Rhino + what?

That’s a very good deal. Are there any limitations on the student license? I paid almost double just for Phaser. But then I’m not a student, just an amateur.

Gary

 

Will;

Rhino have a bunch of resellers in Aust, I don't know where you're at. But they would probably not deal with Phaser/Slicer.

Rhino is an incredebly powerfull surfacing tool, but as a renderer it leaves much to be desired. And student pricing makes it almost silly not to have it.

Take care, Tad

 

Gary - I can find little on the Rhino site about details of the student license other than -

Tad - Thanks for the input Tad - would you suggest that I should also have Flamingo or similar for rendering? Maybe something I could do without for a while and buy further down the track...?
What software do you use for your hull surfacing / general CAD / rendering?

 

Will;

You can defiantly get by with standard Rhino for a long time. Get Flamingo someday. First learn how to get the job done, then worry about pretty pictures. Not many clients are interested in paying you to produce pretty pictures, (though some will be) most just want the drawings done so the builder can crank out their boat. Problem is, the clients are really impressed by the pretty pictures, so as soon as you make some money (when is that?), hire someone good to do some nice artwork of your designs.

Meanwhile concentrate on designing great boats.

I still use Multisurf for original hull creation, it is the answer to getting a fair surface quickly. But I get out of it as quickly as possible. I take the dxf mesh into Rhino to build a 3D model. But much more often take a 2D standard lines drawing into AutoCAD and get to work. Simple drafting is not too sexy, but it works and the builders are happy. I'm starting to do some hard chine developable surface metal hulls so I guess I'm going to learn about drawing metal parts in Rhino, oh boy.

Take care, Tad

 

Willallison: You got wrong results with Phaser propably because the directions of some or all surfaces were pointing inside. Check the surfaces and change their direction with Rhinos direction command, then adjust meshes in Phaser and voila! Check also if the hull model is half or full. LCB can be odd, if you dont have bigger x-number at bow than stern (bow to right!).

Rhino + Phaser (+Slicer) is an extremely good package as its price. There is no need for fairing (like special programs require you to use), if you use minimum amount of control points on the hull surfaces (3...6 per axis).

Terho

 

It was some time ago that I tried the multihull displacement etc. I'm sure that I got all the surfcae directions correct (eventually!). The model would have been full (not 1/2) and bow would have been to the right.
Having said all that, I'm sure that it was operator error as opposed to a glitch in the program - I'm not renowned for my computer skills!

 

Now I'm a little (more ) confused.
Rhino seems to offer two possibilities for 'flattening' developable surfaces - FlattenSRF & UnrollSRF.
If either do what I think they do, then what is the need for the Expander plug-in?

 

Expander is not for me but if you do metal boats that have plates that are not developable, Expander will still flatten them. It allows you a degree of control on the distortion. I saw the demo at IBEX, it was cool but not for me, plywood doesn’t stretch.

Gary

 

hmm...
so basically what you're saying is that unless I plan on developing undevelopable plates !: ) I won't need it...?

 

Rhino will unroll developable panels. If you have a panel with a compound curve or distortion, you need something else. High end engineering software will let you specify material, grain direction, and other things to help determine what the flat shape will look like. The amount of control Expander gives you, I’m not sure.

The material doesn’t have to be metal. You might want to know the shape of pieces of fabric for a layup. It could be a very useful tool on the production end.

I sure hope someone else jumps in, because I’m a little over my head here.

Gary

 

Don't worry Gary - once it gets more than ankle deep, we're out of my depth!!

 

Well - it's done
And I have to compliment Proteus on their extraordinary service - I ordered the software on the afternoon of the 11th and it arrived at 0930 this morning, the 15th......4 days with a weekend in the middle - not bad given that I live 1/2 a world away!!

.....now if only I could learn how to use it that quickly....

 

I've been using Expander a little, here is what I can tell you about the control.

You can expand a surface (or slice of a surface), and Expander will analyse it for you, and let you know how much stretch (or compression) was required to expand your non-developable surface. If you are working with steel or aluminum, you can check against your allowable strain for that material. On the other hand, if you are laminating FRP, you can check the Expander data against what you know about a given materials ability to bias and fold. From that you can do a pretty slick job of designing a laminate schedule, and you might even make your laminators very happy by making their life so much easier.

-Clark the Rhinovangelist.

 

Thanks Clark,
I've bought the basic RhinoMarine bundle (no expander). Sounds like something very useful to look at a little further down the track - once I've come to terms with what I've got already!