Boat Interior Design Software

I am planning to purchase a diesel, 32 to 37 foot, fibreglass hulled fish boat and convert it into a pleasure boat. Is there some simple software available that can be used to design the interior, decks and cabin for an existing hull

 

No, I am afraid not. That is because in order to design a proper interior, you need to know, with considerable detail, what the internal shape of the hull is. You also have to know where all the weight is located, and least the heaviest stuff, so that what you build will allow the boat to float correctly, have sufficient stability, and run in a more or less predictable way. The only way to handle all this stuff on a computer is to take detailed measurements of the hull, inside and out, feed that information into a hull design program (I use ProSurf), and then use a drafting program (I use AutoCad) to do the detailed design.

If you don't have these programs, there is still a lot to be said for graph paper, pencil, and an eraser. There is still nothing quite as creative as these materials in the grips of a nimble mind. Computers are just tools, as are graph paper and pencil. Both should work pretty much the same, leading to the same result. You are restricted only by your imagination.

Good luck.

Eric Sponberg

 

Thanks Eric. I have been using paper and traditional drafting techniques. I am also building a scale model. I had hoped that there was something out there that would allow me to make changes without redrawing everything.

 

Hi Brian

Autocad LT is pretty good for 2D drawings and is not as expensive as the full blown version of Autocad. Eric is correct in regards weight distribution and how the boat will perform.

If you can get hold of any of the original design criteria for this boat it will help, and perhaps use a programme like maxsurf /T (which is the light version of Macsurf) where you can then work out where and how much weight you can place where. (although nothing beats speaking to a qualified Naval Architect)

If you are wanting something to use to see 3D type views of the interior Rhinocerous 3d is pretty good and archicad is not bad.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Paula

 

Thanks Paula I will look into the Rhinocerous 3d - Brian

 

Same question....

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=828#post828


same answer!!

Good luck with it!

Paul

 

As a new member, may I offer a few suggestions about designing interiors. A program called Sketchup 3D may be worth a look at. It's a bit expensive, but having used the demo, I can tell you it is capable of doing the job. It is NOT a yacht design program but it works well with odd shapes and interiors.

Another alternative is GmMax a completely free program distributed by 3d Max. In a nutshell, the program is almost identical to 3d Max, but it's used to create models for games etc. I got my version on a Trainz disk to enable me to model houses, trains, ships etc for that program. Check it out. As far as I know, you can download and use the full version of GMax immediately from the GMax site.

A handy reference to have in the way of printed material is "Skene's Elements of Yacht Design revised and updated by Francis S Kinney. It contains a wealth of data including minimum sizes for bunks, chairs etc, plus 350 pages of other vital data for the would-be designer.

 

Try Alibre or turboCAD they're inexpensive, capable, easy to learn and use.
Have fun!!

 

Get Rhino3D, that's your best choice , rhino offer many formats for exchange of files, offers full 3D, Rendering with out buying or adding anything else, and is easy to use, it may not be cheap, but you will get a great all around tool, is not the best 2D but it does the job, and I'm sure that that will be all you need for now.

The other one is TouchCad about the same price as rhino and similar features, Turbocad is very cheap but is not close to rhino or Touchcad, many bugs and not so reliable, I like the new version it has many neat features but still buggy maybe version 25 will work I used v7 and I stop the upgrades.

Vectorworks 11 works like a charm good price, it handle surfaces it has some basic parametric features.

Joking, how can you use the models from Gmax?, do you know how to export an animation for example to be converted as quicktime or avi? I been trying to find a way to export an animation from Gmax, Thanks for the help

 

Here are some examples done with TouchCAD. All renderings are done with the built in OpenGL based rendering engine. www.touchcad.com