PowerNURBS

FreeDimension

Just to demonstrate it´s capabilities, here is a simple sculpure made (by me) with the FreeDimension demo. I love this software

 

What's on a man's mind.........

Can't get much more "organic" than this can you

 

Actually I was thinking about naming this sculpure "User Interface"

 

I guess it is a matter of taste. You sell Rhino and I sell TochCAD so we are both bias.

I have tried most programs on the market a lot more than just "a few minutes". If you ask me, bias as I am, I typically get from A to B much quicker in TouchCAD than in any other program I have tested, regardless if it is hull fairing with dynamic cross sectioning, unfolding with full material nesting and material optimization, calculating hydrostatics by nudging as mentioned in another location, modeling all major 3D panels and keeping track of weights and center of gravity at all times during the design project.

 

TouchCAD

Currently, I am evaluating TouchCAD. It offers many useful and practical features and must be one of the best tools available for marine design.

 

I didn't mean to say that Rhino is "better" in any way, Claes.
It's just a matter of what you are used to.
I worked with AutoCAD so long, I am used to typing commands, so for me the auto-complete in Rhino is like heaven

And I think I mentioned somewhere that you unfolded the bottom of a sailboat much faster than I could.

 

I agree that it is useful to be able to either design by simply dragging on the screen, or by using exact numerical values. I also agree that the AutoCAD user interface is a bit clunky by todays standards, and most other programs have essentially dumped this "DOS" style drawing methods. The work OK if you are used to them, but most new users find it tedious and difficult to learn.

Most serious programs however, including TouchCAD, allow you to enter for example dimensions numerically. The TouchCAD equivalent to the command line is however found in several different places, for example by double-clicking on a given tool, by pressing the TAB key if you are in the middle of dragging or rotating, by entering a new dimension in the object info palette, or by simply clicking on the selection box dimension text close to the intersection point symbol. In TouchCAD, stating dimensions numerically also has an exact meaning, as all control points are located on the actual object, and not vaguely beside it.

 

T-Splines

Has anyone here experimented with the T-Splines plugin for Rhino? It seems like it makes the creation of organic surfaces/shapes much easier.

http://www.tsplines.com/

 

I doubt is much realistic use for T-splines for hull modeling you need to be doing some really "weirdsahpecrazyfreeform" designs and using fiberglass as a material so you can "justify" building such things, i mean if you are going to be designing that kind of odd shapes then it may work but i think subdivision modeling does the job better.

T-splines have been around for some time and IMO they are going to be noticeable only because rhino has a plug in but usable?? still to be seen at least for boat design i say no, and don't think are going to be the "next thing" anytime soon.

reminds me of the technology of freedesign

http://www.silo3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9635&highlight=t-splines

 

T-Spline video on youtube

Yes, that´s true. The types of hullforms that can be accomplished using FreeDimension or T-Splines are mostly not buildable unless using less quicker and less economic building techniques and therefore seldom practical at all.

However the world is of course not limited to boatdesign

Here is a link to a clip on the Rhino T-Spline plug-in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1ro9S-cAwI

 

T-Splines

What I am so enthusiastic about is that T-Splines seem allow the user to push or pull NURBS surfaces in a Google Sketchup or SpaceClaim like manner.

 

"However the world is of course not limited to boatdesign"

this is a forum for boat design, so boat design related answers are expected, if you need to learn more about those technologies there are many other 3d modeling forums that can provide you with more depth on the technology , not to be rude is just I'm guessing that you want to find a good modeler/technology to apply to boat design/modeling, and for other new users that are looking for the same i think the more we relate the answer to boats the better for the new users too.

cheers

 

CGN, one of the excellent things about this forum is that many of it´s users do posses a lot of practical knowledge from different fields.

The market is flooded with different applications. Different technical standards and a broad range of pricing. Most vendors and software developers do have the understandable but serious tendency/pitfall to claim their application "does it all" or is " the best" or whatever.

It´s has been really practical (for me at least) to absorb info on the pros and cons of different applications on threads like these and here on boatdesign.net you among others have proven to be a great resource on these matters.

 

Most nurb modellers can do what is required for boat design plus anything else.
The bird was done in Maxsurf; the helicopter rotor was in rhino, a single surface with a hole in it. The increase use of 5-axis milling may bring about a need for a different app

 

Not sure why you need T-splines in the first place. They show a car body side done in one piece. Well this car body side ia also done in a single piece in TouchCAD. And modern push-pull modeling is also very much a part of TouchCAD.