Martes

Outfitting the HMS Cambridge (1815):

An 80-gun ship that was very closely based on the Christian VII it's usually considered a copy, but there was a substantial number of changes that required to remake the model almost from scratch - circular bow, raised head, an attempt to make more traditional, but narrowed stern (which ended up probably even more awkward than the original ), and straightened sheer of the decks. In addition to false keel, the ship was designed for slightly deeper drought, and that required corrections to entry fore and aft, and a little raised tumblehome curve.

The result is characteristic Victorian ship, representative of the Royal Navy up to the age of ironclads.

Minor tweaks here and there.

Rescaled the rig for Christian VII (and all future 80-gunners):
 

And made a quick skin for the Colossus of later modification of the class (Bombay/Aboukir):

Some close-ups from lower camera angles.

Made a small adjustment to the roundhouse of Christian VII to denote the border between the poop deck and upper quarter galleries that actually form a single structure and covered with bulwarks from outside. It's not really final form, but seems closer to original than simple deck covering from board to board.

Blows my mind each time I look at it.

And two shots under sail:

...and some more technical views:

It wouldn't even be possible without the fortunate high-resolution drawings being available at the Danish archive and a photo of a contemporary model provided by @malachy (and tons, literally tons of other reference materials I scavenged everywhere I could, really), since the stern is hellishly unusually built, but... here she is.

It's the most complex model I did for now, and I am very delighted that at around 8k triangles the game can still handle her.

1 hour ago, Sea Hoss said:

coppered bottom can be artificially "aged" to look old with the application of easy to get household chemicals.

Huh, it is a little simpler than that.

Since I am making 3d models that I want to look relatively natural within a computer game, it's all more or less about a color of a texture, and seeing the photos of Trincomalee in dock I began to doubt what actually it should be.

Thank you very much for the reply

So, if I understand correctly, the bottom of a coppered ship that is (relatively) constantly moving in water would appear brown-red, not green-blue?

Something that puzzles me with the coppering of ship's bottoms - what actual color would it be and after how much time in water could it acquire this green hue?

Moved the spritsail yard (unused anyway) from the edge to the middle of the bowsprit (on most of the rigging sets):

I can't really explain why, but it seems to make everything better.

Rescaled the rig for 32-gunners, now having separate sets for 40-gun frigates/64-gun ships, 38/36-gun frigates/50-gun ships and 32-gun frigates/possibly 44-gun ships if I ever make any.

21 minutes ago, malachy said:

original french body plan

Does this include planking or not? I don't see characteristic steps, but then the French might have different drawing conventions...

7 hours ago, mtaylor said:

The side view seems to be correct when compared against the NMM

The side view is OK, problems start with hull lines, planking thickness and fore/aft external views.

Made some corrections to the Colossus - more accurate beakhead, cathead supports, curve of the deck and roundhouse door partitions on the quarterdeck.

Be careful with those plans!

I tried to use them when making my little 3d model, and fallen for the fact that side and forward/back views show different gunport height, for example. And also they are somewhat different from "as taken" plan from NMM. So it can be a source of headache.

54 minutes ago, BANYAN said:

realistic algorithm or two to control ship behaviour and damage inflicted/received

This game offers working - and very time consuming - tacking, and as to damage, I have tweaked that to more or less realistic values (here) and that can be refined even more.

Not that there are very much alternatives in the genre. I couldn't, unfortunately, make a new engine all by myself, so the ship collection is as far as I look for the moment, but you never know what can turn up.

British frigates on blockade (they weren't included in the first post since I didn't have recent enough screenshots, but here they are):

And close-ups.

The Euryalus:

The Endymion:
 

35 minutes ago, SardonicMeow said:

Was all this work done in Blender? 

Yes and no

The models are being done in Blender indeed, but most of the pictures are taken from the game engine, which includes the rigging configuration.

The red line in the background actually marks that the screenshot was taken in scenario editor.

Of course, I am going to release them at some point, but I am not sure when. They changed a lot since I started this (you can check here for the whole saga):

The top model is a frigate extracted from the game, the bottom - my first attempt to get something inside, and you can compare it to the Belle Poule wireframe in the post above. 🙂

There are some models that have to be covered before any release, namely at least a three-decker, a corvette and a brig, but then there are ships I just want to have sailing, so those priorities are kind of shifting here.

Additionally, I am thinking of a terrain generation tool for coastal scenarios. I verified the possibility of making custom maps - it requires a model of the terrain, separate model of underwater terrain, and collision map - but have yet not found a reliable way to do it more or less automatically.

And there is a kind of scenario generator as a set of tables for dice rolls.

I wanted to show a project I have been working for some time now - since discovering the way to import models to this old, but still very capable game.

I aimed to replace all the line of the ship models in the game, starting with frigates (as they were abysmally horrible), and over time I think I have found a certain balance between level of detail and sometimes awkward engine limitations. From the modelling perspective the models themselves are akin to block models (and mostly representative than anything else), showing the outer hull, closed deck with boats in the waist and, deck gun emplacements and some smaller details, all other details and decorations painted on a texture (and it's hard to underestimate the power of a texture 🙂).

The game provides a number of rigging sets, so I (with some small exceptions) do not touch those.

And here is a small showcase:

A 74-gun ship (Colossus class)

A French 38-gun frigate

The Belle Poule (as 12-pounder and slightly fictional 18-pounder variant - showing the possibilities of using different texture on a same hull for different ship configurations)

The 40-gun 24-pounder Liffey-class (modified Endymion)

Personally, they give me a unique glimpse seeing them sailing, firing, heeling under the wind, seeing them suddenly alive.