Wreck Interior Studies – Part I (Ruby E)

Background

I’ve spent the past 12-18 months thinking about how to best show the insides of wrecks to both divers and non-divers. This post is the first in a series of probably 4 or 5 parts. Each post will highlight some of the techniques and challenges I have faced while working on this long-term project.

The technologies involved are primarily 3D photogrammetry and 3D videos with hopefully some virtual reality thrown in. I still haven’t worked out the “best” way to depict interiors of wrecks so it is a fluid and dynamic project.

Ruby E

First, let me be clear: diving inside the Ruby E is not recommended. It is pretty tight inside the wreck and, more importantly, it is literally starting to fall apart. I do not recommend going inside for most divers.

Background on the Ruby E wreck can be found in multiple posts.

However, it is good for a study of how to show interiors. The basis for this interior is a photogrammetry model that I finished in December 2022 after 3 dives on the wreck. The primary objective for the dives was to build a model of the exterior. However, during those dives, I had taken pictures of the interior of the wreck (primarily the engine room) with the hopes of building it into the model.

Challenge: One of the primary challenges in this case was “stitching together” the inside portion of the wreck with the outside to make a unified model. The lip of the entrance is thin and visibility is usually limited so it requires taking quite a few pictures that have features on the outside of the wreck and finding a way to get an angle to also include interior features.

I ended up building the model with the engine room & rear compartment included but then the question became: how to display it?

Thus began my journey into the rabbit hole…

Whole Model Display

If you look inside the model I have posted on-line, you can actually see the engine room and “navigate into it” although it isn’t always easy. It requires “piercing” the outside skin to “break into” the inside compartment or “peeking in” through the holes that exist in the wreck. This is a big challenge that will continue to be present throughout this series of posts.

These screenshots are from the model posted online on Sketchfab.

You can see the 6 cylinder engine block on the port side in these screen captures. There is also one on the starboard side.

Cutaway Versions

To give the viewer a better view inside the wreck, I decided to “cut away” part of the exterior. It is a bit of sledgehammer approach, but Metashape provides the ability to cut parts of the model out.

If you do this, I HIGHLY recommend making a backup (or duplicate) model before you start cutting. 🙂

Port Side Cutaway

I carefully removed part of the port side hull to give a view inside the wreck including the engine room and rear cargo hold.

Below are some screen captures of the model once the section is cut out:

Overall, I think this is a useful tool. It shows the proportion of the inside spaces to the overall wreck and gives a sense of the engine room and the two six cylinder engines.

Starboard Side Cutaway

I also tried to do a cutaway of the starboard side. It came out well but there was more equipment on the starboard side of the engine room that obscured the cylinder blocks so it didn’t turn out as well (in my opinion).

Deck Cutaway

I also worked on cutting away part of the deck to show the engines from the top down. This came out pretty well but is very challenging. The way that Metashape works is that when you delete something it either cuts through the entire model or only the “top” layer. However, the “top” layer doesn’t always work and it can get very, very tricky very fast.

Half Cut

The other view I thought could work is basically cutting the ship across the beam to show the inside across the ship.

I somewhat like this view as it really gives a sense of the inside space.

Next Up

This is the first in a series of posts. Next up will be some different views of the Yukon wreck (specifically the engine room) and then looking at the corridor from the stern into the engine room.

I hope you enjoyed (and will continue to enjoy) my foray into depicting the insides of wrecks. If you have any feedback, please send it to me.