BLADE: An early and simple Sketchup model, rendered in FormZ. At the time, I wanted to make a simple sword, but as realistic as I could. I worked hard to get the metal blade sheen to look right (not completely happy with it, but it works). I was also experimenting with FormZ's shaders and lighting with this model.
The best effect here, and one which I've used in a subsequent model, is the "wet glass" look of the surface upon which the blade rests. It looks like a black, wet, and very slick surface; highly reflective, but appearing to have pools or puddles of liquid breaking up the smoothness of the surface. The sword handle is a simple cylinder shaded with a "worn" wood effect. Though it's not easily noticed in this rendering, the sword hilt is shaded with a beaten brass material.
