![]() The parameters of unfolds may easily be defined: panel orientation (horizontal or vertical) extra material for overlaps where the unfolded parts join number of pieces in the unfold number of cuts, or darts, in panels etc. ![]() Think of the surface of an orange – bent in three directions, then unpeeling it in one piece and laying it flat. As well as simplifying modelling, this feature allows TouchCAD to accomplish perhaps its most amazing feat: to dynamically update, and then unfold, compound shapes into accurate, flat patterns. ![]() Unlike most modelling software that sets up a grid of points to control splines (think flexible battens on the loft floor or design table) near the surface of what’s being modelled, TouchCAD uses control points that are part of the surface, to move it in 3D these points can be added anywhere they're desired along the surface. He couldn’t find anything that could do this, so he taught himself computer programming and developed an application that did everything directly on the surface being modelled, which I'll explain next. TouchCAD was created by a Swedish structural engineer, Claes Lundstrom, who built boats in plywood as a teenager and later wanted a design program that could flatten sheet materials from compound-curved shapes. A few years back I discovered TouchCAD, a reasonably priced cross-platform (Mac and Windows) boat-design program that can do most of what other design programs can, and a few things that no other can touch. Usually, (definitely not always) the amount one pays is reflected in a program’s ability to best help complete whatever job is required. New boat design programs are appearing on the market every year, and some- fine for modelling very simple hulls-are available as freeware online. Less time would be needed for the tedious, error-prone stuff-the number crunching. This powerful tool allowed more time for fun stuff: 3D modelling, drawing, and presenting clearly to clients and builders what was developing on the page. What normally would have taken the better part of a week to do by hand appeared on the monitor in the time it took to click the button “Calculate Hydrostatics.” I remember my jaw dropping and an involuntary “oooh” escaping as a tidy list of numbers showing underwater dimensions and volumes, displacement, center of buoyancy, center of waterplane, and a bunch of other things I didn’t yet understand filled a small table. In the mid-1990s, I had a boat design epiphany: I was learning how to use a MacSurf (now MaxSurf*) while calculating most of the hydrostatics on a practice boat.
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