I made a Galleon after a real ship called the Golden Hind for the weekly almost a year ago now but never finished it as it got too heavy for the computer i had at the time …now that i am a bit better at blender and have a much better computer i thought i would go back and finish it.
because i was still very new to Blender when i made this ship it is next to impossible to finish without deleting many major objects like the entire hull as the way i constructed everything back then, they are just impossible to unwrap and very difficult to modify…weird things like making the entire hull one giant complicated bendy piece! I did not keep texturing in mind “like you have to”" as i created it so many of the parts are just useless if you want to unwrap and properly texture them… This ship as it is could only have basic materials slapped on nothing more. so i am going to piece by piece rebuild most of the ship…I thought i would document it here for anyone thats interested in following along or maybe some people could give me some good advice as i progress …its a huge project as the aim is ultra realistic and i suspect this project will take quite awhile… i will post here snaps of my construction with a brief explanation of the idea and direction i am taking whenever i do something new with it.
here is a snap of the ship as far as i managed to go around a year ago for the weekly contest…
So i deleted the hull saving the Keel and will rebuild the whole thing! I found when making other buildings that for me they actually turn out better and are easier to build if you build it like a real building …ie instead of just a roof actually putting in the support beams wether they would be visible or not to serve as a guide for the shape of the roof. So i am making the support beams for the side of the ship and will make the hull in 3 major pieces comprised of multiple planks laid across the support beams much like how i think a real wooden ship is made. here is a first test… i think will go this route…i know i dont have the shape just right …the stern beams need to curve up from around the middle of the ship and narrow near the very back and the bow beams need to narrow more .the planks will be super easy to unwrap and texture being just shaped cubes…using blueprints and pictures i will eventually get the shape right!
I think i May have the skeleton frame down …was tricky to get right now its time to start skinning…i initialy tried to use 1 piece… a plane wrapped around the skeleton but it ends up messy because of the shape of the bow and maybe with textures it could end up looking realistic but i think planks wrapped around the skelton will have a better look to it…much more work but i think worth the effort.
Laying beams across the damned ship frame is not fun! I would not recommend this route haha it’s very hard to get each one to line up right with the beam above it and to the support structures …fiddly **** but I will get it with enough mucking around! Having independent beams will give that extra little bit of realism as I’m breaking each one up into the length they would use on an actual ship …it’s tons of extra work not sure if it will be worth i in the end but we will see. Once done I can delete the internal support beams as they won’t show on the final model anyways and save some verts with it. I’m hoping with this method the hull turns out ultra realistic. Maybe in the end I could have done it with one piece and textures and it would turn out just as good hahha we will see once it’s done!
Texturing each piece as i Go along …this is a test texture and render…the shape still needs some work along with the textures but i am happy in the direction the hull is heading …finally had some time to work on this …was a fiddly and difficult shape to get right…still not quite there…need to even out the back and fix the curvature of the bow … I made 6 individual planks which represent 4 texture planks that run the length of the hull …uvunwrapped them individually…textured them then joined them together… Also need to fix the angled and slightly over sized uvmap on the keel…
Next will be the second piece of hull that sits on top of this one, it has the canon ports and decorative elements to it.
Second section of the hull coming along nicely …the decorative part was a pain as i couldnt really use an array because of the curvature…still 2 more piece of hull to go before i will head onto all the little bits and pieces like iron banding around the hull and other parts …i have now removed the skeleton frame as it is not needed anymore for shaping.
The hull is coming together nicely …albeit slowly… So far i am getting the uvmaps done and the shapes together crudely so far …a lot of refining is yet needed …but getting there…slapped on these plank textures as a test to see how the uvmaps were coming along …almost done with the hull… a few more pieces then i can properly put everything together add some subsurf to get the shapes perfect and find the textures i want …make the doorways and canon portals in the hull sections…with all the uvmaps being done as i go along texturing wont be as painful as usual… Making all the ropes and pulley blocks will be the next big challenge after the hull…
Something has been bothering me with the shape of the hull so far and i couldnt quite figure it out …until i realised i have made a mistake of epic proportions…while shaping the hull i forget to check the top down view …“how stupid right?!”…the back of the ship is supposed to narrow …this mistake is going to be such a pain to fix …i almost want to start over lol This will be a monster fiddle now …reshaping will make a mess of the uvs and more …modelling errrggghhhh
Thats more like it! Finally got the shape right! Everything is still very crude but at least the shape will be right now when i refine everything …i was tempted to leave it wide at the back thinking well if i use the right camera angles no one will see it lol as it was such a pain to fix given the hull is made of multiple pieces …i had 18 different segements to adjust… but thats cheating and i would end up fixing it one day anyways as it would bother me too much so did the time for my crime haha
Needed a break from the pain in the ass hull…realised the canons i made way back when where a little lacking in detail and were constructed in a troublesome manner for texturing much like the original hull so new canons are underway to fit the new hull…
Hi Papirutan i believe the themes name is either deep space or parallel midnight both can be found on blendswap …i used hologram for awhile which is similar but this one is better as its a bit darker and outlined items show up better.
Deck Boat is almost done … a bit of work on the Uvs and texturing is still needed …and a bit of shaping to make it look used and worn …dents and chips in the wood some warping etc…
Have not had much time to model …so all i have managed to do is a few small pieces of rigging …this ship will need a lot of different rigging parts …so at least i have a few now!
Thanks BigBlackThunder i appreciate it …it may be awhile as its a huge project and i haven’t had much time for Blender lately… have you ever joined in on the weekly contest in here? You should join us !
Gotta stick with work so my time has not been in my favor lately, but someday I might!
Also once you finish this model, do you plan on animating, compositing it into a scene. I can only imagine how insane it would look in a storm or battle :D.
