Freeship to Rhino

[Toby P]

First off, apologies. This question will be a bit unclear because I'm not at the right computer at the moment so don't have access to Freeship or Rhino, and therefore can't remember the name of the file extensions.

But, my question is...

When I import a Freeship file to Rhino, using an IGES file, there are holes in the boat. The side and bottom of the hull are not attached. Why is this? How can I prevent this?
If I import to Rhino using a 'wave...(? can't remember!)' file, the result is great, but I am unable to edit the hull. What is this file extension, it seems great, but how do I edit the result?:confused:

Thanks for any help.

[MikeJohns]

Many design and analysis packages are not fussed whether there are unjoined edges but rhino's hydrostatics can be a pain in this regard.

I would use IGES

Rhino gets upset if there are any unjoined edges. Select all the surfaces and try [join] then type [shownakededges] then when youve identified them use the following menu command [Analyze]-[EdgeTools]-[Join 2 naked edges]

Hope this helps

[Toby P]

Thanks Mike, I'll give that a go.
The other format I tried impoting with was 'waveform', which gives a really good copy of the hull, but no-one ever seems to mention this file type. Is there a reason why not?

[Martijn_vE]

The wavefromt obj file is a high-resolution mesh, not a surface. The mesh can be edited in Rhino but it is not a curved surface such as a BSpline surface. It is represented by a lot of flat panels and depending on the precision setting in FREE!ship it can contain many, many points. Too many to be edited practicaly. The mesh is very similar to a Autocad DXF mesh with the only exception that in the wavefront file each point only occurs once.

[Toby P]

Thanks Martijn. I hadn't realised they were flat panels, the result is remarkably good (visually). Which file format would you recommend for exporting from Freeship to Rhino?
BTW, FreeShip is great!

[tandu]

Hello!
Pratically, which is the best way, now, to export the model from free!ship to Rhino?
... mybe the answer is on the free!ship forum.

Giuseppe

[Martijn_vE]

I would defenitely choose IGES, it is an exact representation of the original hull.
There shouldn't be any holes. If there are, please send me the original FREE!ship file and I'll have a look at it to see what's wrong. But please, first check the mesh settings in Rhino (file => properties => mesh) and set it to "smooth and slower"

[marshmat]

I'd add to that- even Rhino's "smooth and slower" render mesh sometimes shows holes in the shaded panels. (Rhino's wireframes are always exact regardless of view). You may need to use "custom" in the mesh settings and set your own polygon angles if you have very tight curves in your model.

[Chris Ostlind]

There have been more than a few comments about this phenom on the Rhino newsgroup, so go have a look and use the search function to find the sources. http://news2.mcneel.com/scripts/dnewsweb.exe?cmd=xover&group=rhino

I agree with the other guy's comments above in that you have to set the mesh to a higher degree of resolution. You may still get gaps, though. What is important to note is that after designing some 35 boats in Rhino for multichine plywood construction, there have been no problems to date with panels being screwed-up when they go to the CNC machine for cutting. Nor have I had any weirdness when I use my plotter printer to produce a full sized template print-out as part of a plan package.

Chris Ostlind
Lunada Design

[Toby P]

Thanks for all the help. One file works fin on 'smooth and slower' - another still has problems around the chine. I'll work on customising the mesh.

Thanks again.