The CAD-yard

[Roscoe]

Slowly moving along with the Perry and Blender, I added a few little items and started to rough in the hull, not much really, but it's been a good learning experience so far.
Having to replace my old graphics card because it decided it was time to retire didn't help much either. But after looking around for a replacement, I was surprised how good and cheap the newer cards have become, definitely a welcome improvement.




The Brooke's rifle is still a WIP which needs the lower carriage, etc. modeled, along with some better wood textures. I was thinking of doing a partial interior for the Palmetto State, but haven't found any good pics or drawings for that. So if anyone has any pics or links, I'd appreciate the info.



Take care,
Dean

[Devin]

Dean,

That looks great!

I just realized I forgot to send you the photos before I left on my trip. I'm back next weekend, and will send them then$

-Devin

[tea monster]

Wow, you are getting the hang of this fast! That's looking pretty good!

Here is the Brady Collection for the James River
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnational ... 128023567/

I haven't gone through all of it, but a quick scan gave me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnational ... 4128023567
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnational ... 4128023567

Though not the Brady, the Hunchback looks very similar:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnational ... 4128023567

What card did you get?

Owen

[Roscoe]

Thanks guys...

Devin,
Thanks for the offer, and there's no rush on the pics, just enjoy that nice weather while you can, it's snowing again back in our neck of the woods.


Owen,
Yeah, I remembered about the Brady collection this time, it was the first place I looked for some Perry pics. But thanks for reminding me.
I am starting to get more comfortable using Blender, there's so much more to it than just modeling that it'll be awhile before I actually know what I'm doing with everything.

I ended up getting the PNY Nvidia Geforce 430 GT with 1024 megs of DDR3 RAM for $62.00 from Amazon, with free shipping. It's not a screaming game card, more lower end, but my rig is more a budget PC anyway, and I really didn't want to spend too much, so it worked out well. It blows away the old 8500 GT OC that I had, and it supports DirectX 11 and 3D vision. So far, I'm really happy with it.

Take care guys,
Dean

[Devin]

Dean,

Check out this website:

http://lewsmodelboats.info/index.htm

This guy has pretty much all of the known ferry gunboat photos, plus he goes into a great analysis about what photos are mis-labeled, how to identify the different boats, etc.

-Devin

[tea monster]

That is a good find Dean!

The GeForce 430 will stand you in good stead for CUDA when it comes time to start using Cycles

Owen

[Roscoe]

Devin,
Thanks for the link, that's some good stuff!

Owen,
Yeah, I'm really happy with that little card. As far as Cycles, haven't tried it yet, but it seems a little intimidating with all those nodes and stuff. I guess it will take some getting used too.


And a little update from today, the Perry has paddles....




Dean

[Devin]

Dean,

Glad the link was of help.

Nice paddle work. I've always wondered if the paddles in that drawing I sent you were undersized. What do you think? I never did any measurements, but it now occurs to me that the max diameter would be the distance from the wheel shaft center to the keel bottom.

-Devin

(Oh, and yes, am enjoying the weather in Hawaii!)

[Roscoe]

Devin,
I think the paddles on the drawing could be right, or at least close. In the Brady pic(s) of the Perry, it looks like the the boards go just below the waterline, so I'm guessing it's pretty close. What first struck me is how high out of the water the ship sits, making it look top heavy.
Actually, after looking at the pics again, it looks like the paddles on the model might need to be moved up a tad, I'll have to check into that some more.

(Oh, and yes, am enjoying the weather in Hawaii!)

Yeah, don't rub it in.

Take care,
Dean

[Roscoe]

A Little more progress on the Perry, such as doors, some more windows, and a few other items. All the windows still need to be cut out, as well as the doors. Being my first Blender model, besides a couple practice rowboats, I don't plan on getting too detailed with it, but use it more as a learning/workflow project to get more familiar with Blender. I have to say though, it's been a fun learning experience so far, and I find myself using hot-keys from Blender in SolidWorks and wondering why they don't do anything.





Dean

[tea monster]

That is looking really nice.

Have you had any problems coming from the SolidWorks way of doing things to the Blender one?

Owen

[Roscoe]

Owen,
Problems? Yeah, not so much problems, more like translating a foreign language.
Seriously, I believe I would have had a much harder time trying to learn the modeling part of Blender if SW was the only type of program I ever used (not that I really know what I'm doing yet in Blender). I think what helped me in understanding some basic modeling principals (in Blender) was a program I used years ago called FSDS Pro. It was a pretty basic nurbs based program for making add-on airplanes for Microsoft's Flight Simulators, which was kinda similar, modeling wise, to Blender, only much more limited.

So, any updates on your end?

Cheers,
Dean

[tea monster]

That is looking amazing!

I can imagine that the approach would be a world away.

Lots happening, but not much to show yet. I've ditched the cut-out trees and am using some trees I found online instead for my riverbank. They look better, but I'm still sorting the alphas on the leaves, so no pics at the moment.

The Onondaga is coming along a bit.

The Tennessee is going to progress soon - I'm working out how to construct the sheild so that I can cut-away the sides and show the casement interior, and still have the model look good, hold together and have the mesh have some sanity.

Apart from that, I've been commissioned to make a Doom Marine and I'm making a fan for a Doom 3 mod, so it's all happening!

Owen

[Roscoe]

I thought those cut-out trees looked really good, actually, the whole scene was looking good to me. You are going to give us a behind the scenes look aren't you? I know I'd like to see it.

Man, your Onondaga is looking great! I really need to get back to that one, but I find myself firing up Blender more than SW these days, like a kid with a new toy. Keep us posted on the progress.

Yeah, I was starting to wonder about the Tennessee. I'm really interested on how the cut-away turns out, so feel free to include some background on what worked best, you know, for us Blender newbies.

Congrats on the Doom commission, sounds very cool. And of course, I want to see it if your allowed to show us.

Dean

[tea monster]

I'll post some screens in a bit. I've on a deadline for the vent at the moment. I don't think he'll mind me posting this here.

I'll keep everyone informed as I go on, don't worry!

If you need any help with Blender, either drop a line here or email me.

Owen

[Roscoe]

Very cool! Just out of curiosity, how many separate parts/meshes are in that vent?

And thanks for the offer, I'm coming up to a spot were I'll take you up on that, so expect an e-mail soon.

Cheers,
Dean

[tea monster]

Around about 10 or so parts. If I had to make nice joins between the rotor and the cross-bar, it would get very messy very quickly. Again, nobody is going to go in there and look behind it to check!

[Roscoe]

Cool, thanks Owen. Just knowing how you went about it is a big help.


Small update on the Perry. The walking beam was simplified a tad, sticking with the not too detailed theme. And I was really tempted to animate the beam and paddles, but first I need to learn how, so maybe down the road I'll get to it.




Dean

[tea monster]

That is looking very good indeed.

I've replied to your email.

Owen

[Roscoe]

That was a great tip, thanks Owen.
It worked out pretty well, but because of the varying shapes between the hull and the deck, the support beams creep up the hull a bit, towards the ends of the lattice. It's not too bad, but I'll play with the vertices's to see if I can compensate. I'll probably have to make the other support planks that run against the hull as separate parts, because of the hull/deck differences, either with a different lattice or maybe I'll try a curve this time.
The rudder area of the hull still needs a little tweaking, once that's done, I'll sub-surf it, then that part should be OK.

And here's a couple updated pics.






Dean