The Sword of Omens

Meet Chris S.! He’s a major Thundercats fan who works with instructor Matthew as part of Game-U’s Accelerate program. When Chris first tackled 3D modeling in Maya, he and Matthew decided to create a fabulous, Thundercats-inspired 3D model of the Sword of Omens.

So important is the Sword of Omens that the Thundercats’ main character is seldom seen without it. Chris, aware of this burden of responsibility, invested hours of effort and skill to recreate it in Maya’s modeling software. First, he and Matthew designed the basic shape of the sword, taking length, width, and height all into account. (It’s a 3D model, after all.) Once they fine-tuned every vertice and line, they moved on to base materials for the gems and two different kinds of metal featured in the Thundercats’ cartoon sword. Chris needed more than base materials to add the black engravings on the hilt, however, so he hand-made the black texture himself using Paint.NET. Then he imported a Thundercats logo from the web and incorporated it into another red texture. A little UV unwrapping to properly texture the model itself, and… Voilà! The Sword of Omens! Chris and Matthew plan on printing it soon.

Throughout the process of modeling, Chris S. impressed instructor Matthew with his tenacity and good attitude. By listening to Matthew’s instructions and remembering the situations to which they applied, Chris worked steadily towards independence. Eventually, as Chris picked up on patterns, shortcuts, and procedures, Matthew could limit his instruction and give Chris a freer hand with their project. Modeling the Sword of Omens brought Chris that much closer to becoming a modeler himself!

Well done, Chris, and thanks for sharing this project with us! We look forward to seeing you develop as a modeler, a game designer, and soon a sound designer. (That’s your next project, right?) Stay in touch!