Saxo Work Knife

I’m trying to model this knife…



My goal is the get it as realistic as possible…As close to the original Photo as possible.


This is what i got so far…Hoping its all Materials and texturing from now on…


Most of it is extruded Curves with some Bevel.

Is it possible to put Materials with scratches an Bump on the Curves without Converting to Mesh first?
I would like to keep the options to edit the curves while seeing/Render it with better Materials.

I need some tips on how to model that little Dent or pocket for the nail on the big Knife Blade.
And the ripples on the small button for the replaceable blades.

Should i keep it as Curves or is it better to convert to Mesh at this point?

What can be done to make it a nice mesh when converting it?
I have tried remesh modifier, and decimate, but with no good results.

I’ve tried to model it as a Mesh from scratch, but i keep loosing track of all the points.:spin:

How would u have done it? What is a better approach?

Looks good! For the nail indention on the knife, you could use the Boolean modifier after you convert the curve to a mesh.

Thanks i will try the Boolean…

More details added…Getting closer…
Still having trouble modeling the big blade.


Some Close up shots…



I’ve added some rust and smudges to the metals, but i still need to tweak a bit more i see now…
Anyone got a nice node setup for using multiple bumps?
(i still don’t get the NodeEditor logic!!!)
I would like some cloud/noise to make the metal a bit bumpy. on top of that i would like some scratches. And on top of that some dirt/dust/smudges.
I managed to get the bumps, now i need the other layers?
i’m trying to get the scratches non reflective, and affecting the bump.

When zooming in close the bump map is ok, but not noticeable when zooming out.
When the bump map is ok from far away, its too much when zooming in.
Is there a method for this?

i’ll keep on working on this…

Here is my model…

And another version…

Rendered:


Well Done … so many details and thanks for the 3D View.

Thank you…and your welcome…:slight_smile:

It would improve your knife a lot if you add crease in some of your edges e.g. the blade surface. In the photo the knife blade looks “divided” in the middle but in your renders everything looks soon smooth.

Thanks for the reply…and your right…
I’ve been trying a lot too improve the blade, but can’t seem to find a good way to model it.

I’ve tried to use the bevel crease and main crease on some of the edges.



also without the subsurf…


I’ve tried starting with curve and then convert to mesh, no luck.
I’ve tried Decimate and Remesh modifiers(when converting from curves)…no luck…
I’ve tried starting with a plane, and a box, with and without Mirror modifier…still no good results…



I’ve searched for tutorials on hard surface modeling, and knife/blade modeling…but haven’t found the right one yet apparently…
when i started this project i thought the blade would bee the easy part…

i’m open to suggestions…

I recently modelled a garden pruner and had similar issues with the blade. Crease worked fine for me. Here is a screenshot of the model both wireframe and solid with subdivision modifiers. Crease edges are marked with orange color and have a value of +1.
link for the pruner: https://sketchfab.com/models/f15b3d88cc8440a58dc9fb1f04e6a2bb


Thanks panosz…
Your image helped…This is great…



This was my second attempt with your method…I will try a couple of more times…
Still some minor bugs with the point and the dent for the nails…
Do you have triangles at the point, or are all the vertex’s just scaled down?

Still much better…
I’ve also made a new SketchFab…

This was just for fun. looks okay tough…



I’m still working on the Materials and Lighting.

Just keep them comments and advice coming…

Yes, I have triangles. Check this front/back screenshots.




Maybe you should use the same trick at this small dent on the blade and also at the cutter’s edge. As for the texturing, my opinion that “dirt” is too much and on all surfaces, I would use less dirt and make it show in some areas only. Usually, tools that we use often, don’t get that dirty. The black/red/yellow texture looks a bit distorted, I don’t know if that’s how it should look. It is really your choice here :slight_smile: Again, my opinion for lights, you need to add more light at front-left or left side to make these beautiful bevel you made at the edges pop-up.

Okay, Still getting closer…
And again Thanks to Panosz for the help…and feedback;)
I’ve made triangles at the tip of my blade…Still not as perfect as your Pruner, but still better than before.:eyebrowlift2:



ups. forgot to switch to the blade with the nail indent for this render…:rolleyes:
I’ve added two suns to get a sharper shadow on the table. They almost have the same angle, but one of them is making a softer shadow.
I’ve removed some of the dirt for the metals and reduced the bump and reflection as well.
The handles is looking a bit more like the plastics on the original. But the bump is still to large, i can see now…
I’ve added some bump and reflection the wood table.


Overall i’m pretty pleased with the result…though it’s still not as photo realistic as i would like it to be.
There is so much to take in to account when making this. I’ve been tweaking all those settings for days now…:spin:
Each time i render i keep asking myself, Why it’s still looks fake…?
I can see it’s a render…but Why…?
Is it the light? the Materials? the Modeling? an combination of it all?
Maybe some Depth of Field would help? Or some post processing?

I’ve learned a lot from this, and it’s great to get some targeted feedback.
Still hungry for more…

This is my Material nodes for the blade.



On the original Photo there is some text on the blade.
i have an transparent png file with the text(in black), but can’t find the right way to plug it in.
I want the bump and scratches to affect the text.
Is it possible to make it so that i can adjust the transparency and colors of the text with the nodes?

I’m glad you found my posts useful! For realism, well it’s a hard thing to achieve. In my opinion,in an this image like this, I would use area lights. I use the sun in very few cases but this is a matter of personal taste. But two suns for the hard/soft edge effect is too much. If you use area light, you can achieve soft/hard shadow by moving the light further or closer to the subject. If it is mandatory to use sun, use black planes as cutters to darken some areas or white planes as reflectors to soften them.

Hope this helps,
Panos

think you need some small scrach map on your object so it doesnt look to new