Assignment 2
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So here we go later than ever, this was almost finished more than a week ago, I really don’t like writing these things. So for assignment two we were to model an object after a reference from the museum. So I ended up doing a Vendel era sword the particular piece is a reconstruction of a sword found in Högbro. The Swedish Vendel era connects the later parts of the migration period with the Viking age of the proper middle ages and is named after what is believed a Swedish dynasty ruling the lands north of Mälaren. Finds from the Vendel era and the parish of Vendel and Valsgärde have produced some of the most impressive finds in mainland Sweden. As mentioned the sword is from the Vendel period and seems closest to a Behmer type 4 migration hilt with the exception that the grip itself was not made of metal like the rest of the hilt as is common in most type 4 swords I have seen, though there are examples with organic grips. The fact that the grip on the original was organic leaves me at with a bit of a choice as to how the grip is to look and I decided to go with the straight one, this is going to take a whole lot of polygons to make and the grooves on the handle are based upon the type 4 swords with metal grips or very, very thin grips and the ridges go outwards in order to make the grip more comfortable. As this sword seems to have a more comfortable grip width I am making the decision to save a few polygons since it does not need the raised portions on the grip. The hilt guards seem to have been cast bronze and by the looks of it they are cast in a single piece each. No, loos parts and the “rivets” are pure decoration to imitate the rich swords that often had organic material such as horn or wood or indeed just different metals sandwiched between bronze or gold plates, and then riveted together with you know real rivets. First link is an example is a British sword, the second two are Swedish blades (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Ringknaufschwert_1.JPG)
As for the blade I am going for the wide round tipped variant used at the time, the fuller on the blade is generally broad but shallow letting me use normal maps to simulate the shape since it does not break the silhouette. The rounded tip adds a few unwanted polygons to the count but it is not that much. If I find myself with some extra time on my hands I am probably going try for a pattern welded blade design like those popular at the time.
I will split it up into multiple parts, the upper and lower ”cross guard” , the pommel piece, the handle and the blade are all going to be different parts, this also makes it easier to change out the handle if it turns out bad.
The texture is a bit harder since polished bronze is very different from old bronze and the texture of the grip is probably going to be wood or perhaps string wrapped leather. Sadly the item was a bit far in to the display case it was hard getting good shots but I am certain I will be able to find pictures of similar swords on the internet to fill in the blank spots.
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