To import offsets there are a few options:
Step one: Place each panel that you wish to develop on it”s own Layer and make it developable.
Step two: Make sure your sharpness or resolution is on “Highest” and go to tools/develop plates and open the developed plates window.
Step three: Click on the little ship’s bow button and remove the highlighted submerged area from the plates…it can be a distraction.
Import the table of offsets as markers. Use the control net to make
the model surface coincident with these markers. The exported table of offsets then defines the same surface as the original design.
Instead, create a new model (ctrl-N) specifying only the length,
beam and draft. Usually, because I like long sweeping hulls, I find
it easier to use only 4 points in the longitudinal direction, and the default 5 in the vertical direction is about right.
Then, I use the mouse to drag the control points until the hull ”looks right”.
After that, if need be, I can fine tune the specific coordinates of
specific points to match the table of offsets. But I find that after some practice, that ‘looks right” is pretty darn close the table of offsets. (Don”t forget, that tables of offsets contain mistakes, that is what lofting is about.) 3D Boat Design can be seen as a lofting tool making tables of offsets not so critical.
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