My first project - Container/Ro-Ro Ship Matsonia

[vislaw]

Hi guys,

I do forensic animation and recently have been handling a lot of maritime cases. Not being a sailor or boat-builder, my previous attempts at modeling have been pretty lackluster. Thus, you can imagine my enthusiasm when I found FreeShip and, later, DelftShip. What a pleasure this software is! I can't wait to get a few extra bucks to buy the pro version with auto-fairing.

Anyway, I finished my first model today and figured I'd post a few renders.

Here's a photo of the ship:


And here's my DelftShip-based model:

[dougfrolich]

That is really cool. Nice work so far. How long did this take?

[vislaw]

Thanks Doug!

I built the hull with DelftShip in an afternoon and then spent most of the next day building the topside geometry. (I already had a model of a container so it was simple to just copy a bunch of instances of that model). Then I spent another day creating the textures. I found some images of the ship and some very good closeups of container logos on the Flickr website and that helped a lot.

I can model really quickly, but could never have built the hull so efficiently without DelfShip. I'm hooked.

[Guest62110524]

Originally Posted by vislaw

Thanks Doug!

I built the hull with DelftShip in an afternoon and then spent most of the next day building the topside geometry. (I already had a model of a container so it was simple to just copy a bunch of instances of that model). Then I spent another day creating the textures. I found some images of the ship and some very good closeups of container logos on the Flickr website and that helped a lot.

I can model really quickly, but could never have built the hull so efficiently without DelfShip. I'm hooked.

you are good, have points, best of luck you deserve it
Stu

[vislaw]

Stu,

Thanks so much for the encouragement. I have to admit that I am in awe of you guys who are real designers/builders. It's kind of funny, but my office is located on the grounds of a big civil aviation airport and whenever I get coffee or lunch I'm the only guy who isn't a pilot. But even though I'm ground-bound and a land-lubber, I still appreciate and admire sea and air craft very much. Being able to build 3D models of boats and planes has been a nice way to have a little connection and I'm honored to be able to show something to this community even if it's just a 3D model.

Mark

[CGN]

Great Model! , what did you use for the texturing and rendering?

cheers

[vislaw]

Originally Posted by CGN

Great Model! , what did you use for the texturing and rendering?

cheers

THANKS CGN!

I built decks and hull in DelfShip and exported as a DXF file into 3D Max. I was really pleased how nicely the DXF file imported (better than the OBJ file I tried first). I built everything above decks in Max and created my textures in PhotoShop and applied them inside Max.

Mark

[Adis]

Man, this is awesome!!! I wish I had your skills!!!

Congratulations and keep up the great job!!!

Maybe I will ask for your help in the future!!!

[vislaw]

Thank you Adis! I cant wait to build more ships.

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

That is just damned nice...

Do you do the fades in Photoshop from fixed renders...

Oh hell - it is friday again - who cares - again - damned nice...

A real ship - not some unbuildable eye candy - fantastic - hope you are making some money - or getting paid what you are obviously worth...

Are you a N.Arch - a builder - or other - if you can 'jizz' that kinda work - as fast as you say you did - and do the numbers - well your rocket is lit...

Koodus...

SH.

[Sean Herron]

Originally Posted by vislaw

Stu,

Thanks so much for the encouragement. I have to admit that I am in awe of you guys who are real designers/builders. It's kind of funny, but my office is located on the grounds of a big civil aviation airport and whenever I get coffee or lunch I'm the only guy who isn't a pilot. But even though I'm ground-bound and a land-lubber, I still appreciate and admire sea and air craft very much. Being able to build 3D models of boats and planes has been a nice way to have a little connection and I'm honored to be able to show something to this community even if it's just a 3D model.

Mark

Hello...

'Even if it's just a 3D model' - HAH - you are going to make a lot of people in this joint - re-open their manuals and you will take some flak - for being so French - 'ah no chalet ant'...

Fantastic work - POST MORE - consider a career change - NOW...

Put out a foot and hell of a lot of people will open the door - great 'introduction' to yourself...

By 'forensic animation' - do you mean 'sinkers' or archeology stuff on wrecks - ie: destructive flooding and other for TV or film - if so - you would LOVE 'Bongo' for Rhino 3D - with Proteus Engineering - 'Rhino Marine'...

But I am sure - by your work posted here - that you have some advanced bits in your own 3D tool box...

Yes - and before I forget - YOU SUCK - YOU MAKE ME SICK - AND I HATE YOU - because you are very damned good - the Ecliasticals might say 'gifted' - so a measure of salt must be given...

WELCOME - to the madness of boats - ships - and building - designing - and 'modelling' the damned things...

Do not get hooked - or you will be made mad before 40 years of age - if same or more - well - I am sorry for you...

SH.

[Landlubber]

You are a very clever man, hope that your talents get appreciated eventually in whatever field of work you wish to remain in.

[vislaw]

Hi guys! It's been too long since I checked in here cause I've been really busy. Sean, THANKS so very much for those kind words. You made my day.

A little bit about my work: I was a trial lawyer for 14 years but always loved technology and graphics. In 1992 I pitched it all and moved to California to try something new. I taught some college courses, did a brief stint starving as a landscape artist and even worked for MTV briefly.

Eventually I decided to leverage my background with my interests and I started doing forensic animation. I work with engineers and lawyers to recreate events in big disaster cases. The resulting animation is used in Court or during mediation/settlement hearings.

Sometimes my work is used to explain what happened and other times its used to show a particular witness view of an incident or to show what a pilot or driver would have seen. My favorite cases until now have involved aircraft and railroad incidents. (I did the case involving the Marine Prowler jet that knocked down a ski tram in Italy about 9 years ago. We got featured on a nice CBS 60-Minutes show for that one).

Anyway, I've hooked up with some specialists attorneys who work only on maritime cases and I've found building boats to be even better than planes, trucks or planes!

Yesterday I got to spend the morning on board another Matson ship - the Moku Pahu, an integrated tug and barge (ITB):


I got to take references and photographs throughout the ship and as soon as I get the blueprints I'll be building it. I'm particularly enthused to be able to get my own close-up reference images so that this model should be the best one yet.

Oh, and we did get the case involving my first model settled to the satisfaction of everybody. I did a real spiffy 3D fly-around along with a nice animation of the ship in high seas (using a nifty ocean surface simulator called DreamScape). The client was so pleased that he brought me in on this new case and, hopefully, I'll be getting many more chances to build 3D ships in the future.

I really do appreciate the fond welcome here and I hope to become more knowledgeable of the real world of sea-going vessels. I truly do have a sense of passion and admiration for the design of ships.