Making a Sword in Maya

The original idea for my 3D animation project was a sword. However, I quickly realised that this would be too simple. Nevertheless, I still modelled, textured and animated one as an exercise to consolidate what I had learnt so far. The mesh was very quick and simple to make. I added edge loops and then extruded specific edges to the positions that I wanted.

I used a Blinn shader for the blade and the default Maya wood texture for the handle. I made the wood texture darker to match the lighting of the blade. Finally, I moved on to animation. I translated the pivot point such that it was just below the centre of the handle. This allowed me to change the rotation values of the sword to create the appearance of the sword being wielded.

I completed the sword in around 10 minutes, showing that my proficiency with Maya has significantly increased since the start of my 3D animation module. I now feel fully able to model anything but I know that there are still many modelling techniques that I don't know yet. I am excited to improve my skill at 3D modelling by creating more complex objects in the future.