Animated Nemesis Force Sword

Out of interest for Warhammer 40K, I 3D modelled a nemesis force sword that the Grey Knights use. I created this 3D model in Blender, while utilising reference images to stay accurate to the main depiction of said weapon.

Once the main model was complete, I applied the materials to give it colour. I even drew a lightning pattern and merged that image with one of the materials so the lighting pattern could glow separately.

Then by following a tutorial, I created a lighting texture on a plane and set up multiple shader nodes to grant it a transparent background and have the texture appear to move over time to make it flow.

Once all of this was set up, I rigged and animated the sword to make it swing around a few times. I set up some bones that would control the sword trail and had these bones copy the movements of the sword, while offsetting the animation by one frame each so each bone follows behind the last.

With additional practice and understanding, I should be able to apply the trail effect to other future projects.