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Tutorial Ship Hull modeling tutorial.

I've found that NURBS work fairly well in Maya; we have a Wiki tutorial that follows the method you described to loft the hull from a set of splines.

Personally, I prefer to create splines lengthways to follow the planking, and loft vertically to get the result (see my Bellona thread).
This method is more reliable for extruding features such as the wales, and makes UV mapping a little easier.
 
I have a few months of training on Maya ahead of me before using its NURBS I think, but I'll certainly try lofting vertically along the planks as you say in my existing software and check out the thread...I havn't actually mapped a ship yet so I have that ahead of me too :) My gunboat has a wooden hull so that's probably a good exercise for this.
 
I don't really know where this kind of question belongs, so I've put it here. It's a Maya question but I'm hoping C4D people can help too...

I'm using Cinema 4D R14 Studio to model and I've come up against a bit of a problem which doesn't seem to have an online answer. The poly count is screwed up. I've learnt all I can about it but it's giving me two totally different amounts for the 'Total Polys'; one is 78,974 and the other is 6,204. I've tried isolating certain parts of the model to see which one makes more logical sense but when I do, it starts giving totally random figures.

Anyway, what I'm asking is this: is the 'Faces' section in Maya's count to be trusted for the purposes of POTC? As if so, I'll just use that when modelling in C4D in the future. Below is a screenshot of what I mean. Incidentally, it's saying '9779' so different again!

Screen Shot 2015-12-22 at 20.02.10.jpg
 
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I removed the copied version of your request as that won't do any good.
Probably @Armada will post a response when he can. But he is a busy man, so some patience may be required. :shrug
 
Ah! I'll have to rewrite it here then, thanks anyway :)

I should probably have started a new thread but don't want to clutter up the boards.
 
Refer to the "Tris" count in Maya. Ultimately, the mesh will need to be triangulated for the game (using Mesh > Triangulate, or letting the exporter do it automatically), so this is the best indication of the final polycount.

Probably @Armada will post a response when he can. But he is a busy man, so some patience may be required. :shrug
I'm offering @Robert Nutter some tips in a PM at the moment. Making the most of the free time I have before my degree course resumes in January. ;)
 
Thanks! That makes sense...so 18k is the *actual* count for this model so far then. I just hope triangulating works correctly from a C4D .obj import. Perhaps I should try a test run now...

...and they're very gratefully received tips :)
 
Oh, don't triangulate the mesh until it's finished... I should have mentioned that. Much better to work with quads until you're ready to export.
 
I'll just use a .obj export...Maya wouldn't accept the original .c4d format even if I forced it to!
 
I know this is a very old thread, but I have been looking for something like this for a while, and was very disappointed to find what I needed, but without the golden pictures.. :(
If anybody knows of a similar guide, have some tips or pictures of the modelling process of the hull, I'd be very grateful to see it.
Especially of the flow fore and aft, I get the same shading issues as Helldiver descripes.
I hope to be able to produce some good models, right now I'm practicing my 3D skills, who knows where it may lead :)

If you'd like to see what I have, (I'm working on a Chapman Sloop,) I could post some pictures, it's a bit of a process though, my main pc does not have internet.
 
Hi @Krutzelpuntz, you might want to look at the brief explanation I wrote in my Bellona thread (which is now publicly visible): Slow Progress - HMS Bellona (1760 version)
I used NURBS surfaces in this case, but you can apply the same principles to polygon modelling. I really need to create a new thread or wiki post for this at some point.

We also have a more in-depth wiki tutorial on using NURBS in Maya, though I wouldn't recommend it for beginners.
 
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