Best Free or Low Cost Marine Design Software? (2007)

I have my hull design in a table of offsets in the format X YZ YZ..... Hull has 53 sections (X) and 9 pairs of YZ describing the lateral and vertical points. I am trying to import it into Delft/Free ship but do not know what format the programme is expecting. There is a FreeShip manual on importing offsets, but it only applies to waterlines/offsets. F/DShip will import a carene hull in XYZ which could be what I need to use. I have tried importing the table as a plain text file as
X YZ YZ etc
X YZ YZ
etc
but all I get is an error message.
Would appreciate some assistance from someone who knows the workings better than I.

TVMIA

 

HELLO - and question

This is my first post (under new registration- I was here long ago but lost touch)

It happens that I just downloaded the Delftship version of FreeShip. I have the Freeship 2.6 also, but have rarely used it. (I have more software than I can handle).

Could you help me to understand the differences between the two apps? They seem almost identical to me. I'm not trained in naval architecture, and too old to pursue the study formally. However, I have a desire to make 3D digital models of vessels I grew up with, etc.
BTW- I have the PDF manual for Delftship (seems applicable to both)

Thanks for taking time to enlighten an old newby.

 

Delftship Free v3.1 - this is Freeship 2.6 (under GNU GPL) with new interface and WITHOUT some features (freeware).
Delftship Pro - this is payable Freeship 2.6 with new interface and WITH some new features (features not freeware).
Freeship 2.78+ - this is old Freeship 2.6 with many new features for hydrodynamics calcs (under GNU GPL). Link on site: www.freeship-plus.land.ru

Best regards

 

Victor,
Thanks very much for the update. Just what I needed

Regards

 

just curious, does anyone use Freeship? how do you create bulkheads based on subdivisioin surface? can you unfold the hull surface? thanks.

 

FreeShip -> DelftShip is a very good for modeling. I use it to produce my hull then export to RhinoMarine for completion. If you are using DelftShip Free and want to develop plates, there is a way to reverse engineer the file so it can be opened in FreeShip (which has the Develop Plates active).
I have used this software for over two years and I strongly recommend reading the manual, it has all you need to know.
Any questions, contact me and I will help if I can.
Cheers

 

I currently have a hull, but I was looking for some software to help me layout the interior since it has been gutted.

Does anyone have any ideas for software that will help me do that?

 

Hi Alan, small world eh ! I've used Solid edge to now, but I'd like to give Freeship a go. I can imagine something like 'Houseplan' (I think) that offers a 3D walkthrough would be stunning.

 

I use a notebook but feel happier with the freedom of graph-paper, pencils etc PLUS a good rubber.

Those apps run on *******. I have similat to used to produce "Shreck" and other superior #D rendering packages but as yet unused.

Happiness is where the heart is. The models are drawn full size. Going to be fun when I go to full size 12.4m x 6.8m!!

 

For me, paper and pencil and an eraser (in Canada we have much better uses for rubbers) work quicker than software to design a simple hull from scratch. Drawing the hull outlines is the easiest part but it is not difficult to draw developments for untwisted planks, leaving any twisted ones to be cut to fit. However, I prefer the security of software if things get complicated or unfamiliar and it's nice to know the displacement and CoG are accurately calculated.

I resolved an earlier problem (April) with developments obtained using Delft that appeared to disagree with my expectations from previous use of Carene - the difference was caused by the twisted garboards which the freebie Carene does not permit. It was not an an error in Free/DelftShip.

I haven't found any of the free software I have tried much use for decks, interiors and so forth, apart from providing the stations; to much hard work. I guess I would have to ante up and buy the software with the missing bits. When/If I get the proceeds from my work to at least cover the materials I promise to do that!

 

I am pretty useless with sotfware, but I manage decks easily in freeship by offsetting sheerline, shifting it to centreline, and then adjusting the height, and then building the deck surface from there
i have some spare software sitting around gathering dust, sed me a email and I will post it out there

 

Thanks for the offer LJ, but I have figured out the problem with decks. I do the same, extrude sheerline inwards then set the points of the new line to center. Problem was in every view the new points coincided with an old point and the SW insisted on selecting the older point. I just shift the newer points a hair in X and the problem goes away. It's only useful for pictures anyway as a simple deck development is so close to the sheer plan that I just cut to fit. As for interiors, for my boats thats just the inside of the hull!

 

Continued at http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=22031