Ever since I’ve been remotely proficient in Blender I’ve been wanting to make a katana. I have at least six files where I started, but couldn’t even get the blade right, so gave up again due mostly to not having enough time to battle with it.
Recently I’ve started doing freelance and decided my website and portfolio needed some sprucing up, so I decided as a first project for a professional-looking render I’d finally make that katana! After a few hours of struggling and tweaking I have the basis for a blade, guard and handle. Here is the basic geometry so far:
Next up, components like the blade and handle collars, the wrapping for the handle, the buttcap and the menuki (ornament placed underneath or in-between wrappings).
The idea is that this is a “modern” katana, hence the red handle base (which, for those of you who don’t know, is traditionally made from ray skin and is usually white, just something I found interesting) and lack of whetstone pattern (Blades made by master blade-smiths have sharpening “patterns” that indicate the area or tradition or even era the blade came from. The most common pattern is a sort of wave along the beginning of the sharpened area, though other patterns exist. Contemporary blades made for competitions or non-samurai seldom have these patterns, rather opting for a darkened or stained steel upper blade with a straight line down the sharpened edge. Only true katana, or replicas of famous blades still typically have the pattern)
Any comments or critique at this point is much appreciated and I’ll keep updating as the project continues!
To my knowledge the hamon, the visible pattern on the blade, is not a result of the sharpening process (and is therefore not caused by a whetstone), but is rather a visual effect caused by the traditional hardening process: The blade is differentially hardened by applying clay on parts of the blade prior to the cooling process. Just saying.
On modern replicas, however, the hamon is often faked by acid etching or sandblasting.
RickyBlender, the wireframe modifier is after the subsurf in that shot and the subsurf is set to 2 to give the blade a clean curve, therefore it shows a lot of faces. Also the blade currently just has a mix shader with diffuse and glossy on the dull part and a glossy-diffuse-anistropic shader on the sharpened edge. I’ll get into detailed texturing once the model is done, this is just for a basic visual aid.
bossestrenders, the handle still needs the rope wrapping, menuki and the buttcap, all of which will add to it’s size and thickness. After that’s on it should be thicker. If it’s not thick enough then I can make it thicker.
Thanks for clearing that up IkariShinji. I’m still learning about the blade-making process and find it fascinating. Yes, you’re right, the hamon is due to the clay-hardening process on the cutting-edge of the blade, a process which helps the katana live up to it’s reputation as the ultimate cutting-sword. I did find in my research, however that most, though not all, modern blades used by martial-artists have a straight line as opposed to the traditional wavy or rough hamon. I’m trying to go for a blade that a modern xma contender would use in a kata, which tend to be longer blades with straight lines. There are also still katana with hamon created by clay-hardening, but these are extremely rare and very expensive. Though I might add a wavy hamon later, but as a texture. For now it is straight.
I’ll post updates soon. i’m currently working on the collars on either side of the guard.
Latest update to the sword. I decided to widen the handle and add the hamon, thanks for the help on that Ikari and bosses! I’ve also finished modelling the ito (handle wrappings) and the collars for both the blade and the handle. I also optimized some of the materials, like the sharpened edge of the blade now has a bump-map, and added several details to the basic shaders, like brushed metal for the blade collar and a rope-like material for the wrappings. So far everything is done procedurally in cycles. Here’s the latest renders of everything:
