18th Century Man-of-War

[color=white]Hello Everyone,

                     I was wondering if anyone would be willing to donate a bit of their time to offer some advice on a model of a 18th century English warship that I've been working on. 
                     
                     First of all, does anyone find this subject interesting? I know ropes and planks of wood can be a bit boring. My goal is to demonstrate the complexity and sophistication of the rigging, as this stuff was the cutting edge in its time. There are also a number of human like carvings on the figure head and the stern plate, and Ill post renders of those once I get started on them. 
                     
                     Secondly, I could really use some advice on the context and the environment. My goal is to light it with track lighting like it would be in a museum, and give it a glass case with a black cloth background. I'm trying to get the details and texturing to make the boat look 200 feet long, but the lighting and environment to convey about 8 feet. 
                     
                     So my end goal for output would be a gallery with high resolution stills showing overall views, with and without sails, and close ups of important features like the carvings and mast tops. Does anyone have ideas as to other ways I could present the model? 
                     
                     Thank you very much for your time,
                     AJ[/color]
                    
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                     [img]http://postimage.org/image/cn1dpc2pd/[/img]

First off, the modeling is superb imho…that is quite some work!
Ok as far as presenting this…if i am reading your post right you prefer this to be a model replica like one might see at a museum and you looking for ideas on how to portray this in your final render. Hmm…maybe you can have this on a desk or book shelf that is part of a museum exhibit depicting that era of time. I live in FL so i will give you an example of this, Thomas Edison Winter Estates http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/ when you go inside you are stepping back in time so you can see his work environment, his desk, his chair, his library…well you get the point Anyway why not do the environment similar to my link, but in this case it was the ship’s captain’s home or a lighthouse keeper’s home. The ship can be displayed on their desk with maybe some nautical maps, compass and pencils scattered around. Or like i said on a bookcase or even a pedestal that is in a room from the same time era. Someone really loves this particular ship even enough so to have an exact replica model to remind them of the ship’s beauty or the stories and adventures this ship has had.

The shear amount of detail you have enables you to have a fly through of the complete exterior and possible interior of the ship as well (this might be used as a separate project based of your initial idea for the ship and would be a strong portfolio piece to showcase your knack for details and historical accuracy).

I posted a link with some issues on the texturing…the wood planks look curved on the areas marked in red markup

Great stuff and looking forward to what you come up with!!!

Looks good, but a little too clean (texture) in my opinion.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts, goatrape. I really appreciate your thougts about placing the model in a more personal environment rather than a sterile museum. It would really help convey the model as more of a prized and cherished possession, and add a nice human element to the presentation. Also, thanks for the link and for spotting those UV errors. Ive been looking at this model for so long, sometimes things like that slip.

PDK, I agree about the clean look. My goal once I finish the model is to make it look like its been out to sea for a few years. The hull that is currently painted white will be covered in copper plating, and will have barnacles and seaweed growing on it The metal fittings would be leaking a bit of rust, and the hull above water would have salt residue on it. The HMS Surprise sitting in San Diego is my main reference. Thanks for your thoughts. I'm glad other people want to see it a bit dirty as well.
[http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/4474508826_42467be547.jpg](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/4474508826_42467be547.jpg)
[http://www.fortogden.com/surprise_pics.html](http://www.fortogden.com/surprise_pics.html)

Here are a few renders of my progress so far on the rigging. Ive got a small pile of books and a large collection of photos of the HMS Victory to help me along. My long term dream is to have it fully rigged, but my immediate task is to finish the fore main sail. Once I finish that, Ill apply the technique I learned to the other 27 sails. 

Thanks again for having a look,
AJ

click to view full size

No problem man! Just wanted to help, i think your model is turning out extremely well and I am looking forward to your progression…no matter which way you intend to take the final product…my idea for a background setting was just an idea and that is all. Maybe even do an animated scene with it doing a skirmish with another vessel and submitting it to the history channel…who knows!
Trust me, i know when staring at something for so long you overlook things and it is a good idea to get another set of eyes…guess that’s why we are all here

Happy modeling and keep us posted!!!

Wow, that’s absolutely fantastic! Sick of details but very balanced and elegant, can’t wait to see what you’re going to do renderwise…

insane level of details …
subscribing

oh, i love ships this looks great so far!
please, make some nice shot on a sea… some storm or stuff like that

Thanks jojojo, turin, goatrape and xtrm for the kind words! I would love to eventually do a shot of her under full sail during a storm. Somthing like this, along the style of an oil painting…

http://www.oilpaintingun.com/list.asp?list_id=6

Here is a small update that shows the completed rigging on the foresail, jib, and spiritsail. Still working on the canvas itself. All the yards and ropes are fully rigged, and I’m hoping to show a bit of slack and pose by angling the yards about 15 degrees. Need to get this done so I can start making some fancy renders with the model!

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Probably my biggest challenge so far has been trying to get the statues and carvings going. Can anyone spot the individual carvings in the lower drawings?

    I think for the figurehead, I see the main guy, a cherub with a flag, and a mermaid swimming in seaweed. 
    
    I'm having trouble dissecting the stern pate carvings, but I think there's a central bust of a man, two women laying down, two cherubs, and then two warriors on the edge. 
    
    I'm a lousy character artist, but I've put together a collection of about 100 photos of similar carvings, and I'm attempting to make a collage of hi res photographs over the outline of the stern plate to make a new reference I can model from. Its all a bit of a mess, but maybe one day I can "figure" it out.:rolleyes:

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I don’t find really big details references on carving for your ship… but you can take teh base from others

http://modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9383&sid=c37f63db15ebde34837c7a8d9d4b73fb

Hey Guys,

   Thanks for that link, Samuel! Definitely mined that thread and added those images to my carving ref collection. Ive had a hard time digging up references for the carvings, so I haven't made much progress on them. 
   
   Here is update on my progress with the canvas, and a quick collage of some of my reference material. Things are starting to get a bit sloppy, so Ill probably spend the next few weeks cleaning things up before I start adding more ropes. 
   
   Thanks again for taking a look!
   AJ
   
   Click to view full size

Dirt/Texture Ref

   Light Ref
   [[img]http://s11.postimage.org/ynf7djwwv/Lightref.jpg[/img]](http://postimage.org/image/ynf7djwwv/)

Hey guys,

Here is a small update showing more rigging on the bowsprit and fore mast. I think I’ve got about 90% of the bowsprit done, and around 70% of the fore mast. I re-did the main sail in a much higher resolution, and Ill post my progress on that soon. I also re-lit the scene.
click to view full size.

Sill lots of work to be done on the canvas. Its pretty high resolution, so I’ve got plenty of detail to work with on the simulations. I’m using NCloth in Maya.

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This is awesome! As for presentation: I like your ideas, but I think model this good deserves bit more - at least a shot of it in open sea, with guns blazing at some poor Frenchmen ;). Basically a hero naval battle shot from pirates of the caribbean/Master and commander style. Damn hard to do, though, but maybe worth it?
Anyway, will keep an eye on this thread

Thanks Andrzej for the kind words! You guys are definitely convincing me that I need to make some still images of it under sail and on the water. I think Ill leave it under studio lighting while I’m working on the model, but as soon as it done, Ill start getting it staged for a hero shot.

I could use some feedback on my sail attempt. This is about my 15th attempt at this, and I think I may finally have it. I just want to make sure everything is well before I make the other 30 sails. I want the folds and wrinkles to be in the geometry, so I made the mesh pretty high resolution. There’s also a bunch of ropes that attach to the edge and middle of the sail, so I don’t think I can get away with a displacement map.

(click to enlarge)
3 different frames from my cached simulation.

Main reference.

My Maya scene. The white map is the bend resistance.

Hey guys,
I’ve taken a break from the rigging and sails, and have been working on the figurehead. Would anyone be willing to offer some feedback on my progress? I’m using the vitruvian man as reference for the body proportions, and various Greek and Roman statues for the face. I’m going to pose it based on a photograph of a model of a figurehead.

My plan for the beard is to model the large clumps as separate objects, and then eventually merge everything into one object. Once I’ve got that, Ill try to cut everything into a seamless mesh, and then weld it into the face. For the pose, I’m thinking ill build a basic FK rig with locators, and do a rough skin weight to that. Once I’ve got the arms bent, Ill try to tweak the mesh to make the pose believable. I dont have any plans to do any Zbrushing right now, but if anyone has any thoughts on my workflow, I would greatly appropriate the input.

Thanks again for having a look.

-AJ

Click for full size

Click for full size

But the model isn’t textured O_o

AJ1, the model is absolutely superb. It’s the kind of model I’d expect to be given to texture on a Hollywood film - your attention to detail is incredible, you’ve done such a great job on this.

My only concern is your concept - I think it’d be a waste to do this up like a museum piece. This puppy should be out sailing on the wild ocean.

Anyway, you deserve some attention, so I’m plugging this on the front page.

why not do both?