Heya guys, I've been working on this katana for a few days now, and it's coming together reasonably well. It looks like it's lacking something to me though... you chaps have any ideas? I've modelled it in Rhino, the render is in Vue.

heyas; the blade should have some kinda angle down the middle of the sides,where it goes from the thicker spine, to the thinning of the edge. katanas also have a 'cloud' sharpening pattern, which is sorta a wavy line along the length. the hilt looks a tad short to me. they are also usually wrapped; and the end cap should be the same material as the guard, there. (which looks very nice, btw!)

I feel it lacks engravement a lot. One can see the texture on the handle isnt even bumpmapped. also, I couldnt tell which material the handle is made of. Gold, brass, plastic? And why the reflection blur on the blade? Is it made of polished steel or isnt it? Just my .02 Harry

The handle is bumpmapped, just can't see it 'cause it's a dark texture. Handle is meant to be quite dull since it's quite old, but yeah I agree it needs more specular. Rarely do katana's bear engravings. I just had a quick look at my sword, and the temper marks have a blurred reflection, but the rest of the blade doesn't. Dunno how I'll simulate that though...

How about a cloudy greyscale pic for a specular mapping?