exporting Rhino to Maxsurf HELP PLEASE!

[fede]

Hi, I've been trying very hard to correctly import a Rhino design (saved as an IGES file) into Maxsurf no way...
Trimmed surfaces appear untrimmed in Maxsurf, I've swithced to any kind of surface (143,144,128 ) in "export Iges option" (or something similar) in Rhino, nada...
I'm trying everything....but I keep getting the same thing,everything else looks correct but those untrimmed surfaces are always there!!!

[Andrew Mason]

The bad news is that although Maxsurf writes trimmed surfaces to IGES files, it does not read them. It will read either entity 128 or 144 but ignores the trimming associated with the 144 entities.

The reason for this is that to allow us to do dynamic updating of trimming while you are dragging control points, we had to use a structure where the trimmed region was identified by the topology of the intersecting surfaces rather than by specific fixed curves. The downside of this approach is that it means that it is difficults to reconstruct this information from the trimming region boundaries that come in via the IGES file.

As we have always regarded Maxsurf as an application that should be upstream of programs such as Rhino, Catia, ProE etc, the need to retrim IGES files when they are imported was viewed as a relatively infrequent requirement. Obviously it is annoying if you have a design with a lot of surfaces that have already been trimmed, however if this trimming is based on surface/surface intersections it should be reasonably straightforward to recreate.

It is likely that we will extend the trimming capabilities of Maxsurf in the future to allow intersections with arbitrary curves. This will allow us to import trimmed surfaces as well, however I would not expect this enhancement within the next 12 months.

[fede]

As always, thanks for your superquick reply Andrew!
I see your point when you say that Maxsurf should be an upstream of programs like RHino Catia etc. but i need and would like to be able to go back and forth between programs...
How about release 10 of Maxsurf ?? how long do we have to wait to see it ???!!!!!
are there big differences with 9.6 ?

[Andrew Mason]

Release 10 is built and being prepared for shipment at the moment, versions should be downloadable from the website soon.

Changes in Maxsurf itself are mainly improvements to internal functions, such as intersections and trimming, handling of non-uniform knot vectors etc. The important changes are to the other programs, particularly Hydromax and Workshop.

regards

Andrew

[BrettM]

Andrew,

I have in the past, found it an advantage to be able to directly import surfaces from other systems. Most cad systems have several ways of doing the same job. It is sometimes easier to create specific parts in another program which can be then imported.

Any help maxsurf can provide in this manner can only make the program better.

Brett

[Andrew Mason]

Just to be completely clear on this, Maxsurf can import the surfaces fine, it is the trimming that it loses. In most cases the trimming regions can be reselected within a matter of minutes, it is only for models with a high surface count that it becomes an issue.

It is our intention to improve the importing of trimmed surfaces into Maxsurf, but recreating trimming regions from incomplete information is not a trivial excercise.

regards

Andrew

[fede]

Hi! Is there a i can calculate deadrise at a given lenght of my model in maxsurf??

[Andrew Mason]

Originally Posted by fede

Hi! Is there a i can calculate deadrise at a given lenght of my model in maxsurf??

In the Body Plan window, display one section at the longitudinal position that you want to measure the deadrise. Click on the base of the section at the centreline, then move the mouse up to the section towards the chine. You will see four numeric displays at the bottom of the window, the third one is anglular display from the horizontal, this will be your deadrise.

[Morgig]

We have found the best way of getting surfaces back into Maxsurf is to use the edges of the trimmed surfaces to build a new surface using curve of networks, long winded I know but it works!