Bamboo theory!

Bamboo had a unique theory to desalination to filter the salt from water. The reason this is interesting as its said this is the idea behind the hull design of the Junks. This was great because each compartment could be sealed separately from the others so if that section was damaged and leaking water it wouldn't put the ship in danger! (much like the titanic but better). Also they used it for a number of things. They would store water in some where they could have live fish ready for eating. Also in dangerous storms and heavy waves they could open the back to let water in so the back would become heavy and lift the front making it easily for them to sail over the waves.

Video Research!

Below are some Screenshots I took of the documentary. This caught my eye as it gave me a great chance to look at the hull design of the junks properly. Also as it supported things I have been looking at and there was a few different things were said but watching these 2 documentaries supported the facts!

The picture above gave me a chance to look at the top decks, Mainly just the layout as my ship will be alot smaller but this will help me get ideas going! One little critique on this image is that I have researched alot into the sails of this boat and it is clearly said there was 9 sails spaced out over the ship! not centered and this image shows only 5 down the center of the ship.

And back to Research

As we are creating our environment on Zheng He's and his treasure ships I thought I would look into his life and see how he became the man he was.

Zheng He who was at first know as 'Ma He'. He was born in 1371 so a muslim family where he had 4 sisters from Kunyang (present day Jinning). Here was the great great great grandson of Sayid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, a Persian who served in the administration of the Monogolian Empire who later became the appointed governor of Unnan during the early Yuan Dynasty. Both his grandfather and great grandfather carried the title of Hajji (means that made the pilgrimage to mecca).

In 1831 his father was killed following the defeat of the Northern Yuan, a ming army was dispatched to Yunnan to put down the Mongol rebel of Basalawarmi. Zheng He (Ma He), was only eleven, was captured and made a Eunuch.

Funny thing about that fact is that he was said to have a bellowing deep voice.

Back to subject! He was then send to the imperial court, where he was callled 'San Bao' meaning 'Three Jewels.' He eventually became a trusted adviser if the Yongle Emperor (during 1403-1424) This Emperor named him Zheng He.

Zheng He Died during his Seventh Expedition to the weston ocean in 1433.

Enough of Research!!.... for now

I fancied a change! instead of looking at picture after picture, pages and pages of text! so I thought of trying some tests!

Very simple to start of with. All I wanted to do was have 1 plane and texture it and see the results with a bump map on a 1 polygon plane!

These images show the results, I duplicated the plane to test it out how the texture came out at angles. For first test I am very happy with the result. The 2 planes don't match up together but that wasn't what I was testing. The front plane gives a good impression of depth and texture to it. I am thinking of using this level of texture for the floor of the ship. Mainly because of the quick rendering. I feel I can improve on this but I am happy with the outcome.

Hulls and Sails!

Now I wanted to look into the designs of Chinese Junks, below is my first look into the thought behind the Hulls and Sails:

The design of the hull was Unique, they were made from softwoods with multiple compartments accessed by separate hatches and ladders. The interior structure was made from Bamboo. Traditionally, the hull was horseshoe- shaped stern supporting a high poop deck (poop deck is technically called a stern deck, which in sailing ships was usually elevated as the roof of the stern or "after" cabin). The bottom of the ship is flat with no keel, the boat relies on a very large rudder to steer the ship.

Now the Sails:

The design of the sails was key to the movement of the Junk to sail and to be fast. They weren't the traditional square rigged ship sails but the sails on the junk can be moved inward, tilted the the long axis of the ship allowing the junk to sail into the wind. (picture above shows the mast and sails being aimed into the wind by lowering and angling them)

Also the sails included horizontal members called "battens". These provided shape and strength. Unlike typical sailing boats the Junks had lines attaching each batten to its trailing edge where on a normal sailing boat it would be attached only at the boom. The sails can also be easily steered and adjusted for fullness, to moved to catch various wind strengths. Having these battens would make the sails more resistant that traditional sails to large tears. If there was a tear it would be normally only with in that single panel of battens. Junk sails have much in common with the most aerodynamically efficient sails used today in windsurfers or catamarans. (top image of the 3 would best explain the layout of the sails)

The sail-plan is also spread out between multiple masts, allowing for a powerful sail surface, and a good repartition of efforts. The rig allows for good sailing into the wind. The Great Treasure Ships had 9 Masts on them and they were spread-out down each side of the ship to catch as much breeze as they could.

Also I found an interesting comment about the flags on the ships! This will be great for when we design our own ship. Flags were also hung from the masts to bring good luck and women to the sailors on board. A legend among the Chinese during the junk's heyday regarded a dragon which lived in the clouds. It was said that when the dragon became angry, it created typhoons and storms. Bright flags, with Chinese writing on them, were said to please the dragon. Red was the best color, as it would make the dragon likely to help the sailors.

Zheng He's Dragon Fleet!

After comparing Research and after some discussion, we have chosen the era of Admiral Zheng He and his vast fleet of 317 ships during the period of 1405 to 1433. Now I can start to look into the culture of the people and the designs of the ships.

Below is a selection of images showing the head of Zheng He's fleet. The treasure ships. The size of these ships were outstanding. They were 416ft long and 170ft wide, about the size of a football field. They could carry up to 1250 tons. In comparison a modern ship 1,200 tons is 200ft long and the ships of Christopher Columbus sailed to the New world in 1492 (60 years after Zheng He had completed his 7th Voyage) were about 70-100 and 55ft long.

Now that I have my period and the first images of the chosen style of what we are looking for, I now will try break down the ship and start to look at the shapes of the ships and why they were like this. How were the hull designed and the reasons behind it. As well as the sails, layout, anchors and life in the ships! how did they live in these vast vessels and how can I design my own ship to show this?

What do Junk's Look like?

Below are the first images I have found, looking at the different designs of the ancient chinese Junks. These gave me the first insight in the unique shapes of the chinese Junks:

Above: This is a repeated image, but I wanted to explain why I like this image. Firstly I don't know if this is historically correct but I am amazed by its lovely sails and the shape of the hull. For a first impression of Chinese design this really interested in me in why were they designed in that way?

Above: Here are a selection more first images of Chinese Junks. At this moment in time I'm wasn't looking at any particular period or era of ancient china as I wanted to look at a range of designs.

Junk A'hoy!

Here is my blog for my work on my Environment Design project! My group and I have decided to create a Chinese Junk, a ship basically.

The first thing I have researched was why are their ships called Junks? Reason being that the ancient chinese named everything after its purpose. The chinese ships were known for almost carrying anything and everything they could so they named them Junk ships as they were literally full of junk.

For this project I plan to be one of the modelers in the group as well as doing texturing and Uv Mapping. I will also help on some compositing and Lighting as these will be the key thing to creating the mood and feel we want for the ship.

Also I have been named producer for our group so now I have taken the responsibility for organising and running this project making sure we are hitting deadlines and getting the best result as we possibly can.