Released Corvette V.2

[Armada]

I think that will do. Nice work!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Been busy with other things and have not done much to the Amsterdam. Took a good look at the real one and then redid the rigging to more or less match. The lateen will be on the wrong side of the mast unless I do the reverse engineering thing like with spankers. Wish I could get the B2 sail to not billow out so much.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Finally did a bit more to the Amsterdam. Put stays on and am trying to decide about staysails. I don't think they will look good because the main masts are so close together.
PS: These are the same masts as the current corvettes.

 

[Post Captain]

That rig doesn't look suited to stays'ls, so I would say skip 'em.

 

[Armada]

Time to revisit this thread's original point of interest again...
I've recently been working on more upgrades for the stock corvette (yes, more!), because in the light of my more recent work, I've noticed some areas that could be improved on.
Things seem to have snowballed again, as I soon realised the annoying fact that this ship seems to have a bit of an identity crisis.
Since the design is so obscure, the ship is used in PotC in periods 1 to 3, which means she could appear anywhere between 1600 and 1769, but she looks too modern for that time span (perhaps being loosly based on a Russian frigate from around 1800).
So, instead of doing another Rossiya-esque upgrade, I'm trying to roughly modify the ship to make her more believable as a mid-eighteenth century vessel.
This time, I intend to modify the final result to work as a merchantman as well, to replace the corvette-based "Indiaman" class in the Build Mod.

So far, I've remodelled the headrails and slightly reshaped parts of the hull, particularly around the stern.
I've also moved the cannons on the weather deck apart, and cut down the bulwarks between them.
Screenshots coming soon!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

EDIT 2hrs later: I've done rigging upgrades to both the Amsterdam and the Indiaman. They are the same but different and links to them in my Dropbox have been posted if you are interested.

 

[Armada]

Could you get some screenies of the updated rigging?
Just so you know, the main adjustment I envision for the rigging is to replace the spanker sail with gaff-rigged sail, in a similar fashion to Corvette47 and HMS_Bellona.
I'm not sure if there are any suitable gaff models you could use yet, but I can make one in Maya if necessary.

Anyway, here's a sneak peek of the most radical changes I've made to the corvette's hull.
I'm not sure what people will make of the changes, but here are some screenies:

This one shows the completely new lines (highlighted green) that I gave the ship last night, which are much smoother than the original ones, and a little more artistic.
The keel and rudder have both been replaced, and the UVs still need to be sorted out, hence the weird texture mapping.
If you look closely, you'll also notice the bow has been changed from a round shape to a beakhead bulkhead. That area still needs cleaning up, but I'll get a screenshot soon.
You can see the new positions of some of the cannons on the upper deck, which have been moved away from the middle of the hull.
Other than that, the belfry has been moved from the poop deck and now resides in front of the boat. The anchors and hawses still need to be repositioned and resized.

Here's another image showing the tweaked stern:

All I've done here is widen the hull beneath the galleries, and added an outline covering the upper edges and sides, which smooths out the shape.
I'm not sure yet whether to radically change the stern to add physical galleries, because they would make a lot of texture work redundant. I know the Rossiya did the same, but that model needed completely new textures, whereas this upgrade is meant to be less extreme. (And on that note, I have no intention to add a cabin interior. )

So, how does it look?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Since these ships will never make it into hoocots there is no reason to get carried away with details. It certainly looks different already. From a practical standpoint I am sooo glad the that dam batty belfry is moved. It was sitting just where you want to stand.
The new rigging for the Amsterdam is in the screenies right up this page. Screenies of the Indiaman rigging are in this thread. http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/indiaman-sails.20173/

A gaff rigged sail would have to be shorter than the spanker methinks. The gaffs on the old schooners might be a good size except that they are offset to the side which makes them work poorly.

 

[Armada]

Since these ships will never make it into hoocots there is no reason to get carried away with details.

Very true. It would be less work on my part as well, so this model can be released quite soon.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Looks nice! I definitely approve of removing the bulwarks in the waist, it looks much better! The new outline of the rails is definitely an improvement! much more elegant. Galleries could be tricky, as their style would depend on what decade the ship was from, which is difficult to pinpoint. I like it as is for POTC, Still recognizable as the old corvette, but better looking and much more realistic.

 

[Armada]

Here's another update, and this time I've smartened the model up a bit:

The first image shows the beakhead bulkead quite clearly, and I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out.
You'll notice I've added wales and the underwater hull is now white; I've separated it from the rest of the hull, vastly tweaked the geometry, and mapped it to a tileable white planking texture.
This gives it a much neater and more realistic appearance, mostly because the mapping is more flexible than sticking to the bortoutcorvette texture.

I've removed two stern chasers and repositioned the others, and adjusted the texture to remove the ugly black outlines which marked the original gunports. I'm planning to do the same for the rest of the black outlines.
Speaking of gunports, I've now changed the method of hiding the interior (which used to be a pyramid shape extending inwards), in favour of the approach used on many PotBS ships (a box shape).

On the upper half of the ship, I've set the deck to use the photorealistic texture featured on the Rossiya, and the bulwarks now use a red planking texture.
Also taken from the Rossiya is the stern lantern, though I'm not sure whether a single lantern looks right. What do you guys reckon?

More changes are still needed (anchor location, poop deck railings etc), and I'm looking to replace the remaining stock gratings and other small details.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

This is looking like a major redo. It certainly looks sharper. Those gun ports look much better now. Having that one lantern up so high won't interfere with any sails will it?

 

[Armada]

I don't think the lantern would interfere with a gaff-rigged sail, but it probably would get in the way of the current spanker (which is an odd shape, mind).

 

[Armada]

More updates:

I've reworked the poop deck railings and added two more lanterns, which seems to suit the ship slightly better than just one or two.
The masts have been imported and slightly repositioned; the bowsprit has been rotated upwards by twelve degrees, and the mizzen has been moved just fore of the cabin entrance.
I've also brought in the Rossiya's lateen gaff, which looks like it will work for the gaff-rigged sail.
Here's how it looks from the side:

I plan to remap the masts to use AOP_wood.tga, but apart from that, nothing fancy.
I'll add stays and upper shrouds, but I won't bother with full shrouds, mast stumps or any finer details, in the interests of time.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Looking good! This is a common ship so every player will be seeing and sailing her.

 

[Armada]

Quick update: I've now replaced all the remaining stock details on the deck, and added false gratings (PotBS style, using hatch.tga) to give her a more accurate appearance. Also added netting to the sides.
The steps to the poop deck have been replaced with a ladder, too. Don't worry about the path model; I'm changing that as well, so there won't be any conflicts with the new details.
I decided to render this one with mental ray, just for fun:

I'll probably add a second boat over the main hatch, and then sort out the deadeyes for the masts. Not much left to do now, and it should be slightly quicker thanks to the new tools in Maya 2014.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That does look pretty darn good!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

That is a different ship! After doing all that you might as well splash some new paint on her.

 

[Armada]

Well I plan to repaint the RN and FR versions at least, to make them more period accurate, but I think it's still worth preserving the stock paint schemes, along with the other community-made ones.
If I were to ditch those, then I might as well add proper stern galleries, seeing as the design wouldn't be restricted by the many different textured galleries... but that of course means more work.

Hmm. What do you guys think? If you'd rather see proper stern galleries than the current textured ones, I'd be happy to replace them.
It depends on whether you'd like the model to maintain that level of familiarity the textures give it, or instead use a more "out with the old, in with the new" approach.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

On the one hand, the old textures don't have the same detail as our new ships do.
On the other, more work is... well, more work. Not quite convinced it is worth it.