[WIP] Laser Blades

Those Things

I'm creating a collection of highly detailed *ahem* laser sword props, that use VDBs for the oh-so-important glowing effect. This means that they will glow properly in any environment, from brightly lit to pitch black, without the need for bloom filtering, additional geometry shells, or any post work. The collection is about 50% done, and is very animation friendly. The energy blades themselves scale from their bases, allowing them to "emerge" from their handles, and distortion is driven by a single unsubdivided displacement map. A huge amount of the detail is texture driven, which means these props render lightning fast. Here's one of collection:

It's a work in progress right now, so I'm open to all sorts of requests and suggestions.

 

AnEye4Art

Cooooooooooooooool.

FSMCDesigns

Nice. I would be interested to know how different they are from this product https://www.daz3d.com/the-universal-weapons-prop-and-poses-for-genesis-3-and-8

Those Things

FSMCDesigns said:

Nice. I would be interested to know how different they are from this product https://www.daz3d.com/the-universal-weapons-prop-and-poses-for-genesis-3-and-8

The product you've linked to used bloom flitering to achieve its glow effect. This was clumsy, but how it had to be done before VDB support was added, but now it's no longer necessary. VDBs will achieve the characteristic glow expected from these weapons, in any lighting conditions, without effecting the other lights in your scene. They will also be visible against transparent backgrounds. And since they are their own object, they can be shaded differently from from their source object, and will look right at any camera angle. Lastly, this is a collection of weapons, so there will be more than two choices, and more than one blade style.

Those Things

Some more of the included styles and colors:

 

Gogger

I'm onboard - please feel free to separate me from some of my hoard! 

FSMCDesigns

Those Things said:

FSMCDesigns said:

Nice. I would be interested to know how different they are from this product https://www.daz3d.com/the-universal-weapons-prop-and-poses-for-genesis-3-and-8

The product you've linked to used bloom flitering to achieve its glow effect. This was clumsy, but how it had to be done before VDB support was added, but now it's no longer necessary. VDBs will achieve the characteristic glow expected from these weapons, in any lighting conditions, without effecting the other lights in your scene. They will also be visible against transparent backgrounds. And since they are their own object, they can be shaded differently from from their source object, and will look right at any camera angle. Lastly, this is a collection of weapons, so there will be more than two choices, and more than one blade style.

Thanks for the info!

Silent Winter

Very cool - and a creative solution to use VDB

Those Things

Silent Winter said:

Very cool - and a creative solution to use VDB

Thank you! I'm honestly surprised that no one got to it before I did.