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Shipbuilding
Modeling a Ship in Alias|Wavefront's Maya 2.0

By Carsten Lind
Email: caligraphics@get2net.dk

One
crucial
thing to do
before
modeling is
to do research.
I searched the
web and found
images of
cruise ships. If
you don't do
the research,
you might miss
important
things that will
make the
model
believable.

After studying
the images of
the cruise
ships carefully,
I roughly
sketched the
basic shape of
the ship in
Maya using
curves. These
curves will then
serve as a
guideline when
Go
modeling the
Figure 1
ship. I also
applied all the
curves to their
own layer, so I

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own layer, so I
can turn them
all off at once
when
evaluating the
model. The hull
of the ship was
made by using
Maya's birail
function to
sweep curves
along two rail
curves to get
one side of the
hull. The hull
surface was
then mirrored
to get the
complete hull.
(Figure 1)

I then build the

front deck, by
lofting the top
curves from the
hull. The
passenger's
cabin decks
were then
Classifieds
created by Employment
duplicating Job Seekers
curves from the For Sale
geometry of Services
the hull and
lofting them. Services
This ensured Research Center
continuity of
the surface.
Reprint Requests
To get the Interested in article
lower deck (the reprints? Send your
cutout in the inquiry now. Please
side of the hull) Figure 2 include article and
I projected the authors name.
shape of the
lower deck Market Directories
onto the hull Interactive company and
surfaces and product listings,
trimmed away categorized for digital
the holes. content creator's use
(Figure 2)

A lofted
surface from
the trim curves
on the hull,
was created

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was created
from left side
hull to the right
side hull. I
inserted a
cylinder as a
banister and
duplicated it,
running inside
the lower deck
side, to get
some easy,
yet effective
detail on the
lower deck.
The chimney
was created
from a couple
of lofted
curves. The
bridge is an
extrusion of a
triangular
shaped curve
along one
isoparm taken
from the front
of the upper
cabin decks. I
added a few
cylinders,
serving as
antennas and
created a
lifeboat from a
hemisphere.
The support for Figure 3
the lifeboat
was made by
extruding a
circle along a
curve.

The lifeboat
sections were
then duplicated
and placed
along the side
of the ship's
different decks.
The anchor
opening in the
front of the hull
was made by
projecting two
rectangles with
rounded

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rounded
corners on the
hull surface
and trimming
away the
holes. (Figure
3)

I also placed a
few boxes and
cylinders
randomly on
the surfaces to
get the kind of
"hey we are
humans" look
on the ship.

As always,
when creating
3D i'ts
important to
add some
randomness to
avoid the
"perfect
symmetry
syndrome"
which makes a
model
unbelievable.

Always take a
look at your
researched
material and
take notice of
the little things
such as small
boxes, and
litter and used Figure 4
sodacans and
add those to
get more
realism into
your model.

Texturing
I rendered an
image of the
ship from the
side viewport in
a large
resolution
width=1000
and opened the
image in

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image in
Photoshop. I
made a layer
and started to
paint the
texture.
( Figure 4)

This is the final

texture that
was assigned
as a planar
projection as a
color map.
(Figure 5) Figure 5

When creating
the texture,
make sure that
the texture is
cropped to fit
the bounds of
the ship -- this
makes the
alignment of
the texture a
lot easier in
Maya. Just
press the 'Fit
to bounding
box' button in
the attribute
editor on the
projection
node.

Here you can Figure 6

see the texture
applied to the
surfaces.
(Figure 6)

The same
texturing
creation
method will be
used for the
front of the top
deck.

I created the
bump map for
the windows

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the windows
from the same Figure 7
file I used for
the colored
texture. This is
the greyscale
bump map file.
(Figure 7)

I connected the
bump to the
shading
network and
reused as
many of the
network nodes
as possible.

Here you can

see the
shading
network for the
shader.
(Figure 8)

Figure 8
The rendered
image with the
bump map
applied.
(Figure 9) I
find it very
important not
to exaggerate
bump maps.
This is a
common error
made by quite
a few artists.
The bump map
was adjusted
using IPR
rendering,
which enables
you to see Figure 9
your
adjustments
immediately.

Slowly, more

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Slowly, more
and more
textures are
being applied.
(Figure 10)
The chimney
now has a
decal and the
front deck now
has a wooden
texture applied
(it's going to be
adjusted,
though). I am
going to place
some railings
on the edges of
the decks and
behind the Figure 10
chimney there
will be a pool.
But more on
this later.

This image
was created to
present the
model for the
client. (Figure
11) It had to
indicate that
the ship was
"under
construction"
and I added the
scaffolding.

Figure 11
I have cut the
rear end of the
ship to get a
more irregular
shape.
(Figure 12)

I drew a line,
describing the
shape of the
cut.
Duplictated the
curve and
lofted a surface
between them.
The new
surface was
intersected

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intersected
with the Figure 12
surfaces of the
rear end of the
ship and then
trimmed.

The texture for

the bridge of
the ship was
all made in
Maya. As you
can see in this
image of the
shading
network, it
required quite a
few nodes.
(Figure 13)

Figure 13

Here you can

see the result
of the texturing
of the bridge.
(Figure 14)

Figure 14
The Virgin
Trip!
Just for the fun
of it, I added
the sea, and
applied a sea
shader I
already had,
just to see how
it looked. I
don't know who
made this sea
shader, but it's
great! (Figure

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15) Figure 15
First of all, I
wanted to have
the windows as
a color map.
For this I used
the grid texture
which was
applied to the
color node.

Then I
duplicated the
grid node
network and
applied it to the
incandessence
connection on
the shader.
This gave my
shader a
brighter look on
the white parts
on the
windows.

Finally, I
created an
environment
sky node and
connected it to
the black color
of the
incandessence
grid node to
get a kind of
reflection of a
sky on the Figure 16
black parts of
the windows.

You can
download the
shader in the
shaders
section here at
caligraphics
-- or click here:
seaWaves.ma
You will get the
best out of it if
you use
raytracing
when you
render your
image.
Another view of

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Another view of
the ship...
(Figure 16)

The water level

was adjusted a
little and the
shader with the
windows was
applied a little
reflection.
Notice how the
water surface
reflects slightly
on the hull. I
also added
some more
antennas. Figure 17

Once again the

rear end was
adjusted.
(Figure 17)

I added railing
and changed
the texture of
the front deck.
(Figure 18)

Figure 18
Carsten Lind's studio, Caligraphics, is based in Denmark. Visit the
Web site at http://hjem.get2net.dk/caligraphics
Images are Copyright of Carsten Lind and Jubii A/S and may not be used or
reproduced without prior concent of Carsten Lind or Jubii A/S Kind Regards Carsten
Lind, 1999

© 2001, Digital Media Online, All Rights Reserved

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