HMS Eskimo designing ships for dummys

B

barry

Active Member
Jan 28, 2004
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Brighton Uk
Hi

If everyone is not brassed off with Eskimo I thought I would try and show how to get this far. Program used is Photoshop 4 a bit ancient but looking at Liefs great thread it seems much the same. This write up will not attempt anything as clever as that.


Eskimo2_1.jpg


eskimo2_2.jpg



Hull mark 2 I even tried some rust.

If you all are going to find this boring say so now.

barry
 
Eskimo design

Hi All

Thanks for the encouragement this will be a bit trite.

1 Find a plan not as easy as it seems you find lots of subjects with side view and plan view but no frames and for my first attempt I did not want to infer something with photographs.

2 The subject should be fairly straight forward classic DN V108 type preferably of something instantly recognisable in outline. That way if it approximates to the subject you will feel good about going on.

3 HMS Eskimo has the above in spades hardly any clutter at all.

4 I used Photoshop because I had it albeit old and I can't get Rob's results with Paintshop.

5 Pick a scale that suits you I decided a length of 2 landscape A4 sheets would be about right. Eskimo has a very convenient hull break so as long as the stern section will fit on 1 sheet we are halfway home and it does. (1/250)

6 Pick a pixel size for your scanner and software which your computer can handle. I choose 400 dpi and stick with it like glue unless you want to play with a calculator all night. If the computer coughs all the time then drop down to where it will cooperate the idea is to build a model not play computer whizz kid.

7 Decide now on how you will label all the bits and set up a seperate file and keep it together (I should have done this better) you won't believe how many bits you will develop.

8 This being a first design cheat a little Eskimo at the stern actually has a slight curve just above the waterline forget it it is now vertical nobody has twigged so far.

9 Before you start on the computer messing about, the oldest rule in the book is TAKE A COPY as you go along. This will save more tantrums and swearing than anything else and reduces the comment from the machine of "scratch disk error" to minor aggravation, instead of throwing away a whole nights work.

I wrote a bit more but will have to go away and straighten out the English etc.
Diagram 2

please note your waterline plate will probably sticking out from under the frames we will fix this later.

AIN'T YOU DOING WELL SO FAR !!!

More later

barry
 
Superb start, Barry!

I think I might be able to follow this thread fairly well since you are writing to my level of aptitude...I am a computer idiot .
Thanks! :wink:

BTW I love your style of writing, to the point and well said.

Can't wait for more!

Cheers!

Jim
 
Eskimo design part 2

Hi Part 2

10 a.. If you have got the plan as a .jpg on the internet load it into the photo software. Select image/canvas from the image button and turn off the resample button, set the image size to A4 (in my case) 8.5 x 11.69 and execute. Here we go to the idiot way, on the Image menu select adjust picture and Autolevels and get the blackest picture you can. Now print it out and rescan, it or your paper plan at 400dpi. Print 3 copies at least. Join one set of parts of the plan together lining them up very carefully to show the whole ship. What are trying to do is get an overlap on the next scan, in the case of Eskimo the forecastle break. At the same time print the parts onto cardboard (this becomes your measuring stick from now on) and cut them out so you can visualise where the spine, decks and waterline plate will be split.

11 Load the scan into the photo software select image and image size turn off the resample tick box, enter 400 into the dpi box this should give you back the original dimensions scanned in (I go back to inches to check)

12 Decide on the canvas size I decided on 7.5 x 10.5 inches (can't get my head round metric A4 apologies to those who grew up with them) select File menu ..New Page enter the size and 400 dpi and execute.

13 This is your paper size for the model pages so using the marquee tool (The thing that produces a dotted square to indicate the selection or the lasso) edit copy from the original edit paste to your sheet allow a bit extra length to able to change yiur mind about the joining position later. Make sure you include the frame markers on this sheet.

14 Next job draw the frame lines in on the spine, deck and waterline plate if you have not got the waterline copy another deck as a temporary plate. At this point you still have the original plan of all the decks showing.

15 The whole point of this method is that it should be VISUAL and card is relatively cheap, so print out this sheet cut it out use some blue tack or matchboxes lay out the keel and spine stand back does it look right. It does then we are halfway there FEEL GOOD so far you are keeping up with top designers.

Diagram 1

PIC_1183.jpg


and you are about here in the design.

16..Now another quick cheat I hope you have been saving your work at EACH main stage .

NB each time you paste into the New sheet or anyother for that matter the software will create a new layer and being old I only want to cope with a couple of layers at most. Check the menu labeled Layer if the Merge Visible is showing dark then merge it down this will allow you to save in .jpg format not in some esoteric file type produced by the software. I will say it again if you are happy then SAVE IT NOW. If it will not save in jpg you have layers not stuck together.

Go back to the page with frames on and using the marquee (dotted square tool divide the frames diagram in half make another new page, edit and copy two copies the one set of the frames outline with the square and using the Layer menu Transform section find the rotate section and flip one set horizontally, now move the two halves together for the first set repeat onto the same new sheet the second half of the frame set. You now have full width frames. Do not forget to keep merging down especially if you are a bit short on the memory stakes.

17 Now you will have two sets of frames showing many together copy and paste this combined set until you have enough to match up with the lines you drew on the spine and keel (I know the keel is wrong at the moment it does not matter.

18 Cut the frames in the size you want from the combined lump this will give you the exact frames with a lot of rubbish on lines everywhere but accurate.

19 Arrange to make half cuts to attach into the spine and assemble you can glue it or not you will most likely have to do it again anyway (it's good practice)

diag_2.jpg


20 You now have a destroyer or whatever in outline.

More later

Please if this not clear ask or point out my errors because that way we might get somewhere, the only good thing about being old is you are past caring if you have been a pratt. So please feel free to chip in with your ideas I'm learning as I do this.

barry
 
I know I forgot the scaling so far but if the plan you have got onto the computer lines up with all the bits who cares what scale it is for a practice. promise I will do the scaling on the next edition.

regards

barry
 
Readability

Hi Leif

Please do not change the style youuse it is one of the best technical manuals I have seen with real world examples useful to us, I want to see a wing not a rose petal and yes it may be as dry as dust but I have learned so much from it just flicking though.

This thread is a bit on the light hearted side but with a semi serious purpose, just how much can you do with no expensive tools. The other reason is that I know to little other than to try and show it can be done.

I have been in computers all my life but on nitty gritty things like flight simulators the ones with 90 lb pressure hydraulics on them, radar data takeoffs, textile mills etc and when I got home I did not want to learn graphics.

I was an engineer and 2D drawings I am happy I can understand not so with this 3D stuff the language is way above my head and your playing with colour is almost the same to me hence in my choice of subject one of the other factors is corticene decks not wood.

So please Leif if you want to write something readable more work for you do it in another thread to the one you are doing.

Many thanks for all your hard work.

regards

barry
 
Hi, Barry! :D

Still following this magical process with great interest and dreams of designing my own model...we can dream, can't we? :lol:

Just a few questions on the last set of steps.

1. In step 10 a it seems you have printed out two sheets, at least, of the plan file image, each covering a part of the original plans, with it idea being to assemble a complete ship plan on paper...is that right? And then I read into the instructions you take that assembled paper mock-up with which you have decided the breaks to fit your chosen paper size and then rescan the parts you have physically re-worked...am I still following your instructions correctly? Just wanted to be sure you were talking about a print, mock-up and join, and then rescan of the newly printed parts to fit your desired assembly mock-up into new files for further use in the process. If I am not right, please show me the error of my ways...see, I told you I am a computer idiot. :wink:

2. I also imagine that before you print out the first mock-up sheets you have already decided on the scale you want to build this model at, right? So, the plan set you start out with should be altered to match the scale you want, correct? That way the printed out mock-ups in step 10 are true to your chosen scale, right? So the scan you make is not in the desired scale...or am I going astray an asunder here?

3. You mention in step 11 to "turn off the 'resample' box"...why? What does that do if you don't? Just curious. I also take it you start out step 11 having already reloaded the new scan of the mock-up parts, is that right?

4. In step 13 you mention "frame markers"...what are those? Are those the indications on the plan showing where the frame sections are taken from? As they are usually shown on the profile section do you have to draw a line using the edit tools to the deck plan to have the frame locations indicated there also? Is this what you are doing in step 14?

5. Now, in step 15, are you essentially printing out what you have just made in the prior step, or are you just printing out the main deck view? I surmised at some point you have taken parts of the re-scanned mock-up and copied parts and pasted onto new pages that match the paper size you are working with, is that right? So, when you print out the next batch you are printing out the new pages you have just created...and are you printing out the entire batch so you can piece together another mock-up, this time the parts have the frame locations on them?

6. In step 16 you are creating the frame former parts...do you use the grid function to check to see that the center line on your frame plans are true vertically before making the mirror copy and creating the full frame? I can see an error creeping in if the plan you are working with is not trued up to the center line around which the frame parts are rotated. BTW, did you mean to say horizontally flip or vertically flip the frames. Most frame plans I have seen are centered vertically, one side being one-half views of the frames sections forward of midships and the other being the after frame sections. I'm just thinking if you flip on the horizontal axis (a line that runs across the page from left to right) you are rotating on the wrong axis...or is my computer ineptness again rearing it's ugly head? Maybe I'm just not familiar with the terminology used in the software, which is definitely a given in my case. :wink: I know what you mean, though; you want to use the half frame lines to create a full frame former.

7. In step 18 you say "cut the frames in the size you want"...I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "the size you want". I am presuming the files you are creating are keeping the same scale so they should all be in the correct size, right...or did my brain take another detour somewhere?
And are you are printing out all the frames copies now, taking one full frame from each copy to make up the various different frame formers? Should you label the frame copies at this point and edit to clean up the other frame lines you are not working with for that particular part? Is there a way to label each individual full frame former at this stage so we know which one it is, having now create individual frame formers... or did I just take a different tangent than your instructions call for?

8. In step 19 you say "make half cuts to attach to the spine"...are you referring to cutting the full frames parts in half or do we make slits to join them with similar slits in the spine or profile parts (the center spine which is the vessel's profile view)?

9. So at this point we have the basic hull made up of the base plate, main deck, profile/spine and the various full frame formers, right? Are we dealing with the other decks or levels that make up the main deck right now (if that is how your vessel is designed?)...for instance, the main deck, as you have noted, sometimes has a break for the forecastle...are we printing that part out too, so as to make a full top deck to work with in our mock-up in cardstock? This question also applies if there is any quarterdeck, the aft deck that is raised from the weather or main deck, in some ship designs.

10. What type of errors and adjustments have you seen necessary at this early stage, if any, to the parts files you have described so far? If you don't have a waterline plan, the one you use as a baseplate, do you have any suggestions on how we use the main deck plan to create one based on the lower portion of the frame formers?

So sorry for the multitude of questions, Barry, but I did say I was a computer idiot, didn't I? :lol: Hey, it's only ten questions...well, okay, some have many parts, but not bad, right? Seriously, I am following your step-by-step very well and, despite appearances, am not completely lost... yet. :D I figured I had better ask some stupid questions now before my mental wanderings lead me too far afield...it's not your instructions, Barry, they are great, it's just my trying to visualize things in my own mind and be sure I am not mistaking your descriptions.

Yeah, I was the one in the back of the class always interrupting the teacher with a bunch of questions...old habits are hard to break, I guess. :wink:

Seriously, this is an excellent tutorial, at least for someone like me with no design experience, as I can actually follow your thought process and see what is going on...printing it out as you go is probably something that will help me see what is going on.

If I haven't scared you off with these questions, I look forward to the next installment!! :D

Cheers!

Jim

@ Leif - I saw the first part of your tutorial on repainting and know this is another class I really want to attend. I hope you don't mind with the crazy week I had last week I had to cut class for the last few days and haven't been able to do my homework. I can tell you, however, based on the parts I did read that, as is usual with your threads and posts, the instructions are very well written and wonderfully illustrated. I hope to re-join the class sometime this week, if I may. :wink:
 
Eskimo design build

hi Jim

Thanks for checking the work as I said writing is not one of my strong suits and I will probably take 2 goes at answering the questions

Yes I should have chosen a scale first in this case 1/250, in the next bit I will show what I think is the easy way to do it.

What I wanted to end up with so far

a A stuck together plan showing the full length of the vessel at the correct scale.

b 2 sets of basic shapes mounted on card one set to do the trial mock up
the second to keep as a reference to lay the deckhouses on instead of using a ruler to check the shape and length etc. saves messing the hull up I think and is a lot more visual than carefully cleaned parts at this stage.

c The set in the case of Eskimo

main deck forecasrtle
afterdeck from the forecastle break
2 piece waterline plate slightly too long to adjust the joining points
multiple copies of the frames on card these are normally drawn in half section one in inside the other
2 sections of spine


I will now put in the diagram so badly needed

scan.jpg


You can see the join in the scanned back in plan which just happens to be where I will join the spine.

The frames are outlined in red split at the yellow line copied twice flip horizontal drag the two halves together with no attempt to clean up into individual items, they are printed as is with all the lines showing.

The green line indicates the forecastle main deck and you print this as is, no clean up

The spine is a prinout of the elevation the blue box shows where the frame sections are on the hull lenghth these are the points to draw aline through to indicate where they join the temporary base which is the forecastle deck copy2 (unless you have the waterline marked on your plan in which case you cut that out).

So we now have a sheet consisting of many copies of the frames all the same size one lot for the after part and another for the fore part. Now forget the computer print it on card count the lines and cut the individual frames from the set.

We are making a conventional eggbox with halflap joints mark the half with a ruler and pencil.

Now play with the parts until you are happy where you will join them. The spine can be joined by just overlapping the front and back no need for perfect joins yet.

Now at this point Jim you have done nothing but copy the origianal plan so there should be zero errors (except of course those induced by the scanner)

Crude method
If you have a set of French curves you can actually mark the positions of the frame edges on the waterline plate by laying the frames along the centreline of your waterline plate(copy of upper deck) where the lines drawn from the blue box indicate. If you are good at do it freehand and join the dots, else you will have to wait for the next lesson.

Now we have cut the slots in the spine and the frames and suddenly he remembers to draw in the maindeck centreline (sorry chaps). Glue the spine to the base and push down the frames into the slots place decks on top and you can see if it looks like you can join the bits together.

I hope this clears things up a little.



When the jpg is read into Photoshop 4 it usually adopts 72 dpi as the size and extends the length/ width of the image to suit that pixel size, so as the number of pixels scanned remains the same clicking the button stopping the resample will fit a 400 dpi drawing on to your page in this case 7.5 x 10.5 inches.

I should have printed out your question so if I have missed any bits shout and in the meantime I will read your reply again.

Your totally disorganized mate bear with me I will get there in the end thinks wish I was as good as Leif.

barry
 
Yet another afterthought at the bow only put in enough frames to take a smooth flare through the hull sides otherwise you will get a ribby look or do a load of sandpapering to no goods purpose.

barry
 
Eskimo build for dummies scaling

OK scaling this should have been the first paragraph.

We have printed the plan we have and joined it together carefully use a steel rule to check. We have scanned it back into the computer in this case in two parts. Read the ship specification work out how long it should be in centimetres or whatever. I am not going to make a tit of myself by giving an example.

Now make a new page which is long enough to fit the whole plan into then cut and paste merge down etc and line up the parts, if they are not square on then use the rotate tool, Jim I get confused with grids so I make a close fitting box with the marque tool, on the menu select layer, transform, rotate and jiggle the part into place. I check it by drawing yet another box round the part and eyeball it straight repeat for the other half and match them up.

I have real problems these days with mental arithmetic so I move the bow or stern into place under a convenient place on the rulers like 1 cm (I can manage that) and using the scale tool ... layer menu, transform, scale stretch it or compress it to the right length then do the same for the verticals.

Make a new page each for the bow and stern cut and paste at a point that overlaps where you will join the models' plates and print out both sheets . Just to belabour the point the forecastle break should be on both prinouts.

Sorry about this, the confusion is my original plan was scaled at 1/250 and I did not have to bother with all this.

Trouble is it is so simple to do and so damn difficult to describe.

barry.
 
Frames

The spine now needs to be reduced top and bottom to allow for your chosen cardboard thickness, for me this difficult cos I use heavy card and back it with cornflake packet stiffeners and I have not got a micrometer.

Or you can add some extra depth at the waterline.

Also I have taken out the deck curve, that is straight tops to the frames.

I have also found the two jpgs I had lost in my ****filing*** system

Eskimo.jpg

spine cuts
scan0015.jpg

frames for bow area


barry
 
Hi, Barry! :D

You are being very clear, mate, it's just I tend to overthink things sometimes. I follow your process very well...it's one of those things that for me is understood even better as I walk myself through the process mentally, but your instructions are perfectly clear.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this process for well, this is an area I really want to try my hand as some ship designs, albeit simple ones.

More when you are ready, Professor! :D

Cheers!

Jim
 
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