Maya - Modelling Mjolnir (Thor's hammer)



Mjolnir



SUMMARY

This model was fascinating to do because it involved using many different tools which took a lot of time researching on the internet. This was a very time consuming project not only because there was a lot to learn and a lot to do, but also because I decided to use a drawing program to create the curves for the ornament details. I found this technique on the internet whereby I could draw curves in a drawing program such as Photoshop or CorelDraw and then export them as EPS (encapsulated postscript) file. This was easier than trying to model the curves directly in Maya. However, I obviously had to install the drawing program and to do that I also had to upgrade my internet explorer and to do that...............(Further, I wish I had found out earlier that I could have used Photoshop to create EPS Files as then I would not have had to install CorelDraw and learn a bit of that because I already know Photoshop a little - Grrr!). In total with the reinstalling and learning a new drawing program and modelling Mjolnir I must have spent about 12 hours, but maybe only 6 hours was actually working in Maya. Although I spent a long time doing this, I feel a great sense of achievement as it is certainly a work of art.

Mjolnir - Blueprints

 I cropped out the blueprints of the front view and the side view of the hammer and attached them as a lambert material on 2 separate polygon planes (See picture below).

Blueprints in Maya



After, I started creating the head of the hammer using a polygon cube. I've extruded the hammer's head and also made some cuts resulting in the shape below.


Next, I continued to create polygons to complete the head of the hammer and also I started working on the ornamental details. For the ornamental details I've simply cropped them out from the blueprints and started creating curves on top on the cropped picture in CorelDraw. After I've done the curves I moved the pictures slightly to be able to see them better.





When I finished creating the curves I saved the document as an EPS file and imported it in Maya.
Because the curves are 2D I used the Bevel Plus tool to create polygons out of them.







Sadly I only managed to do the 2 ornamental details from above due to lack of time.
 The picture below shows the completed head of the hammer.





For the final bit I created the metal ridge, the cap and the looped leather using Sphere polygons, the extrude tool, the bevel tool and the smooth tool.


Final version of Mjolnir





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