Modeling boats in Freeship-The techniques of Using the sofware

[frank smith]

I tend to use freeships in the same way I use paper and pencil . When I start I of course have a good idea of what I am looking for . My approach is to have a good set of basic dimensions taken from a average of similar types . I have a basic water plane shape in mind , and the rest is also pretty standard.
One of the difficulties I have is maintaining a fair shape to the water plane while work in a multi chine configuration. This could be caused by may my lack of ability to fair properly or a poor understanding of shape itself . I some times use a chine line as the water plane line ,lock the points and work around it ,
that can be fun , and a lot learned from it . It would be nice to have heeled stability with ballast figures. But the program does provide enough info to calculate that . the next time I use freeships I will keep tract of the things that come up , so that I can give you a more concise answer .

Thanks much for your wonderful program ,
Frank

[M-Sasha]

This is a nice thread, and a really nice idea!
born here
Step by step to design your boat!
And I hope it provides what you did not provide there.

Originally Posted by lewisboats

Do you really think that I would be allowed THAT much leeway in THAT thread...to post like I am doing now? Me thinks I would be accused of hijacking the thread in a most severe way...don't you?! Deselect all

That was rude lewis and not fair.

DEselect All

[M-Sasha]

Originally Posted by lewisboats

Nasty!

I simply don't subscribe to the way the thread is running. If you have a useful comment to make please join in ...if not...shoo fly!
I made my points! If you would take the time to re-read the whole thread and see...they were dismissed when it came down to brass tacks. I have since endured a number of distasteful PMs from the author of that thread and I have decided to try and rectify things with a serious thread aimed at what I thought the original one was going to do. So...again...I say...If you wish to contribute with something substantial and related to the thread...by all means have at it...otherwise take the nasty comments back to the other (what has become) mud slinging thread. Deselect all!

Sorry to disturb again, but that statment about PM is a plain lie! I asked Richard and he sent me your "correspondence". And there was only one critical question, but again a request to continue contributing.

I did as you asked me re read the thread and found it was YOU

Originally Posted by lewisboats

Merde

Your post was the first negative reply!!!

As I understand it, you do not like your own behaviour....... ah yes, obsessed


Sasha
Deselect all
and continue

[Martijn_vE]

Please, let's not start all over again
Instead just focus on what this thread is supposed to do, which is to give tips on how to model certain items using the software mentioned.

[apex1]

Originally Posted by Martijn_vE

Please, let's not start all over again
Instead just focus on what this thread is supposed to do, which is to give tips on how to model certain items using the software mentioned.

Right Martijn
though this is a public place, and Sasha was right to correct a lie.


And here are the links:

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/att...tutorial01.pdf

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/att...tutorial02.pdf

[Rick Willoughby]

These are some hints that might help new users of Freeship/Delftship.

A. It is really important to remember that you are dealing with a 3D surface modelling package. You can extend edges and move points about. The space within the surfaces is hollow.

B. Both the left hand mouse button and right hand mouse button provide useful functionality. You can use these to zoom the image, grab the image and move it over the window as well as view drop down menus. These allow you to get into fine detail on the screen and set different view modes in the view windows.

C. Like most CAD programs it has "layers" that you can place different parts of your design on. It is useful to master the layer controls before getting into any complex design. Have different parts in various layers allows you to assign colours, symmetry or not, when it is viewed, thickness and density, transparency among other options. By turning layers on and off in the view windows it is possible to view each part separately or in combination with any number of other parts.

Rick W.

[lewisboats]

An addendum to the above post...if you have a wheel mouse you can set up the wheel for zooming. I use it mostly when extending a raked transom...It is easy to get the top of the transom to have a really nice curve to it in body view but getting the points straight and lined up enough enough to be in one piece when you view the developed parts...that requires a lot of manipulation and getting in close. Sometimes the mouse is too crude...too twitchy... then I use CTL I and CTL O to zoom in and out.

Another Addendum...the surface has NO thickness. When modeling anything that spans the hull athwartship...you are going from the outside dimension to outside dimension and no consideration is made for the thickness of the hull material. This comes into play later when doing bulkheads and actually laying out materials to build. When assigning a thickness and weight to a layer it doesn't actually add that thickness to the model...it simply calculates the weight of the surface and then provides a CG of the weights.

[frank smith]

I s where a way to eliminate hard spots created when creating say a 2 level deck house . I isolate the deck structure from the hull , but isolating every part is a pain and there is no need to do it

Also is their an easy way to install bulkheads reduced by the hull thickness.

[lewisboats]

Lesson 4:

Your default hull will already have the transom at point 0 but it is vertical and you want a raked transom. So...you go ahead and move the points, get them all lined up properly and have your raked transom. But...the hull no longer starts at point 0...it is now in the negatives. The simple solution is to move the entire hull to the right. Click on the highest and rearmost point of the transom and find the longitudinal number...for example -.321 . DEselect all! Then go to transfom/move and move the in the longitudinal axis .321. Click OK and OK to the markers if it asks...your hull should originate at point 0 now.

Now to put station lines in and get your curve of areas. Go to Calculations/intersections and click on the +N. It will pop up a box with a default of 1 highlighted...this is the station spacing and is in the values you selected in your project settings. You can change the setting to anything you want as far as spacing...same with the other options in the dialog box (Buttocks/Waterlines/Diagonals). Some hulls will give a station 0 some will start at the first value. To get a station 0 for one that isn't there click on the +1 and enter .0001. To get a station line for the bow if it doesn't fall on an even line...highlight the right most point and look at the # for the longitudinal value. Subtract .0001 from that value and create a station using that number...you will get the bow station.

The reason you move the hull to the zero position becomes important when you export the offsets for the hull. If you don't move it to 0 you get a confusing set of numbers to go by... with whole numbers and lots of decimals. Try it and see.

Curve of areas: After you click the checkmark...your model should have its station lines and display a curve of areas to go along with it. The Design Hydrostatics will also have an additional box on the bottom giving the half breadth of each stations area calculation and will correspond to the numbers on the curve displayed. Notice that the curve only pertains to the area of the hull under water

[lewisboats]

Originally Posted by frank smith

I s where a way to eliminate hard spots created when creating say a 2 level deck house . I isolate the deck structure from the hull , but isolating every part is a pain and there is no need to do it

Also is their an easy way to install bulkheads reduced by the hull thickness.

Some pictures would be needed to see what you are talking about.

Sure...you could move all the edges of the surface away from the hull or you could simply reduce the width and bottom height by the appropriate amounts when laying out the panels. In the first method though...you will have leak points if you don't already.

[frank smith]

I kike to set the beginning of the water line at 0 the get stations evenly spaced on the waterline . Then move drawing to include the transom.

[lewisboats]

Lesson 5:

Importing output from another program:

I am going to use Carene as my output program...mainly because I usually use it. Similar techniques are used when importing other program outputs but the specifics are unique to each and will have to be played with. I hope others who use other programs and import into freeship will step up and provide information on any deviations particular to that program. It is mostly a matter of the units that the program outputs in that is the stickler.

Carene software uses metric measurements only and generally I ignore that fact like it doesn't exist. If I want a 12 ft boat I generally model a 12 metre boat like it was in feet. When I import into Freeship though it is still in meters and I have to convert it. First I go to File/import/Carene XYZ file and select the file i wish to import then click ok. Now I have the file...I want to change it to feet like I planned (if you did it up in metres and want it that way...there is no need to do anything). I will go to project/project settings and change the Units to Imperial. I will then Deselect all and go to transform and Scale the model as detailed in the first lesson. Now I continue on as if the design was started in Freeship. One thing to note is...if you did the design already to scale...ie 3.5m and want it to be 12 ft-ish then simply changing the Units will get you where you need to go...you won't have to scale it.

Importing Parts. .Part is an export option that also has important significance. A library of .part s is like having a pro "go to" lineup when you need them. Anything can be made into a .part, exported and then imported into another design. Think ama...design the hull then export it. Import it into your aka design and connect...using connection arms that are also parts. You can model anything and use it as a part or import a part and create anything from it. There is a library of parts at the Yahoo FreeShip group and any additional .parts would be welcome.The best way to creat a part is to assign what you want to export as a part to a separate layer and then export as a whole selected layer as an object. You can then import into another design and scale it as needed to fit the target design. This works for anything you assign to the layer. You can use this to create consoles, seats, bulkheads...virtually anything including entire hulls. Good for building Catamarans...model the hull, Mirror and join points then export and import and mirror again with the connecting hardware. The usages are infinite.

[lewisboats]

Originally Posted by frank smith

I s where a way to eliminate hard spots created when creating say a 2 level deck house . I isolate the deck structure from the hull , but isolating every part is a pain and there is no need to do it

Also is their an easy way to install bulkheads reduced by the hull thickness.

Please post a picture or better yet the .fbm to work with. All copyright rights are still yours and will be respected and not be infringed on. What version of freeship are you working with? I suspect it is the way you extruded the planes... You have to be careful to make sure you extrude ALL the pertaining edges in order to get a decent model.

[lewisboats]

Originally Posted by frank smith

I kike to set the beginning of the water line at 0 the get stations evenly spaced on the waterline . Then move drawing to include the transom.

The only thing that really matters is when you export the lines...THEN the aftmost point is set at 0 when you do the export.

[frank smith]

Originally Posted by lewisboats

Please post a picture or better yet the .fbm to work with. All copyright rights are still yours and will be respected and not be infringed on. What version of freeship are you working with? I suspect it is the way you extruded the planes... You have to be careful to make sure you extrude ALL the pertaining edges in order to get a decent model.

Oh, that made me laugh , I dont think any thing I done is so special .
Ill dig out what some thing .

This is good , I t will be a help to quit a few .

ok here it is , the hard point where cabin top raises , this is a fairly common transition