[TEC] scaling a blueprint to build a sub in 3D

[keltos01]

open the image in a picture program, I use photoshop CS :
Narwhal Blueprint (SH427)



crop it very close to the hull shape nb : it's better if all the sections, top and side view are on the same drawing so they are all scaled at once.

select image - image size

set its width to 106 cm in this example (Narwhal = 106 m long), the height will adjust automatically.

save


open 3ds




chose create - box

drag the box's dimensions using the mouse

input the width-legnth according to the blueprint size at 1/10th of the scale in the relevant boxes in 3DS :

width : 106 cm -> 10,60
length : 20.07 -> 2,007

I usually set the thickness to 0,01

you have now created a bow of the exact dimension of the blueprint and of the submarine.

now open the material editor

assign the Narwhalblueprint.jpg to the box :



here the hull is already there, so we'll move the box so it is aligned with it :




I aligned it with the stern, as you can see this blueprint is slightly different from the one I used to build the hull of the sub, and is more detailed too. Unless it is a scan of an original, like the I-14 blueprint in the IJN blueprint thread, or that it states where the picture is published that it is an exact copy of the original blueprint, one has to be very careful not to have a "made after" blueprint i.e. one made from photographs and know data on the sub.



here with both horizontal and vertical blueprints :





does anybody know how to force 3DS to display the texture, here a blueprint, at a higher resolution ?


keltos