Trying to create underwater scenery.

I'm trying to model a shipwreck in shallow water. Anticipating problems, all I have done so far is use ADE to put a test object at a height of -5 metres. Getting intermittent and irregular results. Sometimes it's visible, sometimes it's not. Is there a way to make it visible all the time, or should I abandon this and have only an above-water wreck?

 

It's not in the ocean, it's in a fully enclosed lagoon. So it would seem to be reasonable to attack the problem by making my own semi-transparent water texture for the lagoon. But because I am incredibly lazy, I wish to avoid this method if there is an easier way.

 

Steve still from Mudgee.

As long as your ship model is a scenery object (not AI or "flyable" craft) and your lagoon has terrain mesh beneath it, FS should allow you to place it there. You may get better results with something like EZ-Scenery, as that will create a stand-alone scenery file. What cataclysmic event in your sim has sunk this unfortunate vessel in a fully enclosed lagoon?

I think you would have to create the entire lagoon, shipwreck, and semi-transparent water surface as a scenery object to be placed on an island.

Hmmm. May have to settle for the shipwreck to be only the part of the ship above water.

 

[What cataclysmic event in your sim has sunk this unfortunate vessel in a fully enclosed lagoon?] LOL Well, I could give any answer! It is only a small ship - not really credible to have a supertanker washed up into a lagoon, is it? The context of this statement was that it is only the water surface of the lagoon that is a separate entity. I have very carefully arranged the boundary between the water of the lagoon and the open Pacific, where the tide comes in and out, to be, uhh, "artistically" hidden. Overhanging trees, that sort of thing.

 

Steve still from Mudgee.

Then 'tis a pirate ship, me hearty! She was scuppered afore the excise found 'er, and there be treasure still aboard!

You have a much more active imagination than I do. However, not sure there are going to be too many pirate ships in the south west pacific. But, like our commercial TV stations - never let facts get in the way of a good story. And that certainly is a good story!

 

Steve from Mudgee

"not sure there are going to be too many pirate ships in the south west pacific"

Aarrhh, a good point shipmate. Maybe this suits the cut of your jib: She's a WW2 bullion ship, scuppered before the Japanese Navy found her, and the treasure is still aboard!

Here's my attempt with Instant Scenery and one of Mark's USN Frigates models at YSSY 34L, more aground than actually sunk but FS water is opaque of course.

Tiger, thank you for your continuing stories and even more importantly your excellent attempt. It is very true that "a picture is worth a thousand words", because your sunken / aground frigate has convinced me that it is worth while continuing with this project. The most important thing that I take from your image is that with the right 3D proportions of the sunken ship, it will in fact not be necessary to attempt to model the part below water. All I have to do is to make a blurry outline of a top-down view of the part underwater, colour it correctly, and place that exactly at water level. Whilst that will not be totally in correct shape or orientation from all perspectives, I believe that it will be good enough. I believe that with the right colouring and proportions, the eye/brain will "see" that for what I want it to be: a broken up ship, part above and part below water.

 

For the part above water, that will be trivially simple. "Wrecking" the ship will be simplicity itself: parts that I don't want to "exist" I will simply make transparent! :D And who knows? Your WWII bullion ship might even come to "life", so to speak. And maybe even one or more wrecked planes.

 

Steve still from Mudgee

Steve, this will certainly work and look very effective too! I found a pic which may be useful to you:

Best Wishes, Tim

Yes, Tiger Tim, that's pretty well what I had in mind. If I get good results I will post those on the forum. But that won't be until next year sometime. Thanx again for your stories and support.

 

Steve from Mudgee.

For a longer time I search a way to get this Vulcan of James Bond's "Operation Thunderball" underwater at the Bahamas. So let us know whether you found a solution.

 

Bernard

 

Bernard, there are a number of things you can do to improve the appearance of your underwater Vulcan. In no particular order or priority:

 

1. An object sitting on the ocean bottom is unlikely to be perfectly "straight and level". If you are using ADE to place the object, you can change its Pitch and Bank angle. Try it.

 

2. If you have Photoshop or LView or something similar, you can make the object a little Blurry. This will simulate the view from the never-perfectly-flat ocean surface.

 

3. Add some waves (an Effect file) breaking around the object. Particularly if you have the Vulcan's tail and/or a wingtip sticking out of the water.

 

4. Since the ocean is slightly blue-green, use the colour balance tool to make your texture file slightly blue green.

 

5. Combining 1 & 4, the blue-green effect should be variable. The deeper the texture is underwater, the more bluegreen you should use. This is illustrated perfectly in tiger's Sunk Ship image, where the deepest parts are completely blue green, with the actual object colour being no longer relevant.

 

6. If you have the body of the Vulcan below water but the tail above, then with time, the above and below surfaces will become very different. The above-water part will lose paint and become "silvery" aluminium; the below water part will have coral and other critters growing on it and will become mottled brown and dark green and dark blue. So you can make more of a distinction there. And it makes sense to have a sharp boundary at the mean high tide mark.

 

7. You can combine 1 & 6 to have say a wingtip above water, then you would treat it the same way as the tail.

 

I would encourage you to try all of these things. It may end up being all that you need !

 

Steve from Mudgee.

Thanks Steve for the tips. I will try to apply them. However, I won't pitch or bank the plane. As you might remember, the Vulcan landed on the water with retracted gear. It has been extended while the aircraft was sinking to the bottom of the lagoon.

 

Bernard

OK, I am not a James Bond fan so I didn't know that. But have fun with your work. I will have more progress reports after Christmas. Hope you're not too deeply snowed under :D

 

Steve from Mudgee