Meet the Team - Fil
Hello Grand Voyagers! Today weāre returning with another edition of our āMeet the Teamā series, where you can get to know a little more about the people behind Grand Voyage. We sat down for a chat with one of our talented 3D Modelers, Fil, who has masterfully tackled several interior spaces in GV such as Empress of Irelandās Second Class Smoking Room, Lakoniaās Deluxe Staterooms, and Carpathiaās camber-heavy First Class Dining Saloon. Fil was happy to talk a little bit more about themselves and their background, including some of the unique challenges they faced while recreating these detailed interiors in a virtual space.
Hi Fil, thanks for agreeing to chat! Why don't you start off by talking a bit about yourself and your background?
Well, hello! I'm Fil, an Italian 2D and 3D freelance artist. Ships have always kind of been my passion, so after I got my degree in computer graphics I applied to work for GV and here I am!
Nice! We love having you on board. Can you tell us a bit more about what you've done so far for Grand Voyage?
My first task on the team was to model the Lakonia cabins. It was a bit of a learning curve due to the process of modeling these spaces, but I think they came out great (regardless of their... minimal design.).
After the cabins, it was time for me to jump into my first public space by making the Second Class Smoking Room on the Empress, and it was so much work and research for such a simple space!
Though so far Carpathia's dining room was my most complex task yet, with all the curved panelling and surfaces... the result was 100% worth it though!
And now Iām hard at work on optimizing models to improve performance of the game.
What is it like working with spaces that in some instances have barely been documented? How do you decide what to do if you either can't decipher a reference or have no reference at all?
I usually cross-reference from other ships and/or put my little personal ideas in them. It gives the spaces that little bit of personal touch that truly makes it "mine" in a sense - within reason of course, I'm not going to make an entire room pink just because there are no color pictures of it.
Of course! There are always limits on creative license but sometimes we do need to fill in the blanks a bit. Can you give us an example of a time when you needed to do this?
Well, one example is the wardrobe in the Lakonia cabins! It's completely out of frame on the illustrations and photographs we have available, so I had to improvise with the design for both the inside and the outside of it.
What has surprised you the most about working on Grand Voyage? Have you learned anything either about the ships historically or structurally through doing this work that stuck out to you?
It was definitely interesting to see the ships in a medium that wasn't a deck plan or a picture. It really put into perspective how big (or small) those ships were and it puts them in a whole new light for me.
Another really nice part was exchanging modelling tips for ships or general 3D stuff with the other artists! The team has been lovely all throughout and i genuinely love it here!
That's great to hear! As you well know, GV is a massive labor of love and requires almost constant cooperation among the team to create. It's especially helpful that we have so many ship nerds on our team to share our enthusiasm with! Can you tell us a little bit about your own background with ships? How did it all get started for you?
My history teacher showed us the beginning of the 1997 Titanic movie in class when I was... 12, I think. It went downhill from there.
Jokes aside, seeing the ship in Southampton awakened an interest (that sometimes bordered into obsession) for ships and maritime disasters. Of course, the more I researched on the internet, the more my love for ships grew. I found myself liking the smaller, early one stackers from the early 1900s like the Republic and the Arabic II.
Have you discovered anything new about ships or gained a new appreciation for any aspect of their design as a result of Grand Voyage?
I definitely have gained a new appreciation for camber. It's terrible to model, but it looks really cool. You can really see it in pictures, ahah. I had to really come to terms with how extreme it was in some places when working on Carpathia. Her dining room was curved since it was on the same deck as the forecastle, and you can even see the curve on it in the plans! As I said it's a bit of a pain to work with, but the results are 100% worth it.
The results speak for themselves! What are you most excited for people to experience once they finally get their hands on Grand Voyage? Whether it's a specific room on a ship or one of the docksides, or even just an aspect of the game you yourself have grown to love
Well, my personal love for the early 1900s makes me a lot more excited for the Empress of Ireland. Her interiors are absolutely stunning and I cannot wait for people to be able to explore her after so many years! At second place there is Carpathia, which is still a really nice ship despite not being as luxurious.
One last question, purely for fun! If you personally could add any ship to Grand Voyage, which ship would it be and why?
The Llandovery Castle from 1914 or the Arabic II. Both are very nice ships that I really love, both for their stories and their looks, and I feel they are CRIMINALLY underrated in the community, so giving them a bit of attention would be amazing.
Fingers crossed, you never know, haha! Thanks for taking a bit of time to talk - it's been a pleasure š
No problem! It was really nice to talk!!
