Best Design Software to use/buy?

Looking for the best software to design basic 30 foot to 40 foot offshore boats (non-commercial). Need something that will allow the design of all aspects of the boat from hull to the interior. Budget priced, simple to use/learn, and features are the things that I am looking. I have novice experience with CAD but am very experienced with computers.

Thanks for any help!

Also thanks for such a great site!!

 

Have a look around the forum there is so many good posts about softwares for design, i guess that a good package for design from scratch should be around 4000 US.

leaving out CFD and FEA softwares

 

Rhino is the clear choice for what you describe IMO. You may be directed towards programs more competent in hull fairing i.e. Maxsurf and others; these are indeed excellent tools for more precise work. Reading your post however, I would say (and I hope others would agree) that you can achieve what you describe in Rhino alone.

This would bring the cost down to maybe < $1000 !

Rhino essentially gives you the ability to quickly visualise concepts in 3d (because it is so easy to use) but it is also competent & powerful when it comes to the detailed work. Also, despite opinion differing on the subject; if you put some effort in you can get everything you need out - i.e. drawings, renderings etc. (for rendering you will need Flamingo @ an extra cost ~ $500 ish)

No doubt there will be a string of replies to your post but I think you should consider - how much your budget will be (this determines your software / hardware), your requirements from this set-up, your competency in more specific areas i.e. hull design - you could, for example, sub-contract this to a Naval Architects firm.

If you're good with computers you will definitely pick up rhino in no time at all - its very intuitive and allows you to develop multiple strategies to most modelling tasks - I would get the demo and have a play around

Cheers R

 

Thanks for the suggestion Rupes! I without a doubt will be consulting/hiring a Naval Architect due to my limited experience. But I would like to 'learn' and have some creative input into the design. I will download the trail version and take a look at what it has to offer. Do you know if it will allow designing more than just the hull...ie components, deck layout?

Thanks again

 

Yes mate -

what you have to visualise is this - a workspace in which you are going to construct a model for any artefact, be it a door, winch, hull etc. Starting with this a typical approach would be to lay out your basic constraints in each of the three views required for 3D work (top/side/front) - so say you want to model your deck layout - call your NA and get him to email you your hull model - load that up and you're looking at a bare shell of your hull; you can spin it round in perspective view etc.

Now you want a deck 'surface' sitting on top - the method is longwinded but the key thing is to remember that generally the techniques employed by shipwrights (and especially wooden boatbuilders) i.e. those that you will probably use to ultimately make your 'plug' for the various mouldings, also work well in the world of 3D CAD - (in this case you have to choose a camber curve you like, and extrude it along the centreline of the boat - following the sheerline (as viewed from the side) (actually there are some other steps but dont worry about that at the mo))

So say you've now got your 3D hull with a deck surface on top - you want to layout all the fixtures and fittings, make a recess for the cockpit, mark out the position of your toerails, gaurdrails etc etc - this is really easy - the hard part is in the careful 'conceptual' planning of how the boat should function.

A good thing to do is to make a list of key items of equipment - say winches/fairleads/fittings and try to make some concrete choices on which particular models you're going to use - then you can get in touch with their respective manufacturers and ask for some CAD data on those items - if you're lucky you could get a very tidy 3D model of a winch or hatch which will instantly drop into your boat model in Rhino allowing you to position it with total confidence that it will fit in real life (do check your scaling tho!) - more likely tho you will get a 2D Dwg or Dxf format file any you will have to do some 'reverse engineering' in Rhino (simple - line up the three supplied views of the item in Rhino's 3 viewports and use your preferred method for for creating 3D curves and subsequently surfaces for that item) - I cant stress how easy this is - especially if you are good on computers (i.e. if you are good at memorising procedures and spotting opportunities for work-arounds). Ive just done this with a Lewmar hatch - took half an hour, a couple of weeks ago a call to Mastervolt yeilded a 3D STEP file of one of their generators for use in my project.

Im obviously rambling a bit but there's a lot to explain and a lot of varying approaches - the short(er) answer is yes you can do THE WHOLE LOT in Rhino (as with any other CAD app of this type).

I would imagine that you are capable of sketching out any idea you have for this boat - all CAD is allowing you to do is to expand this capability to 'accurately' MODEL (i.e. not sketching any more) any item - indeed every individual component of your design. This process, leading to a full 3D model of the boat as it will be constructed effectively 'proves' that everything fits together before you have made anything. You dont have to go overkill either - its main benefit to me is providing me with the ability to check how things might work out before we spend any money, get it wrong and have to fix it.

Think about the Boeing 777 - it was (i think) the first boeing to be designed and effectively 'put together' completely within a computer before any production or prototyping took place - now you could arguably do this in Rhino (i wouldnt recommend it) - you can draw a rivet cant you? so you can model one, so you can model lots and lots of them - infact if you took any component from the plane and sat down for a couple of hours you COULD draw it therfore model it - If you really did this, and put the parts together in the workspace in the right place then voila.

Just think of the boat as a collection of manageable designs - give the ones you're really interested in some attention, model them, position them and away you go.

Only downside is when modelling becomes tedious or difficult (as it is right now with this hull Im still trying to get right 7 hours later) there is a tendancy to stop working and write stuff on the internet. Not good.