: What's the trick you use in Freeship to get the decks to work out. I'm always
: having trouble designing the decks of my models. I probably spend 5 to 10
: times the time on the decks as I do the hulls. Are the hulls just that
: much easier?

hi bryan,

well first all please realize that the 'rail' and 'la ligne' schematics are full of b.s. and are not resolved to developable panels!! there is a few more days work for the 'rail' and many many more in another program before i will be satisfied with 'la ligne'. i am drawing them in freeship mainly for interest and hydrostatic output.

however,
geometrically, hulls are way easier as their shape is much more regular, and few points are typically necessary, whereas a deck has to have a hole for the torso and relate to the other parts/shapes of the human body in terms of a low area for rolling or leaning and a higher area for thighs, knees or feet, etc. ie really odd shapes.

plus, i always sketch my ideas out on paper over and over so that on the complicated ones, i already know in quite specific terms what i want to happen.

but aside from that, here are some time savers:

1)do the simple parts first that you know the shape you want

2) then
- take a screenshot
- or export to markers to that shape will stay fixed in a reference
-or save as a separate file

3)make sure that every panel is on a different layer (even for undevelopable boats) and then turn OFF the layers that you are not sketching or working one. this eliminates visual confusion.

an obvious one here is to turn off all the hull layers when drawing the deck. the shear line is shared, so you already can see where you are going to affect the hull when you add points to join a panel or try to connect to the ckpt.

3)get used to working on the half model to also reduce confusion.

4)Use the curvature analysis as much as possible when adding points. Realize that every point added changes the real shape regardless if the control point is locked an fixed - this is where reading back the pic of the previous shape or marker of the previous shape will help retain something similar to the original shape.

5)turn the net to max, get up close and see how the surface bulges and dips. You have to add seams(this does not mean creases or panel edges) in the bulgy or dippy parts.

6)turn the net to low, whether on or off, when doing all point moving as, for me, point moving is slowed down otherwise. ie gross moves with low net, fine with less

7)dont worry about point alignment when doing quick sketches and big moves, worry abt refinement later when doing the fine shaping.

8/ when you extrude to make more deck panels, just extrude and inch or so, so that you can quickly add more panels without stuff getting confusing. get new extrusions on new layer as soon as possible so that you can turn them or others on or off as you are shaping other areas.

here's an example of a the slightly revised built playak 'facetious' (shown at the start of this minor thread) where i am working on some deck panels and everthing else is turned off as otherwise it would just be way too confusing. with these panels, you can see that control point alignment does not make sense - esp with respect to hull panel point alignment. at this point, this dwg in freeship is just for fun and i cannot say if the output would be good enough for these kind of shapes.

anyway, in all that, i like to sketch in pencil first. pencil is cool in that you can sketch lightly if you are not sure and harder where/when you are and you can lightly go over areas again and again to work something better - almost like clay instead there is a faint record of your earlier thinking.

and really when you get down to it, whatever medium you choose whether building , pencil or software, it just takes the time you wish to put into it. When i first started drawing in in one program, i redrew ONE reference curve over and over for 3 weeks of frustrated but intense evenings until i understood and got the feel of how it would do what i wanted it to. It sometimes is just hard long work.

mick