Best Free or Low Cost Marine Design Software? (2008-2010)

Discussion in 'Software' started by Admin, Apr 8, 2008.

?

Which free or low cost hull modeling program(s) do you use?

  1. Bearboat

    3 vote(s)
    1.7%
  2. BioDesign

    1 vote(s)
    0.6%
  3. BoatExpress

    4 vote(s)
    2.3%
  4. Carene

    1 vote(s)
    0.6%
  5. Carlson Design Hull Designer

    5 vote(s)
    2.9%
  6. Free!Ship

    58 vote(s)
    33.5%
  7. Free!Ship Plus

    40 vote(s)
    23.1%
  8. DELFTship free

    29 vote(s)
    16.8%
  9. HullCAO

    2 vote(s)
    1.2%
  10. Hull Form Free Version

    3 vote(s)
    1.7%
  11. PolyCAD

    3 vote(s)
    1.7%
  12. jSDN

    4 vote(s)
    2.3%
  13. Other (please post below)

    20 vote(s)
    11.6%
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. marshmat
    Joined: Apr 2005
    Posts: 4,127
    Likes: 149, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 2043
    Location: Ontario

    marshmat Senior Member

    Yes, the modelling code and the GUI are essentially the same for Delftship and Freeship Plus. There is no guarantee of file compatibility between the native file formats of the two programs, though.
     
  2. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
    Posts: 4,604
    Likes: 177, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 2484
    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    You can take the guarantee out :D The files are not interchangeable. On my PC anyway, I had to redraw my boat's hull from scratch.
     
  3. Raggi_Thor
    Joined: Jan 2004
    Posts: 2,457
    Likes: 64, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 711
    Location: Trondheim, NORWAY

    Raggi_Thor Nav.arch/Designer/Builder

    I was joking, but I meant the river Nile.
     
  4. Raggi_Thor
    Joined: Jan 2004
    Posts: 2,457
    Likes: 64, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 711
    Location: Trondheim, NORWAY

    Raggi_Thor Nav.arch/Designer/Builder

    Thanks Matt and Fanie.
    I suppose you have some import/export also?

    Today I revisited the Polycad web pages.
    It looks quite impressive, but when I tried it some years ago I found it not so user friendly. Maybe I'm getting old, I grew up with AutoCAD (from 1986) and I like the way Rhino work as the "3D Surface AutoCAD" we all wished for.
     
  5. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
    Posts: 4,604
    Likes: 177, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 2484
    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    Denial is not a river in Egypt :D
     
  6. Raggi_Thor
    Joined: Jan 2004
    Posts: 2,457
    Likes: 64, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 711
    Location: Trondheim, NORWAY

    Raggi_Thor Nav.arch/Designer/Builder

    While we're at it, a felluca drifting on the Nile?
    [​IMG]
     
  7. Vulkyn
    Joined: Jun 2010
    Posts: 597
    Likes: 46, Points: 28, Legacy Rep: 654
    Location: Egypt

    Vulkyn Senior Member

    Hehe nice pic ! the design for Fulleca's have not changed in almost 100 years!! i got some pics taken from 1905 and they are almost identical !!

    Beautiful boats :p

    P.S sorry i do not mean to derail the thread !!
     
  8. daiquiri
    Joined: May 2004
    Posts: 5,371
    Likes: 258, Points: 93, Legacy Rep: 3380
    Location: Italy (Garda Lake) and Croatia (Istria)

    daiquiri Engineering and Design

    Marsh, can you please tell me (very briefly) what NA modules are available in Delftship?
    Also, what resistance prediction methods are curently available in Delftship?
     
  9. marshmat
    Joined: Apr 2005
    Posts: 4,127
    Likes: 149, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 2043
    Location: Ontario

    marshmat Senior Member

  10. daiquiri
    Joined: May 2004
    Posts: 5,371
    Likes: 258, Points: 93, Legacy Rep: 3380
    Location: Italy (Garda Lake) and Croatia (Istria)

    daiquiri Engineering and Design

    Thanks Marsh, but I couldn't find any info about power/resistance prediction methods available. If you or someone else here uses DS, could you please give me some info? Thanks.
     
  11. yipster
    Joined: Oct 2002
    Posts: 3,486
    Likes: 97, Points: 58, Legacy Rep: 1148
    Location: netherlands

    yipster designer

  12. Raggi_Thor
    Joined: Jan 2004
    Posts: 2,457
    Likes: 64, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 711
    Location: Trondheim, NORWAY

    Raggi_Thor Nav.arch/Designer/Builder

    Very cool graphics, but is it realistic?
     
  13. daiquiri
    Joined: May 2004
    Posts: 5,371
    Likes: 258, Points: 93, Legacy Rep: 3380
    Location: Italy (Garda Lake) and Croatia (Istria)

    daiquiri Engineering and Design

    I think it's a pitty that such a nice software has only two resistance predictions available - and none for planing hulls, for example. I wrote that to Martijn a year or more ago, and have hoped to hear that something has changed in the meanwhile... :(
     
  14. spidennis
    Joined: Feb 2007
    Posts: 519
    Likes: 11, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 124
    Location: south padre island, texas

    spidennis Chief Sawdust Sweeper

    are there any freeware/shareware programs for the mac?
     

  15. NoEyeDeer
    Joined: Jun 2010
    Posts: 983
    Likes: 32, Points: 28, Legacy Rep: 300
    Location: Australia

    NoEyeDeer Senior Member

    By the way, for anyone who is interested I came up with a trick to get smooth lines plans out of Delftship. I imagine it would be as good with any other software that produces lines plans.

    As an old(ish) fart who grew up with manual drafting I've always found the jaggy lines outputted from CAD apps rather annoying.

    The trick is to export that lines plan at a ridiculous size (20,000px wide works well) and then use a graphics app like Photoshop or GIMP to shrink the image down to a handy width (like 1280 or whatever). The shrinking process smooths out the jags so that the result is very nearly as smooth as traditional manual drafting. Save as a jpg and it's all sorted.

    I don't know if this trick is original but it works and it works well. :)
     
Loading...
Forum posts represent the experience, opinion, and view of individual users. Boat Design Net does not necessarily endorse nor share the view of each individual post.
When making potentially dangerous or financial decisions, always employ and consult appropriate professionals. Your circumstances or experience may be different.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.