struggling with interiors

[schwing]

i'm sitting here staring at the page trying to work out where to begin! can anyone suggest a programme that will allow me to type in the dimensions of cabins etc which will then generate a 3d outline of a space which i can then add furniture to. And how do i allow for the shape of the hull?

I can only seem to draw from one viewpoint and cant work out how do give this room more depth or show 3 maybe 4 walls instead of just 2?

[bhnautika]

Schwing you need to immerse yourself in boat interior design start looking for books and magazines. The magazine “boat international “ would be a good place to start as it deals with the interior’s of the latest high end big boats and has floor plans, sketches and renders. The big boats have fewer restrictions on the interiors from the hull and super structure so are a bit easier to mock up. In the this case its probably better to start big and work your way down to the small area’s.

[John Perry]

Hi, this kind of thing is really easy to do with any one of a number of 3D modelling programs, I have mostly used Solidworks and Inventor. Of course you need a few thousand pounds for your software licence, hope no one told you that boat designing and building is a cheap hobby! Seriously, if anyone knows a cheap program that does the same as either of the two above I for one would like to know of it.

Once you have your software, you sketch out the plan view in 2D, extrude upwards and you have your walls, sorry bulkheads, but not yet trimmed to the hull shape. You can model the hull shape, the 'loft' feature is one way, then use a 'combine' feature to take away that part of the internal structure that is not within the hull. Thats just one approach, there are many ways to use this kind of software. I also often use the 'rib' feature to extend an internal panel up to meet the hull skin. It is quite fun, its like building a real boat but nicer in a way because you dont get dust and sticky stuff everywhere. Just like building a real boat, you can waste a lot of time just sitting back and admiring what you have done!

[alan white]

Interiors are very challenging aboard boats. One has to be able to think in three dimensions and hold many shapes in their head at once. even with a program, you won't get far unless you have a knack for it.
Having many cross-sections drawn will help. Then trial and error will wortk, if tediously.
Your proposed layout can be tested against the cross-sections involved. Sections for every two feet of length should be about right on a small boat, and farther apart on a bigger boat.
Choose waterlines at sole level, seating level, and possibly galley counter level also. You'll soon weave together a plan that takes into account the given limitations.

[judy]

I use Free!Ship (you can download a free copy from here: http://download.cnet.com/Freeship/30...10558861.html). It's a Windows program, and also works fine on Linux systems via Wine.

Having had no prior experience with drawing programs, I found working through this tutorial was an excellent way to get started: http://www.hapby.v-nam.net/FREEship/...Tutorial1.html