In Progress #10

It's nearly 4AM so I'll keep it sweet. Texturing is taking agees.

In Progress #9, Exterior (modelling) done

I say done, there are some parts I'm planning to revisit but for now I'm marching on in the hopes of making progress.

So yeah, I've unwrapped the bottom of the hull and slapped a quick placeholder texture on it for now. I'm still undecided about whether to go with the white/red colours or the more rusted orange/blue of the SS America, so that's something to experiment with in the future.

I originally unwrapped the hull in such a way that it would use a tiling texture at a 1x2 ratio, like a 1024x2048 texture. The texture tiled horizontally, not vertically. However this allowed for virtually no unique elements, it had to be uniform to avoid artefacts. So here I tried unwrapping the ship fully onto a 2x1 sheet (it's currently 4096x2048 but it'll probably be knocked down from that). This allows for fully unique detailing, but it's not very efficient and requires it's own, high resolution sheet.

I'm still debating which method (tiling or unique texture sheet) to use for the hull, so I'll carry on experimenting with it.

In Progress #8

Today I worked on the side of the ship. I created the side rail (barely visible here, unfortunately) for the ship,  the staircase and platforms for each deck, and the lifeboat cages. 

What's left? I've just got to work on the top of the ship, and then I'll be done with the front segment. Then I'll start modelling the rear segment, which has far less detail for several reasons; it is not visible from the front deck or any of the playable space, and unlike the front of the ship it's not designed for accessability.

An important thing to note here is that every ship I've looked at is different. Most don't even allow passengers to walk along the side of the ship, however this is something I planned to do from the start, so I kept it in. What I'm going for is a mix of, say, the Duke of Lancaster and the SS America, with hints of the MS Expedition.

Not much further to go now until I can start texturing. That's where this'll all finally come to life! :)

In Progress #7

This is taking longer than I wanted it to. Gah. Hopefully more progress tomorrow!

In Progress #6

We're getting there, slowly. Rough outline is there, right now I'm just refining it to look more ship-shape. Get it? hur hur. 

In Progress #5

I've been modelling the exterior of the ship, so far I've got the base of the whole thing done, I'm just working on making the front look nice before I do any of the rest.

The mesh has gone slightly wonky in places, which is something I'll have to fix. It's difficult adding extra geometry to a curved mesh as it is, and as I do I tend to warp other parts of the mesh. It's unfortunate, but it's fixable.

Modelled from a box, strangely enough! Thank god for Free-form-deform!

In Progress #4 -- interior frame modelled

I didn't get around to finishing the Captain's Quarters yesterday, something more important cropped up so I didn't get time for it. However, today I managed to finish off the last part of it and start the bridge, which is nearly there. Bear in mind this is just the frame, without props, so it looks bare. I might add some more detail to the entrance wall, as I feel it's a little sparse. 

Anyway, here's the bridge;