"Will.
Planking a hull in 3d is a bit of a problem. It took me a while to get this far. Welcome any easy solutions to get "real" effects."

Hi, well I'm not sure about "easy" - if you're using procedural textures, perhaps switching to image based textures and UV'ing your model may give you more control over how the plank seams arch over the hull of the boat.

Perhaps dicing the hull into the actual planks and applying the plank textures individually should follow the curvature as required.

I was using procedural textures (Darktrees) initially (see below) on an old house I was working on a few years ago in Lightwave - it was sorta cool cause of the detail and resolution independence but I opted for imagemaps in the end for easier control...

I must say the renders are looking very nice however and by time your scene is done, it'll most likely not even stick out like before. :-)







-Will