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Ronnie Magnum
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[WIP] Vvardenfell steel katanas

This is my version of Vvardenfell steel katanas set. Work on meshes and textures completed:

JorgenGorgen
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Absolutely beautiful.  The

Absolutely beautiful.  The only thing I have to nit pick about it is the texture at the tip.  The temper line should wrap around it.

http://www.legacyswords.com/antique/Yoshihara/daitopost/kiss...

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img829/2830/dscn2703j.jpg

http://www.jidai.jp/images_p/hamontype.jpg

http://www.nihonzashi.com/shinken_practical_pictures/PractCo...

Beyond that I'd say these are pretty much true-to-life in terms of general appearance.

Ronnie Magnum
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Thanks for the tip, I'll try

Thanks for the tip, but this blades have smooth shape so the temper line is not visible.

I will try to fix textures to make it more realistic.

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Good thus far, though I would

Good thus far, though I would recommend modifying their ornate esthetic, to reflect the originals, and give them a unique look, rather than just real life Katanas.

For Hilts (based on original appearance)-

Dai-Katana: A black handle, with silver studs/openings under the straps, and very pale (nearly silver) gold Pommel/Guard

Wakizashi: Black hilt, straps, and silver Pommel/Guard

Katana: Rich, brown wooden hilt, subtle straps, Gold pommel/Guard

Tanto: Brown, wooden hilt, no straps, gold guard (not really there, but the metal piece holding the blade) , and a dragon head on the pommel, like this.

Blades-

-What Jorgen said above

-They get straight was their size decreases, so the longest sword has a curved edge, as it does now, and the tanto has a completely straight blade.

-And the fuller line should straighten out a bit, and indent, right now, it's a bit cray-cray, especially on the smaller swords

And remember, we mustn't necessarily make them "true to life" but Akaviri in style, which isn't necessarily real, but based off of reality. Remember, the Akaviri are all about them dovah (Akavir being their homeland), so perhaps carved patterns in the blade? And for sheaths, very ornate, and a rich black color could fit well, with gold, silver, and the occasional dark green/blue. Remember, dragons.

Akaviri swords-

Originals-

Steel Katana

"Elegant and efficient, the Akaviri katana is too expensive and sophisticated a weapon to be popular with the Legions or hero-adventurers, but well-heeled nobles, collectors, and swordmasters prize the blade for its superior balance and effectiveness."
Garothmuk gro-Muzgub

Steel Dai-Katana

"These exotic two-handed, single-edged long blades of Akaviri design are neither common nor popular for military or private use. They are superb examples of weaponcraft, but expensive and subtle in technique."
Garothmuk gro-Muzgub

Steel Wakizashi

"Like other exotic blades of Akaviri design, the wakizashi is an elegant and refined single-edged version of the more common double-edged longswords of Western design. Because the weapons themselves are rare, and few smiths know how to make them, they are not common in Morrowind."
Garothmuk gro-Muzgub

Steel Tanto 

"The tanto is a stylish dagger variant of Akaviri design. For obscure reasons, the Telvanni prefer them to standard daggers as a matrix for their enchantments, and Telvanni mercenaries are often equipped with enchanted tantos by their mage-lord patrons."
Garothmuk gro-Muzgub

Now, please forgive my lore rant!

Excellent modeling so far!

Ronnie Magnum
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Added a slightly visible line

Added a slightly visible line to make it looks a bit more emboss

http://i.imgur.com/9CIFOsM.jpg

Still not finished though :)

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"Dai-katana"

"Dai-katana"
I'll never understand why Bethesda chose give it a name like that, (especially considering the only other thing in existence to have that name is arguably the worst game in history), and then gave everything else real names.  I think for Skywind it should be changed to Odachi or Nodachi.  "Dai-kanata" is just stupid.  Or hell, just call them sabers, rather than giving them actual Japanese names since Japan doesn't exist in Elder Scrolls.  Same for Claymores.

/end rant

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Ronnie Magnum wrote:

Ronnie Magnum wrote:

Added a slightly visible line to make it looks a bit more emboss

http://i.imgur.com/9CIFOsM.jpg

Still not finished though :)



I didn't even pay attention the spine of the blade.  That also helps.

Just in case I may have caused confusion:  The temper line is the point at where the blade changes color.  On Japanese swords it's called the hamon.  It shows that the blade contains two different hardnesses of steel, a softer spine, and a harder edge.  It wraps around the tip becase if it didn't the tip would be ruined if it ever came into contact with bone or armor, since it would be the soft iron of the spine, rather than the hard iron of the tip.

http://www.geocities.ws/kai4nihon/Kenjutsu/Ha.gif

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Japanese_...
JorgenGorgen
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@Denevir:  The problem I have

@Denevir:  The problem I have though, is that that's the only one they gave some made up name to.  Everything else has a Japanese name:  Katana, Wakizashi, Tanto.  It just bugs the crap out of me.  I honestly think it's just a simple (though all too common) mistake on the creator's part, kind of like how every two-handed sword is either a "Claymore" or "Zweihander" in fantasy games, when Claymores were a specific style of greatsword unique to Scotland, and Zweihander is just the German word for "Twohander."  And then it bleeds over into the real world and people start calling things all sorts of weird stuff.

And another thing is they didn't even make it up.  It came from D&D, and God only knows how they came up with some nonsense term like that.

I guess it's just a pet peeve that I've picked up from studying martial arts history.

Ronnie Magnum
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Blade texture almost

Blade texture almost completed:

http://i.imgur.com/rwXIgps.jpg

The edge on the end of the blade is too bright, I'm gonna darker it a little

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Looking great!  Also the end

Looking great!  Also the end is just fine, I wouldn't change it at all aside from making adjustment to the temper line that I suggested.  Remember the temper line is where the color of the steel is different, what you added was the spine/flat of the blade.

Ronnie Magnum
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JorgenGorgen wrote:

*sorry, didn,t read the post above*

Ronnie Magnum
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The blade is finished

The blade is finished

http://i.imgur.com/upSB6kT.jpg

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looks good!

looks good!

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Very nice!

Very nice!

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Works on meshes and textures

Final improvements of meshes and textures completed. Test mod will be uploaded soon.

 

Wakizashi ingame:

http://i.imgur.com/uJq0AxM.jpg

 

 

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very nice job ronnie :)

very nice job ronnie :)

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Thanks)

Thanks :)

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I cannot remember damascus

I cannot remember damascus weapons im Morrowind...

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This is not damascus steel by

This is not damascus steel by the way, it's just pattern welding (welding together layers of dark steel and lighter iron, and then polishing it to make the pattern). Damascus still is monosteel which produces the pattern while cooling down, due to the fact that it froms dendrite crystal forms, and looks like this. Just a note from a smithing pervert :P

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excellent beautiful work here

excellent beautiful work here :D
How do u make these? max, maya, xnormal etc?

Ronnie Magnum
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With my old friend Max :) I

With my old friend Max :) I will never regret him

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Alright! Test mod is ready

Alright! Test mod is ready for download:

http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=g817030d4c02c608a999481...

New katanas can be forged is "Steel" category

Will listen to any criticism and wishes :)

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Not to mention damascus would

Not to mention damascus would make a pretty rubbish Katana.
Looking at the picture of the Wakizashi I'm just now noticing how neat and clean the temper line is, almost as if it was drawn on with a computer...  ;)
Still looks nice, but if you really want to go all out on it, then that temper line should be closer to the edge, and not so neat and even a pattern.  Also it looks like the entire tip is the harder steel edge, rather than just the edge, like the temper line completely covers it, though I think that might just be a trick of the lighting because of the angle it's in the picture.

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I wouldn't say that such

I wouldn't say that such esoteric technicalities of the forging matter in the long run. Though I still stay with my previous suggestion, these are good, though they don't quite look Akaviri (they look Japanese, and those forging technicalities don't have to apply to a fictional world, as well). I'd recommend making each sword look unique, rather than using the same hilt for each of them. The akaviri normally either use a plain wooden hilt, or black, gold, and blue, with dragon decor. Most of these changes could just be done texture wise.

My first post here can act as the style reference :)

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It doesn't need to be exactly

It doesn't need to be exactly like akaviri style. Katanas, the shape and idea, were akaviri, but the coloring and everything else should be dunmeri. They are fine as they are and I believe finished

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Though in-game it is

Though in-game it is referenced that they are of actual akaviri make, plus, the original ones in-game looked pretty cool because they all looked different from each other.

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Denevir wrote:

Denevir wrote:

@JorgenGorgen: I apologize if my previous post seemed rude, and also know that I endorse your feedback on Oriental weaponry. Knowledge is always useful, no matter where or whom it comes from.



Nah man, you're good.  You were providing info from a source, nothing rude about it.
Ronnie Magnum
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First of all, excuse me for

First of all, excuse me for my English :)

 

@Denevir: Thanks for your opinion, but I cannot clearly understand what do you mean about "representation the birthplace of the Dovah". This can be interpreted differently. But still, let's not forget that the original Morrowind katanas are different from Akaviri counterparts and have their own style. I agree with Saivryn that different types of katanas in Morrowind differ primarily by the color of tsuba and grip. This mod is far from finalizing and I'd like to hear more detail opinions in order to guide my work more correctly. 

 

@JorgenGorgen: Point taken, I'll fix the blade zones.

And thanks to everyone!

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Hi Ronnie,

Hi Ronnie,

it looks good. When you're ready to release pm me so I can merge ;)

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Alright

Alright

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Test mod, version 2.

Test mod, version 2.

Improved the texture of the blade, now it looks a bit more adequate. Changed and a bit brightened tsuba texture. Some normalmap improvements.

Download:

http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=g2345429c0e8076ff999482...

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IMHO it looks great. I wish I

IMHO it looks great. I wish I had your talent.