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ElvenLongsword

I decided to make another attachment model. While browsing the various sections of the MPQs i came across some interesting pictures and skins. When i saw the human expansion victory screenie, i just thought "This blade must be used for a model!" and so i made this weapon.

The Elven Longsword is, although pretty common, a special piece of weapon. It's sharpness is nearly unique and the composition of the blade's material a secret. The weapon itself is perfectly balanced and surprisingly light-weight for a weapon of this size. It's commonly used from all kinds of Elves, but also from many others. A still undiscovered secret is why it is so widespread even among races like Orcs. Many good-standing lower ranking warriors are wielding such a blade. It's light-weight, reliable and very easy to handle, even for a novice swrodsman. As rumors have it, even some high-ranking undead and fallen are said to have such a blade as their main weapon.

Feel free to use both models in any imaginable way, including editing, if desired. No need to ask me for permission. Have fun with them! :wink:

EDIT 1: my special thanks to Sunchips for his detailed instructions and valuable information. All this helped me to improve both models (item & attachment a lot). Now the model (with his instructions) could be made much better and flawlesslier than before. The filesize also got a bit reduced. I also decided to make it into a two-hand sword, due to its size. :wink: And one thing i forgot:

******IMPORTANT:******
by downloading this ressource you receive 2 models: the actual model is the attachment version and the portrait file. The portrait file (should be named ''ElvenLongSwordItem_portrait'' or so) isn't a real portrait, it's just the item version for it. It should be imported as ElvenLongswordItem.mdx, not with the ending _portrait.mdx. The attachment version has been made to fit units of the size of the Paladin and partly villager models (fits both from size). The units that are going to use this attachment must have anims for 2-handed weapons. :wink:

Keywords:
elven blade, elven sword, elven longsword, longsword, sword, blade, elven weapon

EDIT 1: though approved in the past, i decided to update the model so that it fits into the New Hive's rules. It now has a death anim. At the end of the death anim it disappears. I intentionally made the death anim be nearly as long as the death plus dissipate anim from heroes, so that it doesn't disappear akwardly during the wielder's death.
Previews
Contents

ElvenLongsword (Model)

ElvenLongSword (Icon)

ElvenLongswordItem (Model)

Reviews
19:14, 5th Feb 2014 MiniMage: Low filesize, interesting design. Approved.

Moderator

M

Moderator

19:14, 5th Feb 2014
MiniMage: Low filesize, interesting design. Approved.
 
Level 30
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
1,029
It's nice but you have missed some tricks to cut down the model filesize.

First off, you have made the entire model twosided.

attachment.php


In the image above you can see how most faces are turned inside out. You could turn all these face right and only have the 'planes' twosided and not the entire model.

attachment.php
attachment.php


In the image above you can see the current- respectively the vertex count and face count after doing this following step: By simply welding vertices together that are inside each other the vertex count could be reduced significantly and also 2 faces (probably duplicates) have been removed. I also tried clearing smoothing groups and that removed some unnessescary information.

By doing the last two steps I was able to knock down the main model from 25kb to 7kb.

This might be good to know for the future :thumbs_up:
 

Attachments

  • temp.png
    temp.png
    15.3 KB · Views: 1,955
  • temp1.png
    temp1.png
    9.4 KB · Views: 1,937
  • temp2.png
    temp2.png
    6.9 KB · Views: 1,907
I've got no criticism on this:) Looks nicely done and the wrap is good. Great blade Uncle!
thx a lot :ogre_hurrhurr:

It's nice but you have missed some tricks to cut down the model filesize.

First off, you have made the entire model twosided.

attachment.php


In the image above you can see how most faces are turned inside out. You could turn all these face right and only have the 'planes' twosided and not the entire model.

attachment.php
attachment.php


In the image above you can see the current- respectively the vertex count and face count after doing this following step: By simply welding vertices together that are inside each other the vertex count could be reduced significantly and also 2 faces (probably duplicates) have been removed. I also tried clearing smoothing groups and that removed some unnessescary information.

By doing the last two steps I was able to knock down the main model from 25kb to 7kb.

This might be good to know for the future :thumbs_up:
well, i got a few questions about it.
1) which program did u use for this edit?
2) do u maybe know how this can be done in Milkshape?
3) can this maybe be done with Magos and MDLVIS?
4) if yes, how exactly?

I hope the top vertices are more aligned because right now it looks like a broken piece of glass. Cool model though.
lol ty :ogre_hurrhurr: i will do some re-edits in it. The filesize rly gets me 2 wonder now that it has been mentioned..... :vw_sad:

Looks more like a rusty pirate sword than a elven longsword. Nevertheless, it's okay. 3/5.
lol :grin: ty :ogre_hurrhurr:

Beautiful...I like it!
thx :ogre_hurrhurr:

Yeah a bit rusty, but good 3.6/5 i'd say.
ty again :ogre_haosis:
 
Level 30
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
1,029
You do it in milkshape :)

The first step about switching the sides of the faces and only make the planes two-sided takes a bit of patience and time as you have to select every black face and press Ctrl+Shift+F (Reverse vertex order) and it won't probably do much of a difference so if you don't want to put some time into it you can skip this step.

However the next steps are very simple. To weld vertices with identical positions you just select everything in the model and press Ctrl+W (Weld together). While you still have everything selected you can go to the 'Groups' tab to the right and find the 'Smoothing Groups' section which contains a button called 'Clear all'

Soooo..
 
You do it in milkshape :)

The first step about switching the sides of the faces and only make the planes two-sided takes a bit of patience and time as you have to select every black face and press Ctrl+Shift+F (Reverse vertex order) and it won't probably do much of a difference so if you don't want to put some time into it you can skip this step.

However the next steps are very simple. To weld vertices with identical positions you just select everything in the model and press Ctrl+W (Weld together). While you still have everything selected you can go to the 'Groups' tab to the right and find the 'Smoothing Groups' section which contains a button called 'Clear all'

Soooo..
Wow! Thx a lot! This was exactly what i wanted! Now that you mentioned that Ctrl + Shift + F i think i know why it has so many awkward faces. I am not sure about the welding hotkey, i think it's Ctrl + N. Anyways, thx a lot for the info. Now that i know how it works i think i will do it asap. I am not that sure as of now if it is such a good idea to weld certain vertices together...... but let's give it a try :wink:

Nice. I like that.
Thx :ogre_hurrhurr:
 
Np :) don't confuse it with 'Weld to nearest'. Using weld together is totally riskfree it won't mess anything up.

Edit: You probably shouldn't weld together vertices on a model that you have animated though (after using zero joints)
Thx for that info too. :thumbs_up: This one wasn't animated and i didn't use the "Weld to nearest" function anyways. Oh, and that was a fail from my side: Ctrl + N is the "Snap together" function. :vw_sad: I confused it with "Weld together". :goblin_cry:
 
Neither is it to be confused with that function hah you don't want to end up with everything sucked together :grin: well good luck and I hope the information comes in handy in the future :thumbs_up:
Yes, that's true. :wink: Oh yes, it does! In fact, it's not only handy, but essential. :thumbs_up: Thx again. :ogre_hurrhurr:

Now it gets a 4.2/5 from me:)
ty :ogre_haosis:
 
The filesize is lower than it says under the download link. Also you can choose not to use the item model but just the attachment.

I know; the .zip includes both an item and an attachment. It still does have a higher file size than your typical attachment, but, as I mentioned earlier, I do think this one definitely looks good enough to justify its file size.
 
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