Sail Ship wood planks

#1

Hello,

I have an idea involving destruction of a sail ship, so now I’m trying to find a most efficient way to model it. I want to make wood planks visible on fracture, and behave like ship is actually made of wood planks, not just a solid piece of wood.

So, the first approach I see - is to model or generate each plank. It is obvious that it would not be efficient to model each plank by hand, so I wonder how can I generate those over a ship mesh? What is the best way to do it?

My friend suggested me to use Houdini, well, I guess that’s a good idea, but I’m just starting to learn Houdini. So I wonder if there are ways to generate those plank in 3ds max? Like some sort of scatter or deform technique?

I also know that, for example, in RayFire you can set your desired shape of fractured pieces without modelling them.

Well, in general I just want to see your opinion and your possible approaches to this task in different software packages. I’m currently working in 3ds max, maya and learning houdini, so I’m not attached to one software. I’m not looking for something particular, but wish to see, i’d say, “A big picture”: general techniques and approaches to this problem :wink:

Thanks and sorry if something sounds unclear, I will try to make it clearer if that’s the case o.o

#2

Model the ship as one piece, with the topology following the direction of the planks, then split each ring off into a new piece of geometry and extrude.

#3

Well, thats when I got a feeling I need to slam my head into a wall…

I mean that’s pretty obvious solution, why did not I think about it… Thanks!

Anyway I still wonder if there are any other ways to do it, their possible cons and pros

#4

Or in Max you could go the floor generator script route…LINK

#5

You might want to check this thread
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=43&t=1073225

#6

Cool script, but does not look like it can bend those properly to the shape of the ship\boat.

Thanks, I will dig into that thread, but it look like he is just modelling them manually and using deformers to bend them into shape, does not look like an efficient approach, what if I need to make more than just one ship?

Anyway, thats one more way to do it, thanks again! :slight_smile:

#7

I would project the planks in that case then, use ShapeMerge or the like, then split the parts and use the Shell modifier, perferably as an instance, not extrude.

#8

Hey man,

It depends how much detail you want, and how big your boat is. If your going for a really simplified stylized model with a procedural texture, its probably best to make a mesh and extrude your planks like others have mentioned.

The planking for a big wooden ship is pretty complex. The pattern changes every 3-4 planks, and there are lots of complicated joints between planks at different points on the hull. There are also points where two planks split apart so others can be added, and points where two planks taper down into one. All the planks are also of a different thickness, with the thickest near the water line. Add to that you’ve got gun ports and other various openings (footholds, drainage pumps, rigging belayings, cargo rails, trimming, ect…) on the side of the hull that need to cut through the planks. And more so, you’ve got the iron bolts that hold the planks to the frames. And then there’s the issue of getting unique UVs on each plank so you don’t have a repeating texture.

If you want to show your ship exploding, it may also help to model the frames that the planks attach to, and the deck beams that run between the frames.

I guess its all just an issue of how much detail you want. I choose the technique I’m using because I’m going for detail and accuracy.

-AJ

#9

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