword with a twist in the middle :P

Thanks for the advice LateWhiteRabbit, I am modeling some washers and nuts as I type, well... you know what I mean .

I like your ideas Builder_Anthony, but it's a bit too sci-fi for this type of thing I think, wicked ideas though man!

Looks like it's from Fallot konstruct, always wicked stuff from those guys!

I kind of like the look of having an external tank, was always in my mind you know? I think you might be right though Slash, I gotta move this tank on top.

For ScudzAlmighty and Neelem:



Alright... back to work, boys! I think I gotta add that grip all along the handle, or basically where the hand meets the handle.

The tank still seems a little to big.. Really unbalanced. Why not integrate it with the handle? I guess it would end up looking like a gunblade then..

Speaking of unbalanced... ahaha I gotta fix this... Might have to make some ribs that run across the tank and then come down to the blade, that should reinforce it.



Should not have started working on the model at this hour... I should go to bed it's almost 2am...

I would suggest modeling from concept art. or reference... get a handle on how weapons work and what make them functional/cool... then elaborate/improvise those ideas/techniques... there's no part of this weapon that makes any sense or is otherwise interesting.

Find something that looks cool/functional and draw inpiration from that. or draw it up or find concept art that makes sense... starting in 3d without doing any idiation at all is a bad move chief. Good luck though.

You got a cool concept keep working on it. Make it a flamethrower sword-... thingy! Might come in handy... sometime.

Edit: Oh I see what you're all on about now and I agree. Slight misunderstanding on my part due to language(use of certain words).

inefficient != non-functional.

qlz - sorry dude, but i have to disagree... steampunk is not about weird bullshit that doesn't make any sense... it's fantasy and low-tech science fiction... some would argue with me about the science portion of that. But regardless. Shit has to function or at least be percieved to have a function.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=steampunk+weapon

just saying "it's steampunk, so it's ok" is like using "STYLIZED" to explain why a persons concept art doesn't have any god damn feet ...

Either way, if you like the concept that's cool... i'm only suggesting that people do a bit of research and sketching before jumping into a 3d model...

imagine holding this and trying to cut someone with the blade... unless you're holding it by the canister you'd never be able to swing it effectively. This means you'd probably be better served having the canister/fuel mechanism attached to the front of the blade. But, if you're a warrior on the go, you probably don't have a shit load of ways to refill the fuel can that's in the front, so you might need to attach it to something that is attached to the character holding the sword via a tube of some kind and put a valve on the sword... but if it were me, i wouldn't attach my flame thrower or whatever to my blade, but instead have a seperate weapon that was a flame thrower instead. These two weapons individually would be more effective.

I'm just sayin'. It could be cool, it just happens to not be for a few small reasons that are easily fixed IMO.

*** edit *** yes, i do see that the canister is on the side now... still just sayin'

not sure if anyone proposed this, but the current design is sorta bland, so why not put the heating device in the actual handle? it would be a tad oversized, but the handle would be a furnace essentially. load coal/fuel in and at the bottom a billows like pump would be used to heat up the blade. the blade could have a different metal that would heat faster than the blade metal, thus heating the entire blade. At high temps it could even glow red.

Then if you make a character to go with this, just make a nifty coal ammo bag to hang on their belt. and the user would probably need a cool heat resistant glove! Just another cool thing to make with it.

heres a crude sketchup of what I mean.

Hey thanks for all the advice guys, I did made a sketch in the beginning, but it's kinda the same as my model ahahah. Ummm it isn't really steampunk to a tee, I was just inspired by steampunk, umm... you know?

The tank is floating in my picture.. so worthless.

I like your Idea <3 oobersli, but wouldn't that burn my hand? Unless I wear some wicked awesome gloves... so never mind, ahah.



You know what? I'm getting some sexy ideas, soo look forward to a new design tonight eh.

awesome that you did some sketches and wrote some notes... especially the "buy/find eraser!" pretty good stuff.

post a bunch of sketches/ideas. after a while of sketching and taking feedback on the ideas on paper, you'll start to naturally progress towards good solid design quicker and then the creativity can really start to flow.

The most important thing is that you take comments/feedback very well. Most artists have a difficult time getting past the initial emotial response of someone having a problem with their work... for that i say "cheers!"

Keep it up! sketch sketch sketch

Keep going! ^_^ If you stick with this and just keep pushing ideas around, I'm sure you'll end up with an awesome design in the end XD

ok so the hot sword idea is interesting.. though bizarre.
I think I get what you're going for is the same sort of aesthetic as a flaming sword, without the magic ya?

.. so suggestion: why not put the tank on the pommel as a counterweight to a heavy blade out front, then run piping from the tank through the handle, along the back edge of the blade, and at regular intervals through the blade itself, ending with outlets on the blade edge. The piping could be ornamented like lace, vines, or plant branches in brass, adding to the overall steampunk aesthetic while maintaining the idea of a heated or firebreathing sword. You could even integrate a valve release button into the hilt of the sword to be thumb activated at a moments notice, or add in a valve somewhere if you want longer on/off periods.

Originally Posted by Vailias

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.. so suggestion: why not put the tank on the pommel as a counterweight to a heavy blade out front, then run piping from the tank through the handle, along the back edge of the blade, and at regular intervals through the blade itself, ending with outlets on the blade edge. The piping could be ornamented like lace, vines, or plant branches in brass, adding to the overall steampunk aesthetic while maintaining the idea of a heated or firebreathing sword. You could even integrate a valve release button into the hilt of the sword to be thumb activated at a moments notice, or add in a valve somewhere if you want longer on/off periods.

I have to second this advice from Vailias.

The pipes from the tank would radiate heat to the blade much easier if they were actually in contact with the flat surface of the blade and running most of its length. Off to the side, like they are now, is pretty wasteful from a mechanical standpoint, with a large percentage of heat being dissipated into the air rather than going into the blade.

And I'd figure that regardless of fuel source or type used, the inventor of this thing would want a small portable tank to be as fuel efficient as possible.

I'm looking forward to seeing this new design you're cooking up. The current design frankly just looks awkward.

Sorry guys, I want to answer and read all the new posts but before I do I have some new stuff. I made a new concept and you'll have to believe me I sketched it and then implemented it in my model.

This is what I have. I made the tank smaller as well, moved the pipe closer to the blade and added reinforcement, also added a "basket" type deal for the tank to easily replace the setup, if it breaks. Still have to add some details and stuff but I'm going to read all the new posts now.





Thanks for the kind words Jessica Dinh, and also for your advice nfrrtycmplx. If I don't read the criticism and feedback from Polycount I wont ever learn anything. The people here are all amazing in one way or the other, not taking their advice would mean that I'm an idiot, ahah.

Wow Vailias, awesome ideas dude! I love the lace/vine idea but I'm having a hard time trying to imagine it, not too sure what you mean. I also like your valve release idea, I'm definitely going to implement that somehow, along with adding a on/off button on the pommel so that the character can hit a mob on the head to activate the heating device to pwn further.

I think we were sub consciously thinking on the same brain wave length LateWhiteRabbit. Scared? I am.

A little update:

While I was uploading I also adding some bolts and screws to the piece that holds the tank.









I also started unwrapping, see how that goes.