some boats' blue prints ;)
http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/02fonds-collections/banquedocuments/planbato/planbato/listebato/listebato.php

Thanks Pilou.

Hi Brian.

Your Boat looks great, even with the planking. Don`t see a problem here(edit: ok the plank texture is a bit distorted in one direction.
Maybe try to avoid texture-stretching by using different tiling factors for x and y or u and w).
I`m really admiring your uv-work. Something that has always scared me a bit.
I hope Michael could do some Magic here;-)

By the way, i would use a fresnel effect(ior) on all materials.
That is one reason why all the unbiased renders look so real (and the lightning is the other reason of course).

Greetings
Dirk

Thanks Dirk.
Using the fresnell effect all the time? The very first time I have, ever, heard that one?
Will investigate.
Brian

Dirk.
In Carrara, I use the Fresnell plugin shader from here---

http://www.des-web.net/shoestring_graphics.html

Some initial comparrison tests suggest that, as I have normally done, Fresnell needs to be used judicially.
Appreciate comments from others.

Hi Brian,

yesterday i`ve made some tests again and i couldn`t detect much difference by using fresnel or not.
I am a bit biased by the unbiased renderengines like Maxwell and Fryrender(nice worldplay :-)) and they have turned fresnel all the time on , cause you can`t turn it off. You just change it`s intesity mainly by the ior and by roughness.
I`ve here one tutorial which is about procedural textures in c4d and there the author uses fresnel. Inside the tutorial he has two images, one with fresnel turned on and one without it, so you can compare its effect.
Unfortunenatly the tutorial is in spanish. I can`t speak or read spanish either but the images are named in english so you can easily see of what i spoke here. The link to the english text seems to be broken, so here is the spanish one:

http://www.3dluvr.com/carles/Tut02es.htm

The fresnel effect in a way accents three- dimensionality when there are reflections visible on an object.


Greetings
Dirk

The few quick tests I did shows a softening/degredation of contrasts/shadows on some objects.
That, especially, on objects which should not be reflective.
In Carrara, we have the Reflection channel as basic. The Fresnel plugins being a more "specialised refinement" in that area.
(Carrara is pretty good with it's shading tree variables)

Unbiased engines also have blurry reflections/refractions on ALL objects. This is how you find materials in reality. For materials such as glass/chrome, the sampling must be cranked up very high. For biased engines it will make your render time painfully long, but is more accurate...

jonah