Don't like Basic Black? Wish this sword made some noise? Well then DERIVE IT! Make your own version, and even sell it the catalog for a small markup over my original, and you can keep the extra profits for yourself! You can express yourself AND earn credits at the same time. How's that for a sweet deal? You'll need a full account on IMVU, as well as a copy of Previewer. You can find out more about Deriving on the IMVU's Education Center. Below are the templates you'll need to get started:

This is the Color texture for the main body of the Katana and Sheath. Use this if you want to make small changes to the design of the Katana Set, like changing it's color or adding decals:

This is the Wireframe of the Katana and Sheath. Use this if you want to create your own, completely new, skin from scratch. This is something best done by advanced users:

Here is the Specular map (or Shine) for the Katana and Sheath. A Specular map is a gray image that defines how reflective an item should be. This only works in IMVU Desktop and IMVU Mobile, and has no effect in IMVU Classic (as of March.2024):

Here is the Normals map for the Katana and Sheath. This image defines the height effect of the Texture map. DO NOT alter this image directly. If you wish to make your own custom Normal map, please look further below. This only works in IMVU Desktop and IMVU Mobile, and has no effect in IMVU Classic (as of March.2024):

When I make a Normal map, I start out with a grey version of my Texture map, with just the shadows and highlights. Consider the basic level of the surface to be 50% grey. Darken your image to drill down, and add white to build up. You can always get a basic Normal map just by making a copy of your basic texture and removing all color. This is what the Blade and Handle Normal map looked like before altering:

This is the Color texture of the Hilt on the sword:

This is the Wireframe of the Hilt:

This is the Specular map for the Hilt:

This is the Normal map for the Hilt. This was produced by taking the Hilt image and pushing it through GIMP's Normal map conversion, so if you wish to make a new Hilt design, you can do the same. As long as the dark parts go in and the light push out, your texture map can easily be converted by GIMP into a normal map:

To add sound, I highly recommend you download and use Audacity. It's a free sound editing tool that can export out OGG sound files. OGG sound files compress down to less then 1/10th the file size of WAV files. SO USE OGG FILES!!! You can download it here:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/