Features - Hullform Professional Edition

Operating System
  • Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Vista or 7
Design and Fairing
  • based on a network of 400 lines and 100 transverse sections;
  • uses weighted natural cubic splines longitudinally, quadratic bezier curves transversely;
  • add, delete, edit sections on an isometric view of all lines and sections;
  • add, delete, edit lines;
  • relocate and redefine sections;
  • alter measurement units;
  • rescale all or part of design;
  • enter offsets of existing design;
  • catamaran support;
  • generate NACA foil profiles automatically;
  • design hull using multiple intersecting surfaces;
  • rounded stem;
  • rounded and raked transom;
  • zoom in section editing;
  • automatic conversion of monohull to catamaran;
  • automatic generation of stringers (See below);
  • plate development (See below);
  • internal tanks for damage and operating stability assessments;.
  • retain "overlay" design for reference viewing when working on a similar design.
Hydrostatics
  • fixed or free floating;
  • reports to screen for any heel angle;
  • write hydrostatic values in tabular form to a text file;
  • hydrostatic cross-plots and tables, all exportable to word processors and spreadsheets..
Viewing
  • orthogonal - plan, profile (elevation) and body plan (end elevation);
  • perspective - full, port and starboard half. Perspective views can be rotated and perspective effects adjusted using the keyboard arrow keys or the scrollbar. Draw fair lines between sections; animated and shaded surface views;
  • zoom in on any orthogonal or persective view.
Plate Development
  • evaluate and show the developability of a surface between any pair of adjacent hull lines;
  • plot the shape of any developed surface when rolled out flat (for cutting from plate);
  • export rolled-out plate to a DXF file.
Stringers
  • calculate stringer locations between any adjacent pair of hull lines, for fixed stringer count or fixed stringer spacing;
  • include stringer notches in frame views (See File Output, below).
Drag calculations
  • six empirical drag schemes (Gerritsma 1981 and 1996, Holtrop and Mennen, Oortmerrssen, Savitsky, Savitsky and Brown);
  • detailed summary of drag for any speed;
  • plot any combination of the six drag curves against speed.
Data Input
  • read vertical offsets of curved waterline (e.g., wave effects on stability);
  • import offsets of an existing design in a range of tabular formats.
  • import some DXF files
  • import GHS files
File Output
  • print or plot any display;
  • frame outlines with thickness corrections and stringer notches (including angled cutouts on corners and holes at frame corners) ;
  • lateral offsets of waterlines;
  • VRML output of hull surface;
  • write 2- or 3-dimensional DXF representation of the hull, for use by CAD programs.
  • export GHS file
Utility Functions
  • run any program from Hullform menu;
  • DDE server.
Print/Plot Output
  • print to any printer or plotter device supported by Windows;
  • plot to any printer device with graphics capacity or any plotter supported by Windows.
  • write any view to a range of graphic formats (particularly WMF, DXF and HPGL)
Graphical User Interface
  • use any display supported by Windows;
  • mouse support for all normal functions plus line and section editing;
  • context-sensitive help;
  • user control of colours on colour display.