Taiga’s Claw | Real-Time Game Weapon (PBR, LODs, UCX Collision)

Taiga’s Claw is a high-fidelity tactical fantasy short sword created as a portfolio-focused real-time asset, with emphasis on visual credibility, structural clarity, and production-aware decision making.

The blade design is inspired by historical Sica-style curved weapons, combined with contemporary tactical proportions to achieve a distinctive yet functionally believable silhouette. The engraved golden tiger motif was used as a focal visual element to establish hierarchy, material contrast, and narrative identity, elevating the piece beyond a generic prop.

From a technical standpoint, the asset was developed with clean, controlled topology and a manually authored LOD chain to demonstrate scalability across different viewing distances. UVs are non-overlapping, consistently packed, and padded to support stable texture sampling and minimize mip-related artifacts. Particular attention was given to silhouette preservation and edge treatment to ensure the form reads clearly even at reduced geometric complexity.

The material setup follows a PBR Metallic/Roughness workflow, authored with an emphasis on believable surface response and material separation. Directional surface detail was introduced on the blade using anisotropic control maps to enhance the perceived quality of the metal and introduce subtle variation in highlights.

Scale and proportions were kept within real-world reference ranges, with pivot placement and orientation prepared for natural inspection, presentation, and attachment within interactive contexts. Custom simplified collision volumes were authored to reflect practical interaction boundaries without introducing unnecessary geometric complexity.

Overall, this project was approached as a portfolio-grade hero prop, prioritizing clarity of form, disciplined asset construction, and presentation that aligns with modern real-time content standards.