Reinhard Siegel
YACHT DESIGN SOFTWARE
EUROPEAN DISTRIBUTOR FOR
AEROHYDRO
MARINE DESIGN SOFTWARE
MultiSurf Technical Features
Relational 3D surface design
- Interactive graphic interface
- Object oriented
- Based on Relational Geometry (RG)
- Small file size
- DXF,IGES etc. links to CAD/CAM
Precise control of complex shapes
- Parametric variation and automatic update
- Accurate, durable, watertight joins between surfaces
- Power and flexibility to create the designs YOU want
Complete design
- 32 surface types, including ruled, developable, blended, lofted, B-spline, NURBS, and offset surfaces
- Not limited to NURBS!
- Unlimited number of surfaces per model
Relationships between objects
- You specify qualitative and quantitative relationships between objects; for example:
- Absolute and proportional spacings
- Angular positionings
- Mirror and rotational symmetries
- Constraint of points to lie on curves or surfaces
- Constraint of curves to lie on surfaces
- Accurate joins between surfaces
- Automatically maintains specified relationships throughout the design cycle
Change your mind at any time
- Everything is editable
- Automatically updates the entire model (including butt-ocks, waterlines, and diagonals) when you change an underlying object
General calculations
- Mass Properties - tabulates areas, centers of gravity, and moments of inertia for surfaces; arc lengths, centers of gravity, and moments of inertia for curves and contours
- Weight Schedule - total weight, centers of gravity, and moments of inertia for model (calculated from unit weights you assign to objects)
- Angles - provides three types of angular measure
- Clearance (Distance) - reports the minimum distance between two objects
Special marine design tools
- Hydrostatics - upright hydrostatics (dimensions, displacement, waterplane, wetted surface, coefficients) from input of specific gravity, ZCG, sink, trim, and heel
- Ship Lines - body plan, plan, and profile views of model; six layouts
- Offset Table - standard offset table in decimal units or feet-inches-eighths through the ExportOffset Table utility
Fairing tools
- Curvature profile graphs
- Surface curvatures (normal, Gaussian, mean) color maps
- Relax Control Point
Export
- DXF files of 2D and 3D wireframes and 3D surface meshes
- IGES files of NURBS surfaces
- RUL ruling files, for input into AeroHydro’s MSDev (developable surfaces expansion) program
- OFE offset files for input into AeroHydro’s Hydro (hydrostatics and intact stability) program
- VRML and POV for rendering
Import
- DXF,IGES,triangle mesh files
3D viewing
- Multiple wireframe and rendering windows; any viewpoint
- Mouse controlled dynamic positioning
- Perspective and orthographic views
- Rotate, pan, and zoom with adjustable increments
- Mirror and rotational symmetries
- Trace relationships between objects
- User-selectable background and object colors
Editing tools
- Drag-and-drop points • Snap increments • Grid • Layers • Filters • Customizable toolbar • Keyboard shortcuts • Unlimited undo/ redo • Single and multiple entity editing • Scale, shift, rotate selection set or model • Selection Set view • Dependency view • Display original curve or surface for comparison • Seven units choices plus conversion between them
Documentation
- Comprehensive, illustrated manuals in PDF file format
- Over 80 sample models
- Step-by-step tutorials
- Specific marine design examples
- All documentation available on-line
Technical and product support
- User suggestions welcomed and integrated into development process
- Professional technical support
- Timely product updates and upgrades
Premium features
- Components - create a library to re-use geometry
- Automation - use macros supplied or create your own
- Hydro included - use the feature rich Hydro to prove your vessel design
- More Tools - Curve Fitting, Porcupine Curvature Profile, Command Line, Edit Model File
Additional options
- Flattener - compound plate expansion and developable plate expansion for MultiSurf
- AHVPP - sailing velocity prediction program
- WAMIT - interface for wave-body analysis
- SolidWorks Integration - integrates MultiSurf with SolidWorks solid modeler
System requirements
- PC 64 bit system
- Windows 7, 8, 10, 11
MultiSurf provides a wide variety of Point, Curve and Surface kinds and a full set of Mathematical Functions.
Point entities
| 3D Points | Beads | Magnets | Rings |
| Point | Bead | Magnet | Ring |
| Blended Point | |||
| Center Point | |||
| Copy Point | Copy Bead | Copy Magnet | Copy Ring |
| Intersection Point | Intersection Bead | Intersection Magnet | Intersection Ring |
| Mirrored Point | |||
| Offset Point | |||
| Projected Point | Projected Magnet | ||
| Rotated Point | |||
| Tabulated Point | |||
| Tangent Point | Tangent Magnet | ||
| Arc-length Bead | Arc-length Ring | ||
| Proximity Bead | Proximity Magnet | Proximity Ring | |
| XYZ Bead | XYZ Magnet | XYZ Ring |
Curve and Snake Entities
| Curve entities | Snake entities |
| Arc | Arc Snake |
| B-spline FittedCurve | B-spline Fitted Snake |
| B-spline Curve | B-spline Snake |
| C-spline Curve | C-spline Snake |
| Conic Section | |
| Contour Curve | |
| Copy Curve | Copy Snake |
| Edge Snake | |
| Expanded Curve | |
| Foil Curve | Foil Snake |
| Helix | |
| Geodesic Snake | |
| Intersection Snake | |
| Line | Line Snake |
| Mirrored Curve | |
| NUB-spline Fitted Curve | NUB-spline Fitted Snake |
| NURBS Curve | NURBS Snake |
| Offset Curve | |
| PolyCurve | PolySnake |
| Procedural Curve | Procedural Snake |
| Projected Curve | Projected Snake |
| Radius Arc | |
| Relative Curve | Relative Snake |
| Rotated Curve | |
| SubCurve | SubSnake |
| Tabulated Curve | |
| X-Spline Curve | |
| UVSnake |
Surface Entities
| Arc Lofted Surface | Blend Surface | Blister |
| B-spline Fitted Surface | B-spline Lofted Surface | B-spline Surface |
| Centerpoint Boundary Surface | Copy Surface | C-spline Lofted Surface |
| Developable Surface | Expanded Surface | Foil Lofted Surface |
| Mirrored Surface | NUB-spline Fitted Surface | NURBS Surface |
| Offset Surface | PolySurface | Procedural Surface |
| Projected Surface | Relative Surface | Revolution Surface |
| Rolling Ball Fillet | Rotated Surface | Ruled Surface |
| SubSurface | Sweep Surface | Tabulated Surface |
| Tangent Boundary Surface | Translation Surface | Trimmed Surface |
| X-Spline Lofted Surface |
Parametric Solids
| Block Solid | Boundary Solid | B-spline Lofted Solid |
| B-spline Solid | Copy Solid | Ruled Solid |
Triangle Mesh Entities
| Copy TriMesh | Expanded TriMesh | Light TriMesh |
| Offset TriMesh | PolyTriMesh | Surface TriMesh |
| TriMesh | TriMesh B-spline Snake | TriMesh Copy Magnet |
| TriMesh Copy Ring | TriMesh Copy Snake | TriMesh Edge Snake |
| TriMesh Intersection Snake | TriMesh Magnet | TriMesh Projected Magnet |
| TriMesh Projected Snake | TriMesh Ring | TriMesh SubSnake |
Other Entities
| Composite Surface | Contours | Copy Contours |
| Strain Contours | Copies | Entity List |
| Formula | 3-point Frame | RPY Frame |
| Graph | PolyGraph | Knot List |
| Plane | Relabel | Text Label |
| Variable | Wireframe |
Mathematical functions available in MultiSurf
| Name | Argument(s) | Result | Synopsis |
| ABS | 1, any units | Same units as argument | Absolute value |
| ACOS | 1: unitless | unitless | arc cosine (radians) |
| ACOSD | 1: unitless | unitless | arc cosine (degrees) |
| ALARM | 2: any units | Unitless | ALARM has 2 arguments ALARM(x,y). The alarm "goes off" (goes into error) if (1) it is set (x > 0) AND (2) y < 0. Using a formula or expression for y, you can build various warning limits into a model. |
| ANGLE | 3: point, point, point | Unitless (degree) | Angle of three points (angle at pt2 between the directions to pt1 and pt3) |
| ARCLEN | 3: curve, unitless, unitless | Length | Arc distance along curve, from t1 to t2 |
| AREA | 2: surface, use_sym (0 or 1) | Area = L^2 | Area of surface, CompSurf, or TriMesh |
| ASIN | 1: unitless | unitless | arc sine (radians) |
| ASIND | 1: unitless | unitless | arc sine (degrees) |
| ATN | 1, unitless | Radian (unitless) | Arc tangent |
| ATND | 1, unitless | Degree (unitless) | Arc tangent (in degrees) |
| ATN2 | 2, both with same units | Radian (unitless) | Arc tangent(y/x) |
| ATN2D | 2, both with same units | Degree (unitless) | Arc tangent(y/x) (in degrees) |
| BBOX | 1. Entity or Entity List 2. Real scale factor 3. Real sign 4. Index, 1 to 3 for X, Y, or Z component | Length | The BBOX function gets information about the bounding box of an entity, or a set of entities specified by an Entity List. A bounding box is the smallest rectangular solid, aligned with the global coordinate system, that encloses the selected entities. |
| BSPL | 1. KnotList, or *UNIFORM for uniformly spaced knots. 2. K, polynomial order (2 for linear, 3 for quad-ratic, 4 for cubic, etc.) 3. N, number of basis functions. 4. I, index indicating which basis function to evaluate (1 to N). 5. T, parameter (nominal range 0 to 1, but can be any real value) |
unitless | The BSPL function evaluates the so-called “B-spline basis functions”, which are the mathematical foundations of B-spline and NURBS curves and surfaces. Example: BSPL( *UNIFORM, 3, 5, 2, 0.40) returns 0.3200. In this case the knots are uniform (0, 0, 0, 1/3, 2/3, 1, 1, 1); the B-splines are quadratic (K = 3); there are N = 5 of them; I = 2 selects the second basis function; T is 0.40. Errors: 222. NURB has too few knots for its order and number of control points. 223. NURB has too many knots for its order and number of control points. 234. Insufficient spacing between knots. 556. BSPL function: order less than 1. 557. BSPL function: number of basis functions less than 1. 558. BSPL function: index is out of range (1 to num-ber of basis functions). |
| CEIL | 1: any units | Same units as argument | CEIL(x) is the smallest integer that is greater than or equal to x. |
| CENTROID | 3: entity, use_sym (0 or 1), index (1-3, for X,Y,Z coordinate) | Length | Coordinates of centroid |
| CLEAR | 2: point, graphic entity | Length | Clearance |
| COS | 1, radian (unitless) | Unitless | Cosine |
| COSD | 1, degree (unitless) | Unitless | Cosine (of angle in degrees) |
| COSH | 1: unitless | unitless | hyperbolic cosine |
| CURV | 1/Length | Curvature of host curve or snake, at t location of bead/ring. If t is on a breakpoint, hi_side (0 or 1) controls whether curvature is measured below or above the break. kind: 0 is 3-D curvature of curve or snake; 1 is nor-mal curvature of snake; 2 is geodesic curvature of snake. |
|
| CURVINT | 3: curve, t, real | L times units of real | Integral of real times ds along curve. ds is the element of arc length along the curve. t is a Variable. real is a Formula descended from t. |
| DIST | 2: point, point | Length | Distance between points |
| ERROR | 1: entity | Unitless | Error code attached to entity (0 if no error). |
| EXP | 1, unitless | Unitless | Exponential |
| FLOOR | 1: any units | Same units as argument | FLOOR(x) is the greatest integer that is less than or equal to x. |
| FRAMEPOS | 3: point, frame, index (1-3, for x,y,z coordinate) | Length | Coordinates of point in frame |
| GRAPH | 2: graph, unitless | Unitless | Evaluation of graph |
| HYDRO | 6: sp.gr., Zcg, sink, trim, heel, index | various, depending on index | Fixed-position hydrostatics based on the visible contours. index is 1 to 29; selects one of 29 results, e.g. index = 6 for displacement volume; index = 15 for wetted surface. |
| IF | 3: any units | Same as units of selected argument | If arg1 >0, arg2; else arg3 |
| LOG | 1, unitless | Unitless | Natural logarithm |
| LOG10 | 1, unitless | Unitless | Base-10 logarithm |
| MASS | 3: entity, use_sym, index | M ML |
Mass, if use_sym is not 0, includes symmetry images. Index = 0 returns Mass. Index = 1, 2 or 3, the value returned is the mass moment with respect to X, Y or Z. This is the product of mass times the X, Y or Z coordinate of the centroid. Unit dimensions are ML. |
| MAX | 2, both with same any units | Same units as arguments | Maximum |
| MIN | 2, both with same any units | Same units as arguments | Minimum |
| PI | 1; any units | Unitless | PI has 1 argument, but its value is immaterial; PI(x) = pi for any x. |
| ROUND | 1, any units | Same units as argument | Rounding to integer |
| ROUND2 | 1, any units | Same units as argument | ( x, places) rounds x to the specified number of decimal places. E.g., ROUND2(PI(0),2) is 3.140000. |
| SIGN | 1: any units | Unitless | SIGN(x) is +1 when x > 0, -1 when x < 0, 0 when x = 0. |
| SIN | 1, radian (unitless) | Unitless | Sine |
| SIND | 1, degree (unitless) | Unitless | Sine (of angle in degrees) |
| SINH | 1: unitless | unitless | hyperbolic sine |
| SQRT | 1, unit dimensions all multiples of 2 | Unit dimensions of argument divided by 2 | Square root |
| STRAIN | 2: Surface/TriMesh, index | Unitless | Surface/TriMesh is a surface or TriMesh entity index = 0 or 1, for minimum or maximum strain This function reports the strain range for an Expanded Surface or Expanded TriMesh. |
| SURFCURV | 5: magnet, hi_side_u, hi_side_v, kind, angle | L^-1 for kind = 0 or 2; L^-2 for kind = 1 | Surface curvature kind = 0, normal curvature kind = 1, Gaussian curvature kind = 2, mean curvature |
| SURFINT | 4: surface, u, v, real | L^2 times units of real | Integral of real times dA over surface dA is the element of area on the surface u and v are Variables real is a Formula descended from u and v. |
| TAN | 1, radian (unitless) | Unitless | Tangent |
| TAND | 1, degree (unitless) | Unitless | Tangent (of angle in degrees) |
| TANH | 1: unitless | unitless | Hyperbolic tangent |
| TPOS | 1, bead or ring | Unitless | t parameter |
| UNITMASS | 1: entity | M for a point ML^-1 for a curve ML^-2 for a surface ML^-3 for a solid |
unit weight property of entity |
| UPOS | 1, magnet or ring | Unitless | u parameter |
| VELOCITY | 3: curve, t, hi_side | Length | Rate of change of arc length with respect to t If t is on a breakpoint, hi_side (0 or 1) controls whether velocity is measured below or above the break. |
| VOLUME | 2: solid, use_sym (0 or 1) | Volume = L^3 | Volume of solid |
| VPOS | 1, magnet or ring | Unitless | v parameter |
| XPOS | 1, point | Length | X coordinate |
| YPOS | 1, point | Length | Y coordinate |
| ZPOS | 1, point | Length | Z coordinate |