Maxsurf 8.5 Release Adds Advanced Surface Fitting, Design and Simulation Functions

Fremantle, WA, Australia - 14 February 2001: Formation Design Systems today announced the release of version 8.5 of the Maxsurf suite of naval architecture and ship construction software. Maxsurf version 8.5 continues Formation's on-going development program, adding further advanced ship design, analysis and construction capabilities to the software suite.

The new version 8.5 release of Maxsurf includes significant new enhancements to the suite: new surface fitting technology, additional capabilities for modeling complex vessels, numerous productivity tools, enhanced hydrostatics analysis and graphical simulation of seakeeping characteristics.

New Surface Fitting Technology

Until now, generating computer-based surfaces models for existing vessels has been extremely time consuming. Maxsurf 8.5 provides designers with sophisticated new tools for fitting NURBS surfaces to offset data from existing designs/vessels. These new tools are integrated directly into the Maxsurf modeler/lines fairing program. Formation has again demonstrated its position at the forefront of naval architecture software development by innovative application of genetic algorithm optimisation methods to this problem. The novel use of genetic algorithms ensures the surfaces generated are an accurate fit to the supplied offsets data whilst a fair and usable surface control point net is maintained.

The interactive nature of this fitting tool allows the user to control all aspects of the fitting process. A "data cloud" of points on the existing design are used during the fit, dispensing with the need to organize the offsets into a prescribed layout and format. The automated fitting process may be interrupted at any time, allowing the user to assess the quality of the fit, make adjustments to the surface (e.g. number of control points, position of control points, surface stiffness, etc.) and then resume the fitting using the revised surface as the basis.

To compliment the automated fitting tool, Maxsurf 8.5 has a number of other very useful additions: including the ability to fit surface edges to selected offsets and to snap control points to specified offsets. Another new feature, which aids fitting to existing designs, is the ability to load scanned images (sketches, lines plans, photographs, etc.) into the background of the design views. These background images may then be used as a guide to fairing. This feature also enables use of a computer's screen and mouse as a digitising tablet; the user can very easily pick off offsets from the scanned images and then fit to these offsets using the automated fitting tool described above.

Modelling Complex Vessels

A growing number of users are using Maxsurf to produce detailed vessel designs of not only the hull, but also superstructure, accommodation, etc. It is not uncommon for these designs to have upward of 40 or 50 surfaces; the most detailed design we have seen so far has 400 surfaces! These users will find the new Surface Assembly window exceptionally useful. With this tool, it is possible to group related surfaces together into assemblies; these assemblies may also be nested and grouped into a hierarchical tree. The assemblies enable the user to adjust the visibility and locking of the surfaces and assemblies contained by the parent assembly with a single command. In this way, related groups of surfaces may be quickly locked or unlocked or made visible or invisible, facilitating modification and fairing of complicated designs.

Productivity Tools

As well as the major new features described above, there are numerous new tools and refinements to the user interface which will increase user productivity:

Open GL rendering - faster, smoother, greater realism, transparency
Mouse wheel support for dynamic zooming
Rotate tool / virtual track ball in the perspective window
Additional surface and control point manipulation tools
Upright hydrostatics window
Other features and enhancements to the Maxsurf suite Whilst the major new features for the version 8.5 are found in the Maxsurf modeller / lines fairing module, some new features and incremental improvements have been made to the other programs in the suite: Hydromax now has the ability to perform all hydrostatic analyses with hog or sag imposed on the original vessel; Seakeeper is able to display an animation of the vessel travelling through the specified wave field. This type of visualisation can be very useful for presentations to a non-technical audience; Workshop has had advancements made to its plate development capabilities and features new stringer management tools.

Workshop, Hydromax, Seakeeper and the Maxsurf modeller form a part of the Maxsurf suite of naval architecture and ship construction software. Maxsurf is used by over 1000 naval architects and shipbuilders worldwide to design and build vessels from 3 - 300 metres in length.

Formation Design Systems develops computer aided design software systems for naval architects, shipbuilders, engineers and designers. Its products are available on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Millenium platforms and are used by industry, educational institutions and defence organisations.