FFXIV – Antiquated Murgleis Sword

A commission project for a client to recreate the “Antiquated Murgleis” sword and magical focus orb (listed separately here) from the online game Final Fantasy XIV.

The low-poly model was ripped from the source game and used as a reference. The entire sword was remodeled in high poly detail for 3D printing in multiple parts. Our client didn’t want any kind of metal reinforcement inside the sword, because they were concerned about being stopped at conventions or other events by security or metal detectors. This made figuring out assembly a bit of a challenge, as I didn’t have access to a 3D printer big enough to do the blade as a solid part. Ultimately, I ended up printing the sword in multiple sections that could fit on my smaller print bed, and ran a trio of carbon fiber rods up the spine of the blade to help keep the parts aligned and stable. Even despite this, I ended up fiberglassing the sword blade to make sure that it’d be durable enough to hold up to being swung around a bit.

The parts for the hilt and quillions were modeled with interlocking key-and-socket designs to make sure that each component was oriented correctly. These were also fitted with carbon fiber rods to help reinforce and stablize the core of each section.

For finishing, I worked with a professional painter who helped me airbrush the glow effect onto the blade, and also picked out wrought-iron highlights on the front shield and quillions with a bit of careful drybrushing.