Dagger Prototype

 

Dagger Prototype

Starting this project out, our goal was to create a 3D object that held significant meaning to us in some form. I had a few ideas, a teddy bear, a shoe, and a dagger. I chose the dagger because I figured it would be an interesting test of my abilities and what I could create. I started by drawing out the dagger, and modelling that, however turned to be unsuccessful and I wasn't pleased with how it came out. Then I moved on to the next type, and found this to be much too difficult of a design, forgot to save it and restarted once more anyways. I finally came to my last design, and found that when designing it in Rhino, I made it much too difficult and now know to simplify more in order to achieve a clean outcome. I will alter the design to be more simple in my final. Once I printed the pages out I tried to make sure the sizes were all the same, however even though I printed copies multiple times the side pieces I made were wrong and wouldn't fit the edges of the dagger snug enough to not leave holes. I also made too many parts to the edges which proved difficult to construct with the size limit as they were too small to be made properly. The edges would not fit within the constraints of the dagger, and I learned a better way to create the edges to make the dagger look cleaner. I think I will combine both styles of the dagger in my final piece as this one proved to be unsuccessful, however this made me learn how to design an object while also thinking about the physical parts.

This is the first sample I created from my sketch:

Unfortunately I didn't take any progress pictures of the second creation, so this was the end result for the third instead.

Here is the trusty handle:

The unwrapped forms of the dagger:

Third attempt at building the dagger, the smaller pieces on the sides were supposed to go in between the top pieces to connect them together, however they weren't the right size and couldn't fit properly.

Here is the dagger standing up, I learned a lot from making the prototype and the things I will change as a result in my final creation.

For the next dagger, I think I will stay similar to the handle I created here however I will change the top of the dagger to simplify it. Instead of trying to emulate a curved dagger I will instead go for a more angular dagger to make it less complicated and look much cleaner. This will allow me to focus on the construction itself rather than just the idea, as I learned through this prototype.