Well, I haven’t tried a WIP in a long time, although the meshes of half-finished projects are strewn all over my house, in the yard, on the roof, spilling out into the street…clogging up the waterways, and are becoming a vast public nuisance and a health scare.
Okay, I exaggerate. A bit.
Maybe what I need to actually finish something is a public commitment, of a sort. A WIP.
I’m not going for a detailed model of an actual boat, but something that might fit in an in-between world of the cartoon and the real, yet preserve most of the functionality of a real boat. At the point where I can put the breath of wind into her sails, the modelling will be done.
Thanks, JO9. I don’t know why I always qualify what I’m doing. Trying to deflect criticism before it happens, I suppose. I’m going to make the best ship I can, and however it turns out, it turns out. I can tell already, though, that I’m pushing hard against my skill level as a modeller. I don’t even want to think about texturing yet, which I’ve put a lot less effort into in my two years using Blender. As for the texturing so far, I’m just using shaders without textures yet just for visualizion during modellling. I intend to uv and gimp paint later on, if I keep with this project.
I’ve wanted to do a sailing ship for some time now. It’s a good project that mixes organic and inorganic forms very intensely, and I’ve made more use out of the edge split modifier and creasing than I’ve done yet.
I have to admit that I’ve gone overboard (pun, yes) in what I intended to model. I extended the poop deck to move the tiller control (not modelled yet), and to add a larger captain’s quarters. I also ended up modelling the interiors of three rooms, including the large gun deck, which should make possible a dramatic scene when cannons are installed. Not entirely happy with the side window frames. I redid the ship’s decorative trim somewhat, also. Much more work to be done there. So far:
Thanks for the replies! Yeah, Anthony, it’s pretty ugly right now. I have just a light parented to my camera that I use to see renderings as I model. I mostly use it to catch stray “render burns,” overlapping faces or mesh pinch points as I model. However, I still haven’t figured out why the far wall showed up so brightly. It should be almost lost in shadow like the walls on either side of it. Oh, well, I have plenty of time yet to figure that one out.
Thanks for the positive note, Felix. I’ve been using Scrapbook, which I discovered in a tut over at Blendernewbies, to collect information and pictures of tall ships. The three most interesting ones that I’ve found so far are the HMS Victory, The USS Constitution and the reconstructed HMS Bounty. The website for the HMS Victory is really impressive and worth an hour or two to browse through:
