I had some variants regarding what to design: a concept skin of a Valorant rifle, a Valorant dagger/knife which is also connected to history and Japanese culture or concept of a futuristic car which could be used in a race game such as Need for Speed.
But I decided to design the Dagger which is connected to the “Kunai” type of knives in 3D for a FPS game.
Stimulus
Client brief
As I wanted to work in a specific company, to develop “Valorant” with them, they have asked me to design a similar 3D model of the dagger that already exists in game, they wanted to see how interested am I in this job and how good my skills in 3D modelling are. I was sure that it won’t affect the laws as being a violent weapon, I am designing it to show off my skills, it is not a sketch of a real weapon that could be used to attack someone.
Own Brief
I have decided to design in 3D a dagger which will be used in a 3D FPS Game as this can target not only such audience as gaming audience but, artistic knives fans, collectors, Japanese culture fans. Maybe this 3D model will impress some companies which develops games and would be interested in it.
Market Research
A dagger is a historical knife, it has decorations on it, it is not just a flat knife, it has different forms and shapes. (First image below)
If we talk about kunai, it is more popular in Japanese history. (Second image below)
Ideas
Brainstorming
I was inspired to design this dagger as I am a little fan of Japanese culture and unusual knives, but even more I was inspired by Valorant as this game include in itself elements of every country, the graphics are simple but pleasant for people eyes. My ideas came from the sources below:
Sketches
I have done a sketch of what I want to design in houdini. As I said the inspiration came from Valorant, and I want to try to develop that dagger all by myself. On the sketch I’ve done you can see a dagger which reminds us the kunai a lot, it has ring that splits the blade and the handle.
Concept Drawings
A concept drawing is the same as the sketch, it is representing the main idea of what we want to represent but the concept drawing include more details than the sketch. Below is the dagger I want to design in 3D, you can see it from more angles.
Storyboard
A storyboard is a list of illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualising a motion picture or animation. What I want to do with the dagger, is to make it rotating and levitating in air, but also I would like to try to design an animation like in the video below. So the storyboard I can show is the dagger rotation from different angles, or also I could do a storyboard of step by step drawing my concept, as it is also considered a storyboard.
Level Diagrams
Level Diagrams are also know as DFDs. A level 0 DFD is a diagram where all the processes are represented in short. There is also Level 1 Diagrams, there are already more details, and are represented sub-processes.
2D/3D Architectural Drawings
2D drafting has the same input and output interface, whereas constructing a 3D model is achieved using a different interface. In my project the 2D drawing is the first image below, the 3D model can be viewed on this site.
Legal and Ethnical Consideration
Legal – Copyright
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. In my case it is for educational purposes. A dagger is not owned or made by someone, there are many different daggers, and I just got inspired from a specific source, and I will design it by my own and it will be different to the one from what I got inspired.
Ethical
- Confidentiality – It depends if the object you develop is public of private, sometimes you might need to contact the person or company who designed that object, and if you want to use it in your own purposes you might need their permission, and the product owners can make you pay fees if you want to use their creation.
- Decency – The 3D model of my dagger could look offensive and violent for someone. As a designer I would never create and publish something like that, violent or something that could affect someone and give him thoughts about using it in violent purposes. I am following the PEGI rating as the object I am designing will be used in a game that is played by kids.
- Race – All the people and races can see my 3D model different, someone can see it as a art composition, someone can see it as a cool tool in game. It is used by all the people in game however they just want it.
- Gender and Sexuality – This part also has impact over my 3D model, because someone could think this can be used only by men, or the game where this model is included might be only for men. But I assure you that this object, in game can be used by any gender and it doesn’t matter who use it, it will be used the same for everyone. So no one could be offended by this section, as it can be used by any gender.
- Religion – Religious people could also see my model only as a weapon, but as I said it is not, it does not carry the duty to offense anyone.
Specification
Target Audience
The target audience for this model are people older than 12 years old, FPS gamers, collectors or artistic knife fans. My 3D model take part of the dagger and kunai type of knife, so it could also be interesting for anime fans or those who are interested in ancient Japanese or ancient Korean culture.
Key Visual Themes
So, as the inspiration came from Valorant, I want to design a similar dagger. It will have some different details, those could be changed shape, it could be sharper or the handle could be other, changed colours and animation.
Storyboards
The storyboard of the animation, must be developed when you have done the 3D model. As I think you need to finish the main object to start adding to it modifications such as visual effects or animations. My storyboard will have some frames, where you can see how the dagger will approximatively rotate.
Constraints
- Polygon Count – is very important in 3D modelling and rendering and in the future use of model as well. Always is better to have less polygons, if you have many polygons it will affect your rendering time, it can take a lot, also it can affect the FPS of the game for what you’ve developed the model, if you have many polygons it requires a computer with higher performance, that is why is better to have less polys.
- Image Resolution – this is also a very important factor as if we have a higher resolution the image is clean and it is pleasant for eyes, while if we have lower resolution we will be able to see little squares instead of a flat surface and flat edges, try always to have a big resolution.
- File Size – it is better when the file size is not big, because it is easier to work with it and easier to “transport” it. Try to have as less GB as you can when you design something, but do not sacrifice such things as resolution and quality, always do everything the best as you can, it is better to have a high quality product than one that has less GB.
- File type – it is determined by the app you are using, file types has different endings, in my case it will be OBJ as I am designing with Houdini.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to say that when you want to design a model in 3D you must be sure it is don’t break any laws, you must be aware to not offend any races, religions, or genders. Not less important is your creativity and also you must remember that product quality is more important than it weight. I mean it does not matter that much how many GB has your file if your 3D model is good, you need to remember the things about resolution and polygons to do a high quality object. After I did got all this knowledge I can go ahead with the 3D model of the dagger I wanted to design, I have now the concepts and drawings on the computer and ideas in my head. What I need to do beside the 3D model is the storyboard of the animation, which will not be hard to do as I know how it must look.
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