Modeling & Texturing a Tactical Wand-Torch that Looks Like a Gun

Introduction

Hi, my name is Naoman Ahmad. I'm a 3D Character Artist currently at GAD Studios working on a game called Subsolar. I've previously worked on movies and series like Transformers 7, Stranger Things, Black Adam, and more under studios like MPC Film & Scanline VFX. I studied 3D animation at Centennial and went into modeling for VFX for several years while learning design on the side.

Eventually, I started designing my own props and characters. I grew up with a PS2, so naturally, I was drawn to the early Sony games like the Metal Gear series while also discovering the world of online animations on platforms like StickPage. Recently, I rediscovered these early inspirations as an adult, and since then, they have brought new meaning to how I express my work.

Along the way, I've met some incredible people who share the same passion, who have pushed me to create my best works. I wouldn't be where I am without them. This project is part of a larger world-building continuation of my previous project, The Spec-Ops Wizard, which you can see on my ArtStation.

Tactical Wand – Torch

For this project, I'll be going over everything about how I came up with the idea of this wand, modelling and texturing, animation, and, of course, the animated VFX. The Tactical Wand was a design-first project. I wanted to make a wand that evoked modern military tech and firearms.

I wanted anyone who sees this at first glance to think, "Oh, that's why it's tactical". And so I broke down what makes modern weapons look so modern, applied that to a stick, added some attachments, and called it a tactical wand. To start off with, I used ZBrush for the design of this project.

Plasticity or any other modeling software is great, but I enjoy the freedom I get with ZBrush, especially as a character artist. If we break down the wand design, we can see that it's made up of several parts. The Handle, trigger, barrel, a mounted laser, dials, and switches.

All distinct features of a traditional handgun. I set some hard rules for myself at the start of this design, then gathered references. It had to have a handgun-style trigger, a barrel that resembles a suppressor, and a mounted laser. These, to me, were key traits to sell the "tactical" look of this concept. And with that, I started blocking in the model.

From here, I broke it down into modular parts just like a real gun. I started by focusing on the handle and what I thought would make for good ergonomics while also experimenting with satisfying shape-y cut-ins.

I was stubborn about keeping the trigger parallel with the body until I received feedback from a friend telling me that tilting the trigger is not only more ergonomic to the hand, but also more visually appealing. And he was right. Remember to get feedback from others, they'll notice things you wouldn't.

As I was working on this, I made this mockup with fighter jet HUD graphics I found online to use as the "runes" to get a feel for the overall idea as a base, and made adjustments. Originally, I tried placing the laser mount on that front. It, of course, ended up looking too front-heavy, so I slid it a lot further back for what I thought would be better weight distribution.

To keep this prop from being just a cylinder with a pistol handle, I decided to add this cut-in along the barrel to have some break up the surface and for lighting.

Some dials and switches.

And of course, this is screwable back to place an AA battery or attach to a keychain or utility belt.

It's important to have a reference at hand when working in the design stage. I mainly referred to HK firearms (MP5K, Socom pistol) for my handle, and a Glock for my trigger. Here is a snippet of my references:

I had to go through multiple bad iterations before I stumbled onto something I liked. If there's one thing I want you to walk away with, it's that you have to get the bad designs out before you start coming up with good ones. Be prepared to scrap the first versions of your designs.

Cleanup & Low-Poly

Technically, I modeled this wand 3 times. Once in high-poly, once in sub-d, and once in low-poly. Most modelers are familiar with retopology, but with this project, I did something that I just call "rebuild". Retopology refers to recreating a high-poly model by snapping new geometry onto that surface and extruding out faces.

What I did here is poly-model on top of my high poly and only using it as a guide rather than a live surface. This sort of workflow is common in recreating scan models. Think of it like doing line art on top of a 2D sketch, and that's what I did here. I used ZBrush to brainstorm and iterate on my ideas, then I brought it into Maya to solidify them into something nice and clean.

As you can see, there are plenty of n-gons. And I don't care. Let me explain: The reasons everyone tells you n-gons are bad are half overblown. They don't deform properly for animations, they sometimes don't import properly into other programs like ZBrush, and they slightly warp the UVs when you subdivide them.

None of these affects me. Not only is this for baking and not the final mesh, but it's a hard surface model that doesn't need to deform. This model is just for baking to a low-poly, nothing else. If the n-gon doesn't affect the lighting, it's fine. Speaking of low-poly.

One benefit of having a sub-d high-poly is that it's ridiculously easy to get a low-poly cage out of it. Just duplicate it, delete the extra edges, and you're most of the way there. From there, you just weld away any geo that doesn't affect the model's silhouette. Then just hit triangulate.

Texturing

I mentioned earlier that I wanted this wand to read as a gun, so what better way to texture it like a gun? My main references were HK handguns and the MP5. These are made of modular plastics, perfect for a tactical asset. For the barrel, I referred to the VSS Vintorez rifle and your average suppressor.

For anyone interested in this kind of hard surface texturing, I recommend you check out Jason Oord's "Hand Drill tutorial" and Howel Ganuchaud's "Guide for Modern Gun Texturing," both available on ArtStation. My process for texturing is fairly standard. I start with building my base materials, that being metals and plastics.

I built them with higher-res Grunge Maps, Color variation, Roughness variation, and even Metalness variation. From there, I start using procedural generators and brushes to create my weathering detail, then I finish with using alphas to polish my details. One trick I like is to use anchor points to give a "bleeding" transition on my plastic scratches and text pressing on metal.

VFX

My inspiration for the VFX was the HUDs of fighter jets. I like their neon green minimalist ui. It's very recognizable as military. I also just really like Ace Combat.

Instead of After Effects, I used this free motion animator app called Cavalry. The pros of using Cavalry are its procedural aspects. You tie values together and animate them with just a slider. For example, I can connect the percentage counter text with a loading wheel and animate both of them with just one variable.

This program is definitely worth picking up if you plan on doing any kind of 3D VFX. From there, I bring those animations into Blender as mp4's, slap them onto some planes, and plug them into the emissive channel. From here, it's just about animating these planes on their own. Add keyframes to translation, rotation, and visibility.

Animation

The animation is simple for the most part. I grabbed this hand rig from Bogdan Zhukov, then I started with posing the hand in its firing position. From this, it's just a matter of keying the whole thing pointed down off-frame, then just bring it back up into frame and apply some animation principles.

Ease in and out, overlapping action. If you ever seen Harry Potter, you'll know it's all just a flick of the wrist. Add some left and right sway, and finish with some micro twitches in the fingers. That final touch is a reminder that a person is holding that wand.

Wrap it up with key and rim lights on a dark background.

And to finish off, I used Blender's grease pencil tool to make a vector that I'd later use in Photoshop to make a poster for fun.

Conclusion

All in all, this was a very fun project. The exploration of design tends to lead you down rabbit holes you never thought existed. For me, it was the assembly of gun parts and the ideas behind their ergonomics. I got to break down fighter jet huds and reconstruct them with magic in mind, something I couldn't even comprehend before I had the idea for this project.

I remember explaining this design to others before I started it, and they couldn't understand what I meant when I said, "Imagine a magic wand made by gun manufacturers". That was what pushed me to complete this project. Seeing their faces go "Oh, I get it now" was priceless. I'm excited to make more weird models like this in the future.

I'd like to thank both 80 Level and Emma Collins for letting me write this article. Going back to this wand to write about it gave me the chance to look at this project through a new lens and pick up on things about my workflow that I hadn't noticed before. Things that I will carry to my next projects. Be sure to check out my YouTube channel for similar content.

Naoman Ahmad, 3D Character Artist

Interview conducted by Emma Collins