[WIP] "Lochinvar" Clyde puffer

[gap]

Originally Posted by Mister_M

But also, I see that this sail has a fixed position and it can't be oriented (only a little by fixing the "flying" cable) to one side or the other, so not very useful to navigate...

Obviously you have never been on a sailboat. With that little degree of freedom, a jib sail can make a modern sailboat to move almost against the wind direction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_into_the_wind

Originally Posted by Mister_M

Thank you for your very detailed, patient and clear explanations. I'm impressed, and happy to learn so many things !

My own pleasure

Originally Posted by Mister_M

IMO no light should come from the bottom to create the AO map of a ship. I think that this is not realistic, because in reality you don't have any sun light coming from the bottom, but only very little light reflection by the sea. So, the solution (to avoid "undue" shadow on the cabin) would be to create the AO map on the cabin without the ship's deck occluding the light.

Ambient light is not the same as direct sun light. While I will agree with you that the sea bottom won't reflect as much light as atmoshpere and sea surface, I think that for our purposes this difference can be ignored

Originally Posted by Mister_M

No, because in game the hull will receive as much sun light as the cabin, so the difference of illumination will be noticeable between hull and cabin (more "AO shadows" on cabin).

Even supposing that the different diffuse illumination between hull and vertical superstructure surfaces is irrealistic (but I disagree on that):

a) the difference is so slight that under direct sunlight it will be barely noticeable.

b) the hull will be painted mostly in black and red, whereas the superstructure will have a lighter paint. The one thing you will notice once the model is fully textured and imported in game, is that the bottom part of vertical surfaces, near the deck, is slightly darker than upper parts. This effect is totally realistic and it will enhance the sense of threedimensionality.
You are probably used to SHIII ships, most of which lack an AO map. To me, those models look terribly flat, as if they were photographed from far distance during an hazy day