Practicing alpha channels

The assignment was to create a planar map with an alpha channel.

The Targa image was made from multiple images from CGTextures.

 They were then highlighted in the Alpha channel and applied to a plane.

Sword and Shield design and Creation

The assignment was to brainstorm, design, sculpt and texture two swords and shields.

The design for the sword and shield was influenced by a mood board that has a variety of weapons and shields of different types. 

The first design was based on the stereotypical sword and shield design seen in the middle ages. This shape is basic enough to resemble a sword and be easier to make in 3DSMax.

This sword is based on a combination of the Roman Gladius and the stereotypical Claymore.

The second design was based on a more obscure weapon not pictured above -  the Tonfa. This blunt weapon was designed to be a versatile defensive and offensive weapon that would allow the wielder to change how it was held extremely quickly, allowing them to catch weapons, strike opponents or protect their thumb/ forearms.

The shield was made in a similar style to a Mobile Suit Gundam shield. The simplistic design is a simple one to make, but can have a different style applied to it.

The first sword was made by altering basic primitive shapes, the blade taking little work to get into shape.

The hilt was a similar affair; a box that had a bend modifier applied then collapsed, and the X axes faces scaled down to create the points.

The grip and pommel were made with cylinder primitives which were manipulated to a more realistic shape. They were not attached to make UV mapping easier.

The shield is a simple box primitive that had its faces divided.

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The tonfa grip and 'hilt' were made from cylinder and box primitives respectively.

The tonfa blades are made the same way, but with some faces bridged to give the blade a smaller frame. One was completed then duplicated and mirrored.

The shield was made from a box model that was extruded and scaled multiple times to achieve the shape I needed.

The UV maps were made to be as close to the faces' dimensions as possible.

When the textures were applied, they required a little work to match the geometry properly.

When rendered with Ambient occlusion: