Macintoshes and naval architects...

Are naval architects using Macintoshes for their CAD/CAE work?

If so, what CAD/CAE packages and for what purpose (concept, detail design, analysis, etc.)?

I'm curious about Macintosh's presence in the boat design world.

 

MaxSurf was originally MacSurf, and is the program favored by Mac users. I see there's discussion about it at
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1223
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=861
and
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1198
Doug Peterson and John Shuttleworth are prominent users, and Dave Gerr uses it along with Ashlar Vellum 3D (or did). A new program worth checking out is TouchCAD 3.0 at www.algonet.se/~ludesign/, and it might be possible to do yacht design using Form-Z or other modelers used to design star ships for Star Trek, etc.

see also http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1109

 

Maybe not a ship, but I found Guillemot is designing on a Mac...

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Building/Guillemot/DrawingBoard/Drawing.html

 

I believe Antonio Dias also uses a Mac. He designs with Ashlar software. I also use Ashlar, but on a PC.

 

Maxsurf was originally written for the Macintosh in 1984 and was converted to Windows in 1995. Although almost all our new sales are for the Windows versions of Maxsurf, the Mac versions are still available.

The lack of other good CAD software on the Mac has resulted in most of our users switching from Mac to Windows. As a result we are no longer doing development or adding new features to the Mac versions, however they remain reliable and functional programs.

 

About TouchCAD 3.0

The modeling engine is a poweful general purpose free-form modeler and has a user interface close to the mainstream graphics programs.

TouchCAD 3.0 provides most of the tools neded for marine design:

Dynamic hull fairing, it automatically generates a line drawing with labes, it performs most of the basic marine calculations, offsets, weight and center of gravity calculations, etc.

The advanced unfolding / unwrapping features include dynamic links to the 3D model and instanly updates the unfolds. It also provides a massive array of parametric features such as unfolding directionand resolution, overlaps/seam allowances panel numbering, etc. The later is very useful for sailmakers that want to make use of their hardware for other fabric based objects than sails. TouchCAD even comes with a direct export feture for Sail Science Plotmaker. For those interested to see what TouchCAD can do I recommend a visit to the official TouchCAD site (www.touchcad.com).

Besides demo versions for both Mac and Windows, the site also provides several demo movies showing how to model various objects. The yacht design movie shows how to model a hull, deck, transom, cabin top, windows, perform some calculations, unfold some pieces, and render the model, and it only takes 16 minutes!

 

TouchCAD and VectorWorks

I use TouchCAD and VectorWorks. Most all of my marine design is in TouchCAD.

It is reasonably priced , more than what I found for the others.

It allows me to model quickly and do what I want to do. Very importantly, control lines and points are on the line not magically connnected.

What it could do better are the following.

Rendering could be photo realistic, with real water like surfaces.

The interface could be user programable (like vectorworks)

2 minor cons and a whole bunch of pros

 

TouchCad Question

Is there a way to check your curves "fairness" (like a porcupine curvature check)?, i like touchcad aproach to surfaces based in meshes but i haven't had much time to check it little bit deeper.

Any info about your expierence with touchcad will be much apreciated not only by me but i guess by many peropel that participate here at the forum that still looking for a tool for hull design.

Thank you

 

Re: TouchCAD and VectorWorks

 

Re: TouchCAD and VectorWorks

You can use just about any rendering program on the market. I mostly use Artlantis, as TouchCAD has direct export to that program. Also, check out Strata, which provides a free version of their rendering program. Cinema 4D also had a free version in many 3D magazines lately.

I think you can expect some programming features in a future version. The upcoming version 3.5 will however not have it, though it will provide lots of very useful new features (it will be a free upgrade for 3.0 users).

/Claes

 

Re: TouchCad Question

It just looks like meshes, but is NURBS based. Unlike many other programs though, the controls are always on the surface, which may lead you to think that it does not use NURBS.


/Claes

 

Thnaks, there is a way to export to iges?, i will like this, to be able to work with other softwares.

Thanks for the info

 

Not at present though it is in the works. In the upcoming 3.5 though (currently in Beta), you will have direct export to VectorWorks 10 NURBS and can use VW’s IGES export feature for further export to other programs. As for DXF import you can use the PolygonMesh method, which is automatically converted to TouchCAD NURBS surfaces. This seems to work well for files from for example MaxSurf. It is also easy to reduce the number of control points using the Controls at Surface Resolution command.

/Claes

 

Thanks for your help, but you think is possible in the future to integrate this export into Touchcad, to avoid VectorWorks?

Thanks

 

You bet!


/Claes