Sacrificial Dagger

Inspiration

The idea was to make a dagger with an ominous presence, one that portrayed a menacing image to the observer.

Phase 1: The Concept 

The process of creating a concept started off with just freely sketching a couple of different daggers and knives with unique properties in Photoshop that made them stand out. It wasn't a very time-consuming process, soon after comparing the different sketches I decided to stick with one of them and continue developing it. 

The jagged edges of the blade and the free flowing curves of the handle gave everything a nice contrast, which best fit the theme I was going for. The gemstones you see on the handle are what give the dagger it's supernatural powers, hence why I decided for them to emit a red glow, along with the sigil. 

The goat head is what ties everything together, joining the blade and the handle where they meet. From a design perspective, it's sole purpose was to give a more ominous and intimidating feel to the dagger. Then at the bottom of the handle, we have a golden base in any case the dagger might want to be displayed upright - while also serving as a matching detail with the sheath.

Below you can see the 4 initial sketches - and also a process view of the sketch I decided to stick with.

For the sheath, I started out with a couple basic shapes until I landed on one I thought paired well with the dagger. I decided the final design of the sheath to have a brushed iron body with the tip and base having a gold part extruding out, embellished with engravings.

For the color palette the main tones were red/brown/burgundy on the handle of the dagger, gray with a red undertone for the blade, and a light bone-ish beige color for the goat head.

The idea developed as I continued refining the concept, at which point I decided I was also going to make a scene for the blade, some sort of dungeon with an altar in the middle where rituals were held, as well as some other props to tie the whole thing together. There is no concept art for the scene, it was blocked out directly in Maya. 

Phase 2: Blockout and Sculpting

For the Blockout, I decided the best course of action was to block out the simpler shapes in Maya and leave the more advanced shapes to block out in ZBrush.

I started off in Maya by blocking out the blade of the dagger, using the Create Polygon tool, following the guidelines of the concept to get the shape I wanted, then continuing on by using soft select to manipulate the edges into a convincing blade shape.

When I was satisfied with the shape of the blade, I moved onto blocking out the handle using the same principle. I mirrored the objects on both axis, to ensure everything was perfectly symmetrical. For the horns of the goat head, I used a sweep mesh, manipulating the curve to get the best shape of the horns, along with adjusting the taper curve values to get the form I was satisfied with. The gems on the blade were made by using the cube primitive, beveled and adjusted, nothing special.

The goat head was left for ZBrush, as it was a more organic shape that would be much more time consuming to try and block out in Maya.  

In ZBrush, I imported the FBX files I had blocked out in Maya and continued with blocking out the shape of the goat head, which I continued to refine until I was satisfied with the result. After that was done, I subdivided everything to start creating the details and scratches. On the blade I used a couple Orb scratch brushes to make the blade look more battle scarred.

On the goat head and horns I also put in a couple scratches as well as used the Orb_Rock_Noise brush to give the head a textured look. The handle of the blade needed a lot of work refining the shape, which I did using the Trim Dynamic and HPolish brushes. After refining for a while, I was satisfied with the result of the blade and handle and moved onto the sheath.

The sheath didn't need much work done in ZBrush, as the initial shape I was satisfied with. I continued by making the engravings on the sheath, going by the concept art, which I wasn't very satisfied with, so I instead chose to use a couple of ornamental alphas which yielded a much better result. 

The Scene

For the blockout of the scene, I initially started in Maya, blocking out a very rough idea on how the room would look, beginning with 2 adjacent brick walls, one of which had a door, and the other some sort of half-circle shaped ledge going into the wall, that had chains hooked up on each side.

For the floor I decided to block it out of square tiles, offsetting their height slightly to give the room a more medieval look. Joining the 2 walls I created a pillar made by stone bricks, each one different in shape. I made the door out of 4 vertical planks, and 2 horizontal metal pieces keeping it together. Later on I added the hinge, and a cylindrical shape in the middle of the door.

In the middle of the room I decided to create the altar which the dagger would be displayed on, sitting on top of a book, which in itself was on top of a bookstand.

In the center of the altar, I used nCloth to create some sort of cloth that fit the scene well. Exporting out of Maya and into ZBrush, I started off by creating a set of around 15 different stylized bricks, which I would use to build the walls, rotating them and placing them meticulously to give the illusion that every brick was unique, because sculpting every single brick in the scene would be much less time efficient.

For the bricks I mostly used trim dynamic to give the edges a stylized look, and HPolish with a square alpha to make some bricks appear broken/chipped. 

I applied the same principle into detailing the pillar between the 2 walls. I continued onto the door, carving ridges into each plank to give a convincing wooden look. Later on, I added 3 more props to the scene, a human skull, a candle holder, and a bronze chalice, to tie everything together.

After the high poly sculpts were done, I decimated them and exported them out of ZBrush and back into Maya for Retopology and UV Mapping. 

Phase 3: Retopology and UV Mapping

The retopology process was essentially the dull part of the work, with trial and error being most of the process to ensure optimal edge flow throughout all the meshes, retaining the most detail while making sure to not go too heavy on the polycount, while also looking out for ngons and anything that would cause trouble during the baking process.

As for the UV Mapping, it was rather easy as the shapes themselves did not give much opportunity for error. 

Phase 4: Baking and Texturing

The first bake went well, which was a relief to say the least. As I started out by laying out the first base colors of the dagger, I was satisfied seeing how well my project was coming together. I stuck to the original color palette, creating a metal material for the dagger's blade, a matte-ish burgundy material for the handle, and a bone-ish material for the goat head and horns.

 I continued trying a lot of generators and grunge maps until I was satisfied with the result of the dagger. I also added an emissive channel which I used to give a red glow to the holes in the handle, and an orange glow to the sigil in the middle of the handle. 

To make the sigil itself I exported it as an alpha out of the Photoshop file I had created the concept in and used a black mask for it. 

Moving onto the sheath, I stuck with 2 of the initial materials that I had depicted in the concept, a dark brushed metal for the body of the sheath, and a golden material for the 2 extruding parts.  

The Scene

Texturing the scene was mostly procedural, with the intention of going for a stylized look. A lot of curvature maps, AO maps, layers for color variation, and the most overpowered tool for texturing stylized assets (in my opinion) the Blur Slope filter. 

Phase 5: Lighting and Rendering  

Now for the part I find most enjoyable, lighting and rendering. I imported everything into Marmoset, moved every prop into position, and started playing around with lighting until I found a look that I liked for the scene. 

I used a camera with a very high focal length for the render of the scene, creating a couple different shots from different angles until I got some that I was satisfied with.

I made sure for the dagger to be the main subject of the image, while also not undermining the scene. 

I also rendered the dagger and it's sheath alone, showcasing their features close-up.

Conclusion:

The whole journey of creating an original asset was very beneficial for me as an artist, as I learned something new every step along the way; from the concept to the final renders, coming out of this project with a more sharpened skillset.