Well I didn’t find the Bligh pic easy going, my attempts at sea in Z, kept resulting in something that resembled aluminium foil. In the end I decided that I would do the background in Vue d’Esprit, so the ship is Boolean modelled in Vue, the textures/materials were my own creations apart from the sea and sky, the sea was an adjusted off the shelf material the sky also off the shelf but with lighting adjustments. The rope, I experimented in PSP, painting textures until I got one that looked reasonably rope like when imported into Vue.
The next failure came with the skinned Zsphere body, trying to import it into Vue; the high polygon count was giving some problems. I optimised it then in an attempt to improve things but lost too much detail. Then the tiling texture wasn’t working well in Vue and when I textured the hat with texture master, as soon as I picked up the texture, the brim disappeared. I decided to make the best of a bad job, so painted Bligh in Z, took him into PSP as an image, selected him and placed him in the Vue background.
That’s all folks.
Dave
Nice one Dave! How long have you been working on this piece? I remember seeing it weeks ago, i think…
I suck at water too in ZBrush
lol
David
Well it looks like you had a few problems to surmount but the finished pic is very good. Well done with this.
Great Image! Your attention to detail really shines. Kudos.
really nice Pict DM !!
all is very nice
Thanks for the comments folks. A friend made some legitimate comments from his viewpoint on the ship, or at least what can be seen of it. I thought I would put my reasons for approaching it in the way I did, and also for those armchair sailors like myself, some historical background.
On May the 10th 1787 the Navy Board advertised for a suitable ship for the breadfruit transportation, and out of five offered the Berthia a two and a half-year-old merchantman was selected for the job. Because of the nature of the work, £4456 were spent on alterations, which was more than the cost of the ship, and then the ship became the HMS Bounty. I have black and white plans of the Bounty but had to seek more information on the net even though only a small part would be included in the image. For any colour detail all I could rely on were models, and on that point many differed, so I settled for the majority view. The fact that there aren’t ropes strewn around the deck and the cleanliness of it, is based on my information on Bligh as a commanding officer, he was scrupulous in making his crew keep the vessel, ‘ship shape and Bristol fashion’, as the old saying goes. He would not have tolerated a littered deck unless it was absolutely necessary, also the fact that it was not likely to be a battered and generally dirty ship, was because of its relative newness, also the considerable work that had been done to it.
As a matter of interest regarding William Bligh, he was actually a very talented seaman and by contemporary standards was not particularly brutal, many officers that never had mutinies, used flogging to a far greater extent than he did. His problem was man management; he nagged a lot and generally wore people down that way. Unlike the man he did learn a lot from, Captain James Cook, he failed to learn how to deal with people which Cook seemed generally good at.
There has been many views about why the mutiny occurred, in recent years it’s been suggested that Bligh and Christian had a homosexual relationship, then when Christian fell for Mautua, the chiefs daughter on Tahiti, Bligh became angry. They had been great friends, Bligh had originally helped Christian along in the Merchant service, but in my opinion though, the homosexual suggestion is a nonsense. Even some of the crew who went with Bligh in the launch after the mutiny did not particularly like him; they just did not want to risk being involved in a mutiny. Homosexuality carried the death penalty in the navy, had the suggestion been true, Blighs enemies would most certainly have accused him of it.
His navigational skills were proven by his voyage in the Bounty’s launch after the mutiny, almost 4000 miles from Tofua to Timor in 43 days. After spending longer than intended on Tahiti, with Tahitians girls flocking to them, the crew many of whom would have had pretty miserable lives back in home, would have been so fed up going back with nagging Bligh, that no other answer is needed to the mutiny, that’s my opinion.
I perhaps should not have used so much haze on the horizon; it is actually above the top bar.
Dave
Anybody who orginally read 1897 for the date, my mind time machine was set wrong, and was 110 years fast.
<font color="#949494" size=“1”> November 15, 2002 Message edited by: DM </font>
<font color="#949494" size=“1”> November 15, 2002 Message edited by: DM </font>
Very well finished despite all your troubles.
The detail on the clothing is very impressive.
I am glad you have overcome technical difficulties to bring this project to fruitation. The amount of detail and realism you have created in this image is astounding. Thanks also for the history of the man and his circumstances. His journey in the lifeboat from the Bounty was indeed remarkable and a testament to his seamanship and his iron-will. We shall probably never know exactly what transpired but it is a story that has always transfixed me.
I’d be proud of this one Dave
fantastic image
Sterling work Dave, fantastic job on the clothing. 
Thanks for the comments, you can tell how much it puggeled my brain, when I couldn’t get the year right.
Dave
Thnx a million Dave, good modelling on the face and clothing, I personally think you’ve done a great job on this, and your work is always pleasant to look at!
Beautiful! 
I like the final image a lot. Great techniques displayed as usual,Well done!
DeeVee,
Joe.
Thanks for the comments Mr Z and Deevee, they are appreciated.
Dave
Amazing DM. The likness is very well accomplished.
Great final image, DM
stargo
Dave, I may still be hard at it…but I still havent met with the success you achieved on this project, years ago…still a classic…Drop me a line,my friend. I would love to catch up with you.