SoG Game Tracker App (windows)

[Aaron]

9/15/18 preview

- stationed in the west indies south of Martinique sailing west.


- strange sail spotted 15 miles on the horizon... set canvas and chase west of Martinique.


- all sail set.. making good way, wind abaft of the beam.


- ship getting closer, setting intercept (target in top right - faint white wake streak) - circle a mile in radius, target 3 miles out


- more sail damn you, put the helm down


- she must have had a clean bottom. Men to the guns..


strange ship just sailed off of screen.. missed opportunity, good time to exercise the great guns...


I better hone my closing skills.. I had this one and messed up the approach.. better luck next time.

edit: we met up again and this time it wasn't target practice.. enemy ship on left lost the fore sails so I caught up.


ship on the left missed stays because no one was manning the braces. the visual sail shape was static at the time and didn't reflect aback but it was in the physics.

[Aaron]

Something I've been working on over the last week is how ships used their anchors and the physics involved. I have a single anchor working at the moment. It will drag along the bottom if pulled on too much, once it has a good bite it will limit the travel of the ship around the radius but the ship can still rotate and shear around with the wind and current. The cable can be hauled on and the ship brought above the anchor point where it will then win the anchor. I am going to add a second anchor to allow a mooring setup and a spring cable to control the ship rotation. You can also slip/cut the anchor in emergencies. This was a detail I wanted to capture rather accurately. I will consider it a success when the anchor physics is adequate to perform a club-hauling emergency maneuver.

Here's a quick shot of a ship under a lee shore just securing the run of cable. (the white line). The gray line showing velocity direction is now tangent to the anchor line thus confining radial position to the anchor point.

[Bligh]

My word Aaron, club hauling is certainly an advanced technique. I have only ever come across its mention a couple of times.

Rob.

[Aaron]

9/28/18 - Land Visuals are being developed. Bearing some small glitches it is starting to add dimension to the islands.

[Bligh]

Looking good Aaron.
I like the fortification.
Rob.

[Aaron]

Looking good Aaron.
I like the fortification.
Rob.

Thanks, I just getting around to making them easier to build with the mouse.

[Aaron]

I’m working a refuel outage so my time is pretty short. I did get into a 3D library so I’ve been messing around a bit.



Attachment 40556

Looks promising..

[Aaron]

worked on waves.. ship model is just a stand in for now.


Also link to video showing wave model. Ship rises and falls with wave. Next is to add pitch and roll.
https://youtu.be/xSb2WeHAg2s

[Aaron]

Simulating some giant waves for Bligh’s future Cape Horn adventure. Just stressing things out to see what breaks. Results are promising.

https://youtu.be/4ED38_EMF1U

[Bligh]

Thank you for considering me in your design work, I think

Bligh.

It reminds me of the episode in the book where Jack Aubrey rounds the Horn.

Rob.

[Aaron]

Yes it does! I’m just playing around with seeing what this library can do. Mainly it is a test dive into using the GPU for visuals instead of taxing the CPU. I still have to throw on the environment cube map to get the sky reflections on the water. Just killing time before my night shift starts

[Naharaht]

If you incorporate all these features, Aaron, your app will be truly amazing!

[DeRuyter]

I'd say it is developing into more than just an "app"; rather a full fledged game!

[Aaron]

I say it is developing into a full fledged game.. waves are getting there.





I need to tackle cloth looking sail next.

[TexaS]

Wow! It looks really Good!

[Diamondback]

You should be talking to the guys at Ares about getting official backing for this as a Licensed Product and incorporating official IP... :) might make you a few bucks if they publish it.

I know if it came with both "basic" (card-based) and "advanced" (more complex, free-form like what you have here) I'd look into buying it, especially if it came with an exclusive ship or two...

[Bligh]

It certainly looks the real McCoy to me Aaron.
I would seriously consider DB's suggestion.
Rob.

[Aaron]

I will think about it. Right now its a fun project to work on. I'm gaining a lot of confidence in working in 3D using the GPU. I'm going to change out my stand in 2D graphics for 3D while retaining all of my ship physics work. Right now I am hammering out how to do an infinite ocean scene where the ships disappear over the horizon without having to render the entire 15 mile radius ocean surface.

[Bligh]

Magnificent Sunrise Aaron.
Rob.

[Aaron]

Magnificent Sunrise Aaron.
Rob.

Thanks! It's coming along. I'm learning about cube cameras so I am now capturing the sky reflection into the water now.


Trying some lighting out for cannon shots
https://youtu.be/A8ii3FEgD-E

Approaching a ship.. fluid ocean movements
https://youtu.be/kYBpGsh5jFQ

[Aaron]

Getting the mast to break over the side. Next is to cut it loose
https://youtu.be/igi5jo9BZHg

[Aaron]

Firing cannons... slow mo and real-time.

https://youtu.be/Z-gjVF0sRQ0

https://youtu.be/OEHU5FZJR7c

[Bligh]

Those clips are amazing Aaron.
are you sure that you are not a professional programmer?
Rob.

[Aaron]

Thanks Bligh. Na, just a hobbyist programmer having a go at it.

[Bligh]

That is what makes it so impressive Aaron.
Rob.

[Aaron]

That is what makes it so impressive Aaron.
Rob.

I'm done for the night.. going back on shift for the remainder of the outage. I hope to get a real ship model loaded in and see how it performs when I get back to normal schedule.

Laters.

small spoiler.. working on gun deck a little.. rough start like always..

[Aaron]

Modeling up a 24lb cannon. I can see why smallish frigates didn't carry these.

[Bligh]

Nice work again Aaron.
Imagine the strain the recoil of one of those would put on a Frigates structure when it recoiled, never mind the space it would take up whilst inboard opposite another one from the other side of the ship. Sheer weight and ammunition would also play a part in the equation.
I suppose that the American super Frigates were an inevitable consequence of all this. If you wanted more clout, you had to go stronger and larger.
Rob.

[Aaron]

Nice work again Aaron.
Imagine the strain the recoil of one of those would put on a Frigates structure when it recoiled, never mind the space it would take up whilst inboard opposite another one from the other side of the ship. Sheer weight and ammunition would also play a part in the equation.
I suppose that the American super Frigates were an inevitable consequence of all this. If you wanted more clout, you had to go stronger and larger.
Rob.

[MrMo]

Hello Aaron

Thank you for the fantastic app, I just arrived here at "sailsofglory.org" and had read your thread, this tool is awsome!

Regards,
Mo

[Aaron]

Hello Aaron

Thank you for the fantastic app, I just arrived here at "sailsofglory.org" and had read your thread, this tool is awsome!

Regards,
Mo

MrMo, you are most welcome. Thank you for the read through! It’s been awhile since I have added to the SOG version but I will more than likely roll it over to JavaScript at some point as I feel it has the best chance of going multiplayer at the moment.

[Aaron]

some work in progress pics.. sails are a mess but I'm getting shrouds and stays roughly laid out.

[Aaron]

Trying out cannonball collider. They simply erase what object they hit. Purely a test and purely really fun to destroy.

https://youtu.be/XrZxTiLngl8

[Bligh]

Like the flying cannons! must be a ghost ship Aaron.
Seriously though, once you get the sequence right it will be awesome.
Rob.

[Aaron]

starting to model a little more on the ship. I'm about to dive into shaping the ship hull via ship plan lines.











Now if I could just stop fixing a million other things and get to procedural modeling...

[Bligh]

Still very interesting to see the way you are working all these factors up in your game presentation Aaron.
Rob.

[Aaron]

ok - I got some procedural hull mesh generation done. I basically just type the coordinates of the line plan section shapes and it builds the 3D mesh from it. In this example I've only defined 12 or so shapes and it built this. Ignore the cannon and sail placement as they are built on the old standi-in hull shape. The bow and stern will be a little chore but I believe she will answer nicely... its a pity that half of the pretty curves are submerged beneath the waterline. My near term project (today?) is to build an auto deck generator that will conform to the inner hull shape so that the interiors will lay out nice, so one can walk around inside the ship.. down to the hold.

What this means is that I can mass produce a lot of ship types once it is finished, only using the ship plans, no 3D cad work required. (in theory.. hah)













my source..

[Bligh]

I still find the way you build these up remarkable....
Rob.

[Aaron]

hello gents.. it has been a bit since the last update. I had to go out of town training and then catch back up on work when I got back so... I still got some progress to report. I got the decks to build across and form up to the shape of the hull. I also have a routine that caps the top of the bulwark (shown red in example). Multiple decks are easily modeled now. I plan on using my deck generating code to build the chainrail along the outside of the hull to hold the shrouds and deadeyes. I plan to get the chainrails working today.

progress pics.. nothing fancy or textured but showing off the deck and rails.

[Bligh]

Nice details starting to emerge Aaron.
Thanks for the update.
Rob.

[Aaron]

Nice details starting to emerge Aaron.
Thanks for the update.
Rob.

Yes its fun getting to details now.. tops of the chainrails are made and I sorted out the shrouds. Off to visit family...

[Aaron]

Small update. I’m working on the code that will cut the gunports out in the side of the hull automatically. Basically you define the size of the port and location along keel and it will knock out the appropriate triangles and fill back in with smaller triangles to form up the square port. It took a few days of brainstorming on how to pull this off but if all goes well the sides of the ship will be close to final form... with only a small wale builder to flesh out the final geometry. I will then place covers over the gun ports (on ships that had them) and as captain you can open:close and run the guns out :)

I’m tempted to use the gunport cutting algorithm to damage the hull of the ship during combat but that would depend on the performance and how many extra triangle space to preallocate for this task. I’m keeping that in the back of my mind but how cool would it be to see the holes smashed in the sides of the ship.

[Bligh]

The design goes from strength to strength Aaron.
Have a good break with the family, and a Merry Christmas.
Rob.

[Aaron]

I hope everyone is having a great holiday. I've spent most of the time with family so I've made very little progress in the realm of graphics. However, I researched cannon muzzle velocity and cannon ball trajectories. I found two good resources for modeling both the muzzle velocity and the drag during flight.

http://www.arc.id.au/CannonBallistics.html

http://www.arc.id.au/CannonballDrag.html

Some snippets from the pages.
Muzzle Velocity Comparisions to measured versus calculated (not bad)


And Flight results for a 24lbr.


The model takes into account the coeff of drag changes due to cannon ball diameter, mach number, and reynolds number ranges.

Its noteworthy to see that the coeff of drag various from 1 down to .1 during the flight. The high drag is due to the shock waves associated with super sonic speeds and the low coeff of drag comes in when the turbulent region separates from the cannon ball surface. Pretty neat stuff.


Its all explained on the page above with a sample code that I am going to use for my cannons in the game.

I will most likely precalculate all of the muzzle velocities for cannon before combat begins (for different power and shot weight (double, etc)) so it will not take up any processor time.

I will probably make an array of the coeff of drag for the various cannon ball sizes at speed ranges to save cpu cycles (no reason to calculate over and over the same results).

I hope to get back to it tomorrow morning if the baby stops waking up during my prime programming time (4am).

-Aaron

[Bligh]

Hi Aaron.
Judging from the lack of action here on the Anchorage I guess most of us have been busy with family stuff.
That chart of yours looks as if it will be useful in many ways with its data in such a handy format. Pity it is a bit late for our period, but I don't expect it changed much until rifling and cartridges came in, and in 1860 a lot of smooth bore muzzle loaders were still in action. Just on the change over really to fulminate of Mercury detonators in the late 1860s.
Rob.

[Aaron]

The muzzle velocity page I linked does get into earlier periods were more charge was used but the quality of powder was less. The equations take powder density , windage and other factors into account.

If I need to make period era adjustments it would only be to the muzzle velocity as the cannonball aero drag would not be impacted as it is a simply a sphere with a velocity.

Hi Aaron.
Judging from the lack of action here on the Anchorage I guess most of us have been busy with family stuff.
That chart of yours looks as if it will be useful in many ways with its data in such a handy format. Pity it is a bit late for our period, but I don't expect it changed much until rifling and cartridges came in, and in 1860 a lot of smooth bore muzzle loaders were still in action. Just on the change over really to fulminate of Mercury detonators in the late 1860s.
Rob.

[Bligh]

What if anything do you intend viz the British powder being of a better quality than the French?

Rob.

[Aaron]

What if anything do you intend viz the British powder being of a better quality than the French?

Rob.

Since I am modeling the muzzle velocity via the equations which takes powder into account, I will make the powder coefficients configurable to account for quality. My memory isn't up on the quality differences between the nations though I remember reading discussions on it awhile back. Thanks for the question I will take this into account.

I'm trying to get motivated this morning to tackle a complex piece of code. I started out just playing the game target practicing against some damageable sails (hit detection to rip out triangle patches).


Time to get to work on hull gun ports.......and the baby started crying.... no prize taken today as the royal baby dispatched a packet with orders to return to port and account for my actions at sea. He finds the sea biscuits pretty tasty though.

[Aaron]

I can’t believe it’s 1/24/19 already! I’ve been taking small runs at coding but lots of family illness this month to tend to. Lately I spend my breakfast time before leaving for work doodling on my napkin on more efficient coding routines and driving in silence during my 1 hour commute to work on how to implement it.

This weekend I have to finish the ‘port’ punching code as I am tired of mentally holding it up from slipping away. I hope to present some beautiful shots of a hull bristling with black cannon.

During the lull I’ve been reading and watching YouTube on history on the spice trade, particularly when Portugal pioneered the route to a India and Indonesia. I find this era fascinating but creating ships in this time (1498) would be challenging as there are no plans. I would like to see how my ship generator handles these older craft.

[Bligh]

Only just caught these two log entries Aaron. How is that new Midshipman of yours shaping up? He looks a sturdy lad to me. Get him signed onto a ships crew so that he will have the years in by the time he is old enough for action.
I await with baited breath your latest modification to the game that you are developing. When completed it promises to be a real corker.
Rob.