Manual DELFTShip

DELFTship manual
User manual
by DELFTship marine software
DELFTship manual
© 2020 DELFTship marine software
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Printed: January 2020 in Hoofddorp.

Table of Contents
Contents
Part I The DELFTship interface 1

1.1 DELFTship main window ............................................................................................................................................................................. 2
1.2 Zooming, panning and rotating
............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
1.3 Selecting objects ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Manipulating geometry ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
1.5 Manually modifying points ............................................................................................................................................................................. 6
1.6 Viewport menu ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Part II Project settings and program preferences 11
2.1 Project settings ............................................................................................................................................................................. 12
2.2 Program preferences ............................................................................................................................................................................. 14
2.3 backup folder ............................................................................................................................................................................. 0
Part III Hull modeling 16
3.1 Background to surface modeling
............................................................................................................................................................................. 17
3.2 DELFTship coordinate system
............................................................................................................................................................................. 20
3.3 Organizing your model with layers
............................................................................................................................................................................. 22
3.4 Working with background.............................................................................................................................................................................
images 24
3.5 Control curves and fairing............................................................................................................................................................................. 28
3.6 File group ............................................................................................................................................................................. 29
3.6.1 New Project .......................................................................................................................................................... 30
3.6.2 File import .......................................................................................................................................................... 32
3.6.3 File Export .......................................................................................................................................................... 36
3.7 Top menu ribbon and tabs............................................................................................................................................................................. 38
3.7.1 Home tab .......................................................................................................................................................... 38
3.7.1.1 Project menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 39
3.7.1.2 Edit menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 39
3.7.1.3 Layer menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 39
3.7.1.4 Point menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 40
3.7.1.5 Edge menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 42
3.7.1.6 Curve menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 44
3.7.1.7 Face menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 44
3.7.1.8 Hull display menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
3.7.1.9 Tank display menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 48
3.7.1.10 Window menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 49
3.7.2 Tools tab .......................................................................................................................................................... 49
3.7.2.1 Layers ......................................................................................................................................................... 49
3.7.2.2 Project tools menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 50
3.7.2.2.1 Intersections ......................................................................................................................................... 51
3.7.2.2.2 Linesplan ......................................................................................................................................... 52
3.7.2.2.3 Unfold / Plate development ......................................................................................................................................... 54
3.7.2.3 Modeling tools menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 57
3.7.2.4 Transform menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 57
3.7.2.5 Markers menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 59
3.7.2.6 3D primitives menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 61
3.7.3 Calculations and extensions tab .......................................................................................................................................................... 62
3.7.3.1 Hydrostatics menu ......................................................................................................................................................... 62
3.7.4 Settings tab .......................................................................................................................................................... 62

I
3.7.4.1 Translations ......................................................................................................................................................... 64
3.7.5 System tab .......................................................................................................................................................... 65
Part IV Hydrostatic calculations 67

4.1 Design hydrostatics ............................................................................................................................................................................. 68
4.2 Resistance ............................................................................................................................................................................. 68
Part V Report viewer 70
Index 73

II
The DELFTship interface
Part
1
Part I The DELFTship interface
1.1 DELFTship main window
Main window
The ribbon menu
There are 5 main tabs on the ribbon interface, accessible through the tabbed buttons at the top. By default the 'Home'
ribbon is displayed. Other tabs are: 'Tools', 'Calculations and extensions' and 'Settings'. The leftmost tab displaying the
DELFTship logo is the 'Application' Ribbon. Above the ribbon, basic file functions are offered. If you want to maximize
your screen, the ribbon can be minimized by clicking the 'Collapse Ribbon' button in the top right corner:
Quick access toolbar

Opening saving, importing and exporting of DELFTship models can be done via this rapid-access menu, which is
further described in the paragraph on the File group.
Home Tab
The Home tab contains menus with general commands for selecting, editing, display etc.
Tools Tab
The tools tab contains menus with a variety of hull modeling tools.
Calculations and extensions Tab

The calculations tab contains a variety of calculation commands. In addition it gives access to specific extensions of
DELFTship. Availability of extensions depends on your licenses.
2
Settings Tab
The settings tab gives access to various system settings as well as information about the version and licenses of your
DELFTship installation and an update button.
Help
At the top right corner you'll find the help button: , clicking this button opens this help file. Most menu groups will
also have context sensitive help available. Pressing the F1 function key while hovering over a function will display the
help section related to that particular menu group (context).
Viewport area
By default the viewport area will show a perspective, front, right and top view of your model. You can fully customize
this layout through the viewport drop-down menu.
Status bar
The bottom bar contains the status bar, which displays selected technical meta information:
First the size of the 'undo' memory, then information on the amount of entities in your model, the currently active layer
and the curvature scale. If eges are selected (highighted) it also will show the total length of the currently selected
edge(s), and the toital dX,dY and dZ of the edges.
1.2 Zooming, panning and rotating

After starting a new model DELFTship by default adds 4 windows. Each window has a different view on the 3D model.
The area of the window in which the model is drawn is called a viewport. These viewports also appear in other windows,
for example when viewing plate developments. Zooming and panning works the same in all viewports used throughout
the program.
Zooming
Zooming can be done in the following ways:
· Use the zoom-all button from the viewport menu to zoom to the extents of the model, or use the Alt+E shortcut.
· By dragging a window around the area to be magnified.
· Press Alt+I (zoom in) , Alt+O (zoom out) or Alt+J (zoom previous)
· By using the scroll wheel of your mouse
· Alt-J restores the previous zoom setting which is equivalent to using the zoom previous button
3
Panning
Panning (moving the model in screen space) is done by holding the right mouse button down and dragging the image .
Rotate
If the viewport displays a perspective view, two scroll bars will be visible located on the bottom and to the right of the
view port. These scroll bars can be used to rotate and tilt the model in order to see it from different angles. An easier way
to rotate the model is to keep the middle mouse button (or mouse wheel) pressed while dragging the mouse.
This option is not available for the orthogonal 2D views (e.g. front, aft, top, ...)
1.3 Selecting objects

Selecting objects
Almost any visible object in the hull modeling windows can be selected by clicking on it with the mouse. Clicking it again
(or hitting Esc) will then deselect it. Selected objects are highlighted in yellow- although this color can be changed in
the Program Preferences.
For some objects there are methods to extend the selection:
· Points. If a point is selected, clicking on another point will select this new point- and the previous point will be
deselected. To select multiple points hold down the CTRL-key while selecting additional points.
· Edges. If the CTRL key is pressed while an edge is clicked, the program tries to trace the entire edge- until a
irregular point or an edge with a different crease-property is encountered . This helps to select an entire row of
edges (edge loop), like the sheerline or a hard chine.
· Faces. Faces can be CTRL-selected: all the faces belonging to the same layer and connected to the selected one
are also selected or deselected. Faces that are isolated from the selected face because they are totally surrounded
by crease edges are not included.
Select all
With this command (available by pressing the shortcut Ctrl-A) all visible objects are automatically selected.
Selecting groups
Drag the mouse while holding the CTRL key to select all objects within the dragged window. When CTRL- dragging from
left to right a green rectangle is drawn, and only elements that are completely inside this rectangle are selected.
Dragging from right to left draws a red rectangle, and all elements that are partly or completely inside this rectangle are
selected.
Deselect all
Use this option to deselect all selected items simultaneously. Pressing the Esc-key has the same result.
4
1.4 Manipulating geometry
Control points
One of the most important features when it comes to surface modeling is the ability to move individual (or groups of)
control points. In order to do this, the control net must be visible (see Display menu). Select multiple points by holding
down the CTRL key while selecting, or drag-to-select (See Selecting objects).
When moving a control point so that the edge it is on is a near the straight line between neighboring control points, the
edge will light up green. Releasing the point then will snap it to that straight line. If you do not want this, un-check the
'Snap to line' box in the point control window.
It may be useful to increase the control point size: if set to small, selection may be difficult.
Move vs Extrude
While in many ways similar, there is a fundamental difference between moving and extruding:
Moving (part of) a face will adjust surrounding control points. The entire face, and connected faces, will be affected by a
move. Extruding a face will create crease edges around the selected area before moving it. Effectively, new faces and
edges are inserted to keep the extruded face connected.
Edges- Move, Extrude

Moving an edge is very similar to moving a point: when an edge is moved, all points on that edge are moved at the
same time, and all connected edges are adjusted accordingly. Simply select an edge, click and drag to move.
Extruding an edge is done by holding down the shift key while moving it. Note that only boundary edges can be
extruded. See the Edge menu chapter for more information.
Moved edge Extruded edge
Faces- Move, Extrude, Copy

Moving a face is essentially a move of multiple points (but the control net does not need to be visible). Simply select
the face, click and drag to move.
Extruding a face moves the surface and inserts crease edges around it (see image below). Hold the SHIFT key when
moving a face to extrude, see Face menu.
Copying a face creates a new, disconnected face. Hold the CTRL + SHIFT keys down when moving a face to copy.
5
Moved face Extruded face Copied face
Tips
Note that the 3D view can be very disorienting when manipulating geometry.
Copying and extruding geometry always ends with a confirmation dialogue with
the three coordinates of the action. Always check the direction of any
manipulation!
Moving a face does not show this dialogue, so confirm the three dimensions of
any move to make sure the face sits where it is supposed to.
For hints on selecting points, edges or faces see Selecting objects.
When it is difficult to select individual control points it may help to increase the
control point size.
While dragging, all visible geometrical information is updated in real-time. This
includes intersection curves, control curves, flow lines and tanks. Especially when
the precision of the model is set to a high level this can become slow. If that
happens use a lower precision or turn off the display of some of these objects.
1.5 Manually modifying points

If a point is selected, the control point window opens to display all the information for that point, including the position
of the point in 3D space. These properties can be altered by changing the values in the appropriate fields ( or clicking
the < and > buttons next to the fields to move a single increment) or by using the cursor keys
. The selected point
moves in the direction of the arrow key that was pressed. how much it moves, or the “i ncr ement al d i st ance”, can be set
in the control point window. More information on the grid used can be found in the coordinate system paragraph.
Control point window

To assist accurate operation, or to limit unwanted movement when using a mouse to move points, the following options
are available :
· X-axis. Point movement is restricted to the direction of the X-axis.

6
· Y-axis. Point movement is restricted to the direction of the Y-axis.
· Z-axis. Point movement is restricted to the direction of the X-axis.
· YZ-plane. Point movement is restricted to the YZ-plane.
· XZ-plane. Point movement is restricted to the XZ-plane.
· XY-plane. Point movement is restricted to the XY-plane.
· Auto 2D. Depending on the viewing angle the nearest orthogonal plane is chosen, and then point
movement is restricted to this plane. For example if a model is viewed from forward to aft, the program will select
the YZ-plane as the appropriate plane. In that case only the Y and Z coordinate of the control point will be
updated if the point is dragged with the mouse.
· 3D. Movement of a control point is not restricted. When moving a point all three coordinates will be
updated. This setting is only useful in a perspective view.
1.6 Viewport menu

All DELFTship viewports that contain 3D elements have a drop-down menu with view controls. These controls may not
always be enabled- in some cases certain functions will have no meaning in the active context. All possible viewport
menu buttons are described in this paragraph. The drop-down menu can be activated (or opened) by moving the mouse
to the very top of the viewpane canvas. It will auto-hide when the mouse pointer leaves its area.
Viewport menu
Printing
Print
Print the viewport
Save
Saves the current viewport as an image
Zoom
Zoom All (Alt-E)

Adjust zoom level to fit model into the window
Zoom in (Alt-I)
Zoom in on the model (increase magnification)
7
Zoom out (Alt-O)
Zoom out from the model (decrease magnification)
Zoom previous (Alt-J)

Restores the previous view
Views
Perspective (Alt-P)
Switch to perspective view. In this view the model can be freely rotated using side bars or the middle button (or
scroll wheel) of your mouse.
Front (Alt-F)
Switch to a body plan view, looking to the bow of the vessel.
Aft (Alt-A)
Switch to a body plan view, looking to the stern of the vessel
Left (Alt-L)
Switch to a profile view, looking to the port side of the vessel
Right (Alt-R)
Switch to a profile view, looking to the starboard side of the vessel
Top (Alt-T)
Switch to a plan view, looking at the deck of the vessel
Bottom (Alt-B)
Switch to a plan view, looking at the bottom of the vessel
Shading options
Most shading options are implemented to assist in fairing, or at least to make irregularities in a surface more
visible. In most types of shading some kind of reflection plays a role; consider it similar to holding your model to
the light in order to find irregular patches in the surface. Exceptions to his are zebra, developable and curvature
shading. In these modes coloration or patterns are applied to levels of curvature. Rendering of shaded shapes is
done real time, so any modifications made are reflected immediately.
8
Wire frame (Alt-W).
Only the points, lines and edges are drawn. Any objects, such as tanks for example, are drawn using line
representations.
Smooth (Alt-S).
The surfaces are drawn in a solid color, lines and curves are drawn on top of the surfaces. Submerged areas of
surfaces can optionally be displayed using a different color (see Preferences)
Developable (Alt-D).
The surfaces are shaded, developable areas in green and not developable ones in red. More about developable
surfaces can be found in the 'plate developments' paragraph.
Curvature (Alt-C).
Used to check the fairness of a surface. The model is drawn using a range of colors, based on the discrete
G aussian curvature in each point of the subdivided surface. Most surfaces are curved in two directions, called
the principal curvature directions. The Gaussian curvature is the product of these two principal curvatures. For
the sign of the Gaussian curvature there are 3 possibilities :
1 . Negative Gaussian curvature. One of the curvature components must be positive while the other is
negative, meaning that the surface is curved in opposite directions. The area surrounding the point
is concave and resembles the shape of a saddle. Areas with negative Gaussian curvature are colored
blue.
2. Zero Gaussian curvature. At least one of the two principal curvatures is zero, so the surface is either
completely flat or curved in only one direction. In both cases the surface is developable (This is a
very important property of developable surfaces). These areas are colored green.
3. Positive Gaussian curvature. The curvature in both directions can be positive or negative, but must
have the same sign. These areas are convex and colored red.
Zebra (Alt-Z).
Another option to check the model for fairness. Regions with a constant light-reflection intensity are shaded in
bands. This is similar to the way the human eye detects unfair spots on a surface since the shininess and
shadows vary in those areas. If the edges of the zebra stripes are curved smoothly then the surface is smooth in
these areas. At knuckle lines they vary abruptly.
Sphere map (Alt-H).

Reflective shading using an image called "environment map". This image is projected onto the model to
simulate reflections from the environment. These reflections are used to visualize unfair areas of the surface. The
drop down menu to the right of this button gives access to several maps that can be used for shading.
Miscellaneous options
9
Clip (Alt- )
Q
Sometimes it is useful to look inside the model- that is, see a slice of it. This can be particularly useful when
viewing tanks or hull geometry that is partly obscured by other parts of the design. Select Clip to clip ('slice')
the model at distances defined in the Clipping volume window (directly below)
Clipping volume
The clipping volume button is enabled when the Clip function is
selected. Use this function to specify where the model should be
clipped (aft, front, right, left, bottom and top) . Distances are given
from the model origin.
Coordinate axes (Alt-X)

Draws the coordinate system (colored X-Y-Z planes) in the viewport.
Pin or Unpin (Alt-N) A clipped hull

The far right of the menu holds a pin button. Pin the menu bar for permanent access- unpin to enable auto-
hide.
10
Project settings and program preferences
Part
II
11
Part II Project settings and program preferences
DELFTship distinguishes 'program preferences' and 'project settings'.
Program related preferences are located on the Settings tab while project settings can be found on the Home tab.
'Preferences' control application specific properties of DELFTship such as background color, 'project settings' only
affects your current project like project name. Poject settings are saved with the model.
2.1 Project settings

The 'Home' tab contains the 'Project settings' button. In the project settings window you can modify various
settings specific to the currently open project. Its content depends largely on the installed extensions.
General
The first tab page is used to enter general project information such as:
· Project name or description
· Name of the designer
· Project comment . This can be any descriptive text for your design.
· The name of the person who created the file
· Report header and footer text
· The type of units used for this project . This can either be imperial or metric units.
When changing the unit format the entire model will be scaled to the new format. When switching from meters
to feet for example all dimensions are divided by 0.3048.
· The shade underwater defines the color used to render submerged surface areas of the model
Notes
The 'Notes' tab offers a place for project notes in free but unformatted text.
Main particulars
The tab sheet to enter the main particulars contains the following fields:
· Length - The project length is used to calculate the vessels trim, (see definition) but also in the hydrostatic
calculations to determine coefficients such as the block coefficient. The project length can have various
interpretations and therefore has to be specified manually.
For ships the project length generally corresponds to the length between the perpendiculars.
For boats and yachts most often the length at the waterline is used.
· Beam - For boats and yachts the beam is measured to the outside of the shell plating, for merchant ships one
uses the moulded beam. The moulded beam is measured to the inside of the shell plating. When the moulded
beam is used the extra volume of the shell can be accounted for in the hydrostatic calculations by entering the
mean shell thickness.
· Draft - The draft is always measured from the base plane which is the horizontal plane through the origin. Just as
for the beam a distinction can be made between the moulded draft and the draft above the bottom of the keel
12
(draft BoK). The draft BoK is obtained by adding the shell thickness of the bottom to the moulded draft. The
thickness of the bottom is also referred to as the keel plate thickness.
· Mid-ship location - The default location of the mid-ship is halfway the aft and the forward perpendicular. The
location can be changed by unchecking the "Default at 0.5*L" box next to the input field and entering the non-
standard value.
· Height base plane - Reserved for future use.
· Aft perpendicular - The aft perpendicular is located at the origin at x . . The location of the forward
=0 0
perpendicular is found by adding the project length. Reserved for future use.
· Longitudinal reference point - Occasionally the hydrostatic and tank calculations use a different longitudinal
datum or reference point. The following points can be used:
o Aft perpendicular
o Forward perpendicular
o Mid ship location (default)
Changing this setting does not effect the model's geometry, only the way in which longitudinal dimensions are
calculated and displayed.
· Draft marks - The grid at the bottom is used to define draft marks. Draft marks are usually welded and painted
onto the hull on various locations.
To add a new draft mark just click on the grid once to make it active and then press the <Ins> key on your
keyboard. Similarly the <Del> key is used to remove the selected draft mark.
Draft marks have the following properties:
· Description - The description of a draft mark, for example Aft mark or Transom mark .
" " " "
· Location - The longitudinal location of the draft mark along the hull, measured from the longitudinal
reference point, generally the aft perpendicular.
· Use - Switch to enable or disable a draft mark. A disabled draft mark is ignored by the program.
· Visible - If enabled the draft mark will be rendered on top of the hull.
· Symmetric - Draft marks are almost always symmetrical, that is they are visible on both sides of the
hull. If this property is disabled the draft mark will be forced to the center line, which is for example used
to define draft marks on the center of the transom.
· Height keel above base - Intended for ships with a design trim, such as small fishing vessels. The
height of the keel above the base is the distance from the keel line to the base line which can be positive
or negative. Positive values are encountered when the keel line is located above the base plane. This
distance is subtracted from the moulded draft before the keel plate thickness is added.
· Keel plate thickness - The thickness of the bottom plating at the selected location. This thickness is
added to the moulded draft to obtain the actual draft.
· Min/Max - These values indicate the height above the base plane where the draft mark starts and the
height where it ends.
Hydrostatics
This tab page contains all hydrostatics related settings, such as:
· Relative water density - This is the density of the surrounding water relative to the density of fresh water, which
is 1.000. The relative density of sea water for example is 1.025.
13
· Shell thickness - Commercial vessels are usually modeled to the inside of the shell plating. The mean shell
thickness is multiplied with the wetted surface area to calculate the submerged volume of the shell, which is added
to the moulded volume to calculate the total displaced volume.
· Mean shell thickness - When 'use mean shell thickness' is selected in the 'shell thickness' field, here you can set
the value you want to use for the calculations.
· Appendage coefficient - This is a multiplication factor commonly used to compensate for appendages of the
vessel which not have been modeled but contribute to the displacement, such as a rudder or propeller. The
default value for the appendage coefficient is 1.000. The default value to compensate for rudder and propeller is
ranges from 1.005 to 1.010 depending on the size and number of appendages.
· Coefficients based on - Hydrostatic coefficients such as the block coefficient and prismatic coefficient can be
calculated according to two different methods. The first is by using the dimensions for length and beam as
specified on the project page, which is the preferred way for large ships. The second method uses the actual
length and beam of the submerged body. This method is more appropriate for yachts and small boats. If the
second method is selected, the submerged length and beam will vary with the draft.
The program cannot verify if the specified length and beam are correct. If incorrect
values have been specified on the main dimensions tab page, the calculated
coefficients mentioned above will also be incorrect!
· Disable surface check - Each time hydrostatic properties need to be calculated, the program checks if the
direction of the surface normals of faces is consistent, correcting the direction if necessary. In some rare cases it is
possible that the surface normals point in the wrong direction once this check has completed. In that case the
hydrostatic values will be incorrect, even to the point of negative volume and displacement. If this happens it is
recommended to first disable the automatic surface check and then to manually correct the surface normals by
inverting the corresponding faces. When in doubt, always visually check the direction of surface normals by
selecting one or more control faces. It is important to realize that the program fails to calculate hydrostatic
properties if one or more leak points become submerged. See also the paragraph on leak points.
· Display hydrostatic features - allows to enable or disable the real time display of certain hydrostatic properties
of the model
2.2 Program preferences

The Preferences button opens a detailed settings window. The actual appearance of this window differs depending
on which extensions are installed with the main program: generally each extension has its own tab page. 'Reset' can
be used to revert to the default settings. Please note that the professional edition has significantly more options and
properties than the free edition. Always available are:
General
Modify various general settings of the program, such as:
· Reopen last used project on startup - Loads the project which was open the last time the program was shut
down.
· Cleanup recently opened files list - Searches the list for files that do not exist and removes these from the list.
· The language used by the program. Language files are located in the sub folder delftship\languages of the
program folder and only languages defined in this folder will be shown. A special tool is available from
www.delftship.net to create new translation files or to modify existing files.
14
· Automatic Updates - controls the frequency with which DELFTship checks for updates
· Maximum size of undo memory
· Automatically hide viewport buttons
· Control point size - larger points are easier to select
· iewport background mode - select a gradient or solid color as a background

V
· iewport background color

V
· Selected items color
Hullform
Define the visual aspects of model related entities.
Hydrostatics
Select which hydrostatic properties should be displayed in the hydrostatics report, or modify the order of appearance
by dragging the various properties in the list. Selected items will appear in the report in the order of this list. The
reporting options in the Professional edition is far more complete than the free edition allowing inclusion of many more
items.
General report settings

Modify the default font type and size used in the reports throughout the program.
Restore Defaults
If you want to restore the program preferences to their defaults, there are two options available. If you can still
normally access the program window, the preferences window has a "Reset" button that will restore defaults. If for
some reason the DELFTship window can not be accessed (for instance a display option with multiple monitors that
has gone wrong) you can start DELFTship while holding the SHIFT key. The program will then start in safe mode and
it all program preferences will be restored to their defaults.
15
Hull modeling
Part
III
16
Part III Hull modeling
3.1 Background to surface modeling
Surface modeling
DELFTship uses a technique called surface modeling to completely define the outer
shape of a ship. This technique involves “sculpting” the hull as if it were a very thin
and flexible piece of cloth by pulling and shifting so called control points. Modeling
is not limited to the hull alone: decks, superstructures, masts, keels and rudders can
be modeled this way too. The biggest advantage of surface modeling is that the
model can be completely and accurately described using only a few points. The
illustration on the right shows an example of a developable tug that was created
with only 54 points. Unlike most other programs, DELFTship uses subdivision
surfaces for this task. Compared to other types of surface definition, subdivision
surfaces give the designer more flexibility in designing any desired shape. In order Surface modeling
to maximise the benefits of this technique it is important to have a basic
understanding of some of its underlying principles.
Subdivision surfaces
A subdivision surface is a special type of spline-surface. Conventional modeling
programs work with parametric spline surfaces like B-Spline surfaces or NURB
surfaces. These surfaces are completely defined by a set of control points. These are
the points which the user can modify to control the shape of the surface. Any point
on the surface can be directly calculated from these control points using a set of
parametric formulas. The drawback of these parametric surfaces is that they always
require a topologically rectangular grid of points. This grid almost always follows
the shape of a hull, so it does not look like a true rectangular grid. But it always has
say N points in the longitudinal direction and M points in the vertical direction Parametric spline surface
where both N and M might be any number equal to or larger than 2.
In the 'parametric spline' illustration N =4 and M =4 and the total number of control
points equals 4*4=16. Using parametric spline surfaces it is not possible to insert a
single new point in the control grid. To maintain the rectangular topology an entire
row of points have to be inserted as demonstrated in the 2nd illustration 'Inserting a
row or column'. This results in more control points than actually needed or desired,
and more control points means more work to the designer. Very complex shapes
cannot be modeled using a single surface. But when using multiple surfaces the
designer is challenged with the difficult task of aligning these surfaces at their
boundaries. It is often desirable to maintain a smooth transition along these Inserting a row or column
boundaries. Each time one of these surfaces is modified, the adjacent surface has to be modified manually to maintain
this smooth transition.
To overcome these problems DELFTship makes use of subdivision surfaces. Subdivision surfaces also use control points
as a modeling handle, just like NURBS or B-Splines and they share the same mathematical background. The main
difference however is that the formulas are no longer restricted to a rectangular grid of points. The downside is that
points on the surface can no longer be directly calculated. Instead the original set of points (called the control mesh) is
refined and smoothed in a number of steps. Each step is called a “subdivision step”, hence the name subdivision surfaces.
Before explaining in detail how subdivision actually works it is important to know something about the internal
geometry of subdivision surfaces. The surfaces are build from the following three components:
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Points
Points form the basis of the surface. In fact most of the modeling is done by moving
points to different locations since this changes the shape of the surface.
Additionally, new points may be inserted or existing points can be removed. There
are two different types of points:
· ' Ordinary points' - These are all points that are not corner points. It is Points, Edges and Faces forming a
surface
important to realize that these points have a certain offset to the resulting
surface. This deviation is larger in surface areas with high curvature. It becomes smaller when more points and
edges are inserted.
· 'Corner points' - These are very specific points, usually connected to 2 or more crease-edges. Just like a crease-
edge can be used to specify that two faces have to be connected in a discontinuous way, corner points may be
used to do so with two adjacent edges. Corner points are the only type of points actually located on the hull
surface. Points where 3 or more crease-edges meet are automatically set to corner points by the program. Corner
points are displayed in blue.
Edges
All points are connected with lines which are called edges in subdivision surface terminology. Edges also be divided into
two different categories:
· 'Boundary edges' - These are edges which are located, as the name suggests, on the boundary of the surface. A
boundary edge is characterized by the fact that it has always only 1 face attached to it. Examples of boundary
edges are the sheer line (if the ship is not fitted with a deck) or the center line of the ship. The center line, or
profile, is in fact a special case. When defining the hull only its port side is created. So all edges on the center
plane are boundary edges as they have only one face connected to it. In reality the ship is symmetric, and when
performing calculations DELFTship creates a virtual symmetric ship by mirroring the model in the center plane.
· 'Internal edges' - These are all other edges away from the boundary of the surface, and they must always be
shared by 2 adjacent faces. Internal edges are drawn as dark gray lines. The two faces connected to an edge are
joined smoothly along their shared edge.
· 'Crease edges' - It is possible to mark an edge as a crease-edge. When doing so, the two faces are joined in a
tangent-discontinuous way. In other words, crease-edges are used to define knuckle lines. A boundary edge is in
fact a specific case of a crease edge since there is no second face to make a smooth transition.
Faces
A face is a little piece of the entire surface (sometimes called a 'patch') that is completely surrounded by edges and is
usually defined with 4 points. In some areas it is desirable to have less (or even more) points, but generally the best
results are obtained when most of the faces consist of 4 points. Faces are divided by edges where the type of edge
determines how the faces should be connected to each other.
Intersections
Stations, buttocks, waterlines and diagonals can be added to the model via the Intersections button (Project tools menu
on the Tools tab)
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Subdivision explained
Now the basics of the underlying geometry should be clear, let's continue with the
process of transforming the control mesh into the final hull surface. The illustration
to the right shows the process of one subdivision step:
I. To the left the original control mesh of a beveled cube is visible. The first
step in the subdivision process is refining the mesh. This is done by inserting
One Subdivision Step
a new point in the middle of each edge (called an edge-point).
II. New points are also inserted at the center of each face (called a face-point) which has more than three points. For
faces with three points each new edge-point is connected with the new point of the previous edge, thus creating
4 new triangles. All other faces are subdivided by connecting all surrounding edge-points to the face-point. This
results in a refined mesh which still has the same shape as the original.
III. Finally all the points in the surface are shifted to a new location in such a way that the refined surface is
smoothed. This is called averaging in subdivision terms.
When this process of subdividing is repeated a number of times a very fine and smooth mesh is the result. The
illustration below shows the same beveled cube after a number of subdivision steps.
Original control mesh and resulting subdivision after 1,2 and 4 subdivision steps
The illustration below shows the same control mesh, but this time a number of edges have been marked as crease-edges
(red lines). The result is a sharp knuckle line going around the cube. It is clearly visible that the faces on both sides of the
crease-edges are no longer joined in a smoothly.
The effect of crease edges on a surface
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Guidelines to subdivision modeling
In theory almost any control mesh is valid, however when designing ships the
fairness of the resulting surface is of the utmost importance. In this paragraph some
guidelines are given to assist you in obtaining the best results.
· Use a regular grid whenever possible. A grid is considered regular if all faces
consist of four points, and all points are connected to four edges and faces. A
point on a boundary edge is considered regular if it has 3 edges and two Regular Points
faces connected to it. Of course this is not always possible. Triangular faces may be used as a means to reduce the
number of points in an area. 5-sided faces, or 5 different 4-sided faces can be used to increase the number of
points.
· Always have two faces connected to all edges other than boundary edges. If more than two faces are connected
to an edge, that specific edge will be drawn thicker and in a light green color. This must be avoided for the
hydrostatic model as it breaks the hydrostatic calculations. Once they become submerged, hydrostatics will no
longer be calculated. Boundary edges are allowed for cosmetic purposes, so make sure you put these faces in an
other layer that is not included in the hydrostatics.
Ensure that the normals of all the faces point outward (in the direction of the water). This is of crucial importance since
DELFTship calculates hydrostatics by integrating the enclosed volume at the back of the faces. If the normal of a face
points inward, the volume outside the hull would be added to the total volume. By using the actual surface for
hydrostatic calculations instead of a number of stations, a higher accuracy is obtained compared to the conventional
method of using cross sections. This is especially true if the model has a heeling angle and/or trim, or is fitted with a
superstructure. DELFTship can also check the direction of normals automatically, it's the command 'Check model' in the
main menu tab 'Tools'. Automatic checking can be disabled in the project settings dialog.
3.2 DELFTship coordinate system

DELFTship uses the coordinate system as displayed in illustration on the
right. The aft perpendicular is always located at the origin of the coordinate
system. The axes have the following directions with respect to the ship
model:
· The X axis corresponds to the longitudinal direction of the ship.
DELFTship coordinate system
· The Y axis is oriented transversely. Positive values are located on port
side. (this van be changed in program preferences)
· The Z axis is oriented vertically and points upward.
Use the "show axes" button in the viewport menu to show the axes with your model.
Reference, perpendiculars and baseline

Positive values for heeling angles are also to port side, so for negative values the ship heels to starboard side.
Illustration below shows the key reference lines. The most important are:
· The aft perpendicular which is located at the origin (x=0.0).
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· The forward perpendicular. The location is specified by the user in the project settings and must be a a value
greater than zero since the aft perpendicular is located at the origin. The length of the ship is defined as the
distance between the two perpendiculars.
· The base line. The base line corresponds with the horizontal plane through the origin (z=0.0). All molded drafts
are measured with respect to this baseline.
Reference lines
Draft
Draft is defined as in the illustration on the right:
· draft aft: The distance measured along the aft perpendicular from the
base plane to the intersection of the water plane with the center
plane.
· draft forward: The distance measured along the forward Draft measured when heeled
perpendicular from the base plane to the intersection of the water plane with the center plane.
· (Average) draft: The average of both drafts =0 .5* (TAft+TForward)
These definitions are valid both in upright and heeled conditions. Note that in the event of large heeling angles and
small values for the displacement this can lead to negative values for the draft as can be seen on the illustration to the
right. The intersection of the water plane and the center plane is located below the base plane resulting in a negative
value for the draft.
Trim
Trim is defined as the difference in draft at both perpendiculars.
Trim =Tforward-TAft
If the draft aft is greater than the draft forward the trim will be negative. So negative trim values indicate the ship is
trimmed by the stern, while for positive trim values the ship is trimmed by the bow.
Definition of Trim
Finally all values for the various hydrostatic properties are measured with respect to the the ships main axis with the ship
in upright position. Illustrations below show a ship with trim and a ship heeled to port side. Rather than heeling the ship
the water plane is heeled instead. All dimensions are given perpendicular to the 3 main planes that pass through the
origin.
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Transverse and vertical
measurements for a heeld ship
Longitudinal en vertical measurements for a trimmed ship
Both illustrations show the presentation of the location of the center of buoyancy in 3D space as an example. This
presentation will be consistently used throughout the program.
3.3 Organizing your model with layers

General layer information
The hull created with DELFTship consists of only 1 mathematical surface, even if the model contains multiple isolated
layers or faces. When modeling it is often desirable to divide the model into different parts with different properties, for
example the color. Therefore layers have been implemented into the program. A layer is a container that groups faces
with the same properties together.
There must always be at least one layer in your model, and one layer will always be
active. When a new element is added to the model it will be assigned to the active layer.
You can see which layer is active in the layer toolbar at the top of the screen. This
contains a drop-down list of all layers, and it displays the name of active layer. You can
modify which layer is active when no faces are selected by simply selecting another layer
from the drop down list in your toolbar. Selecting a face will show the layer containing Active layer
that particular face (but this is not the active layer). Please note that when faces from
more than one layer are selected, this field will be blank- it is no longer certain which layer name to show.
In the event that faces have been selected there are two possibilities:
1 . All selected faces belong to the same layer. In that case the name of that layer is shown, even if it is not the active
layer.
2. The selected faces belong to different layers. No layer name is shown in the toolbar at all, it will be blank.
By selecting a layer from the list with layers while faces are selected, all the selected faces will be moved from their
current layer to the newly selected layer.
The layer dialog

Clicking the "Edit" button in the layer panel brings up the window where you can view and modify the layers. The
following layer properties can be modified:
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Layer properties window
Ø Description - The layer name displayed in the leftmost column is used to show which layer is active or selected.
DELFTship does not require the layer name to be unique, however it is recommended to keep names unique and
to not use spaces: some CAD programs (such as AutoCAD) do not allow spaces in the name of a layer or duplicate
names. Exporting to such a program can cause problems if layers with identical names are used.
Ø Visible - Set the corresponding layer visible or invisible: click on the check box to turn the layer on or off. Points
or edges from the control net belonging to invisible layers are also hidden, which makes manipulation of complex
models easier by showing only relevant elements. (the top ribbon has options to show all and invert selection for
visibility)
Ø Symmetric - The free version of DELFTship does only support asymmetrical layers that do not contribute the
hydrostatic calculations. The professional version allows for asymmetrical layers provided that those layers are
completely (physically) separated from any symmetrical layers in your model.
Ø Color - The layer color is used for drawing the model. It is also used in the lines plan and for plate developments.
The color of a layer can be modified by clicking the small button displayed in the color rectangle. A window is
opened in which a new color can be chosen.
Ø Transparency - Sometimes it is nice to shade certain surfaces such as windows (partially) transparent. The
amount of transparency can be modified by editing the value: the transparency can range from 0 (totally solid) to
255 (invisible). Note that transparent shading might consume a lot of memory and significantly slow down the
shading process. Since normal Z-buffer shading or plain alpha blending produces strange artifacts, the only way
to do this properly is by keeping track of all surfaces covering a particular pixel on the screen and then drawing all
these surfaces from the back to the front. This process uses extra memory and CPU time.
Ø Hydrostatics - DELFTship uses the faces of the subdivision mesh for hydrostatic calculations. It calculates the
volume enclosed by these faces. Sometimes the surface contains faces that should not be included in the
not
hydrostatic calculations. This is particularly the case if the faces of a layer do form an enclosed volume, but
only a bounded surface, such as a sail. If a sail were to be included in the calculations, DELFTship would calculate
the volume aft of the sail (if it is submerged) as a volume. Since this volume extends to infinity (there is no
backside surface present) it would produce an error. So specific layers can be excluded from the calculations. See
also paragraph for more information concerning leak points. Since asymmetrical layers are not allowed in
hydrostatic surfaces (unless completely separated from any symmetrical layer) the "Symmetrical" field will be
disabled when Hydrostatics is selected.
Ø Intersections - This property tells the program if a layer should be included when intersection curves are
calculated. For complex models it is often convenient to display stations, buttocks, waterlines and diagonals of the
hull only, and not for the deck, superstructure etc. This setting has no
influence on the hydrostatics.
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Ø Developable - Developable hulls are of particular interest to shipbuilders since they can be build from flat plates
which are only bend in one direction. Most hulls are not
developable since the surface is curved in two directions
(called compound curvature). Developable layers can be
shaded differently. Developable areas of these layers are
colored green while areas which are not developable are
colored red. This is a convenient way to visually check if a
hull is indeed developable. Illustration on the right shows
an example of a developable tug. It can immediately be
seen by the green color that almost the entire hull is
developable. Just a few very small spots in the topside
and a larger area in front at the bottom are colored red. Developable areas
Those very small spots are mostly numeric errors (DELFTship uses a very small tolerance). The larger red bottom
area however is not developable from a mathematical point of view. Developable hulls are often made of sheet
material (plywood, steel). In reality layers that are “almost” developable can perfectly be build using plywood,
whereas the same hull build of metal requires forming the metal to get it into shape. Developable layers can be
unfolded (or developed) by the program onto a flat plane for building purposes. This will be explained in the
'Tools' tab under 'project tools'.
Ø Loading conditions - If this option is enabled the layer will be drawn in the loading conditions extension and the
inclined hydrostatics extension. By excluding some layers you can have a better view on the model. This setting
will not affect hydrostatic calculations.
Ø Lines plan - Sometimes a layer contains items you don't want to be seen in the lines plan. Be aware though that
the scale of items in the lines plan is also determined by the intersection curves. If a layer would contain a sail, and
the intersection curves property is checked, intersection curves of this sail would still be calculated and seen in the
lines plan, even if the sail as a surface is not being drawn. Therefore it is recommended if you want to hide layers
from this view to also disable calculating intersection curves from those layers.
Ø Density - The relative density (compared to fresh water) of the material for a particular layer, for example . for
7 8
steel.
Ø Thickness - The thickness of the surface. This value is only used for weight calculations, so stations for example
are not corrected for the shell thickness of the hull. By combining the surface area, thickness and density the
approximate weight can be calculated. This weight is displayed in the design hydrostatics report together with the
center of gravity for each layer.
The up and down arrows in the ribbon can be used to move a selected layer up or down in the list. Developable layers
will appear in the same order in the window with developed panels as displayed in this list. The toolbar also contains a
number of buttons that can be used to quickly make all layers visible, or only the layers that are included in the
calculation of hydrostatics or to invert the visibility of all layers. The 'Properties' section shows surface, weight and
selected properties of the selected layer.
In the layer dialog you can use Ctrl-C to copy all the properties of the selected layer. By pressing Ctrl-V these properties
can be quickly copied to another layer.
3.4 Working with background images

Edit background images
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DELFTship has the ability to display raster images with your model. This functionality is particularly convenient if you
have a scan of an existing lines plan on paper and want to recreate the lines in DELFTship. You can load and manage
background images through the 'Edit Background images' command in the 'Markers menu' under the 'Tools'-tab.
In the example image below, three images have been imported to recreate a sloop from drawings:
Example of images as design support

Most of the modifications made to an image will be made visible (as a preview) in the hull modeling viewports.
This chapter starts detailing all the controls available in the background image window, followed by a description on
how to prepare and add a background image.
Commands in the Background images window
Import
Use this option to import a file containing one or more background images that was exported from another DELFTship
project. The file contains both the images and all settings applied to these images such as scale origin, transparency etc.
Export
If you want to backup your background image settings or use the current set of background images for an other project,
with this command you can export the images including settings as a .dbi file.
Open
A browser will pop-up to select an image (.jpg, .jpeg, .bmp or .png). After loading you can assign it to the correct view
(profile, plan, body) and edit other settings.
Print
A print dialog opens, allowing you to print the currently selected image
Image select
Use to select the image to display and edit. Click the lock to prevent moving and resizing of that background image in
your project. Click the light bulb to toggle visibility of the selected image.
Save to File
Exports the selected background image to a file.
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Name field
Enter the name of the selected background image. Default is the opened file name.
Type
Set to Hull, Wind silhouette, or both.
Hull type images are shown in the regular hull modeling interface, allowing for easier re-creation of a paper based
design.
A wind silhouette image will not be displayed in the normal hull modeling interface, but it will appear in the wind
silhouettes window.
If the type is set to both, the image will appear in both windows.
View
Select how this image should be displayed (according to the coordinate system page):
Profile - sets the image on the X-Z , or the center plane
Body plan - Sets the image on the Z-Y plane
plan - Sets the image on the X-Y, or the base plane
Delete
Remove the background image. This can also be done by selecting the image in a viewport and then press the Delete
key.
Same scale
Force the scale factors in both directions to the same value- useful if you have accidentally changed the aspect ratio
when scaling the background to your model.
Resample
Change the size of the image. You will be able to change the amount of pixels in height and width. Scaling will only be
done proportionally (maintaining aspect ratio) so if you change both, the value for the smallest overall scale will be
used.
Blend
The Blend control can be used to fade the image in the background by setting the image transparent (note: this is not
the same as the Transparency options discussed below). Valid values range from 0 (completely transparent) to 255
(completely opaque) and can be directly entered into the field, or modified using the arrow buttons. There are two sets
of buttons; one (the smaller, inner button) changes in single steps, the larger (outer) button changes in increments of 10.
Transparent
Click this button to 'remove' the background of the loaded image, essentially making it transparent. Normally the color
of the background to be made transparent is white, but other colors can be selected
Color
26
The Color control can be used to select the color to be made transparent. Alternatively, you can move the mouse over
the image, and when the mouse pointer changes to a color-pick pointer, you can select color from the image.
Tolerance
Setting the transparency of the background can have fuzzy results: there is not always a sharp border between
background and drawing color. Especially in compressed jpegs there some grading can occur (artifacts): what once was a
purely black-and-white image can contain many shades of almost black and almost white. To correct this fuzzyness you
can set the tolerance levels to a value between 1 and 255 where 1 is the most tolerant. Higher values will make more of
the background transparent, which sometimes cleans up finer details (text, thin lines). Too high a value may make the
entire image transparent. To assist in finding an optimum setting the images displayed in the hull module viewports and
the image in the active window are updated real-time, reflecting the current settings.
Color override
The Color override checkbox will set all remaining, non-transparent pixels to the same color- sometimes this will
enhance the image, but it can blur finer lines where fuzziness occurred.
Procedure of adding a background image
Preparing images
.jpg, .jpeg, .bmp files can be used as background images in DELFTship. Editing of images within DELFTship is limited to
position and proportional/non-proportional scaling so you will want to prepare the image with an image editor before
you load it into DELFTship. The most likely editing would probably be cutting out the piece of the image you want for a
certain view (body, plan, profile) and rotating it so that the waterline is 100% level. It is recommended to avoid graded
backgrounds if you want to use the automatic transparency option in DELFTship.
Positioning and setting scale
A loaded image is, essentially, a surface with texture
mapping. This means the image is selectable, can be
dragged to a different position and can be stretched in
the hull modeling window.
· Selecting - Selecting a background image can be
done by clicking somewhere on the background
image. If you have set a transparency background
(see under managing/editing images), selection can only be done when your mouse pointer is exactly on a visible
pixel of the image. You can see if the image is selected when you see the image has the standard color of a
selected entity in DELFTship and also 8 control points along the boundary edges are visible.
· Moving without scaling/stretching - Moving without scaling can easily done by putting your mouse pointer
on a pixel of the image or the center control point (not the boundary control points) and drag it to the position
you want.
· Setting the origin - With the above mentioned moving procedure the origin of the image can be positioned
exactly on the origin of the DELFTship model (0,0,0).
· Stretching and keeping the original proportion (S1) - When you drag one of the corner control points you
will stretch the background image while keeping the proportion.
· Stretching without keeping proportion (S2) - When you select and drag one of the boundary middle control
points you will stretch the image and you will lose the original proportion. (Restoring the aspect ratio can be
done with the 'same scale' button in the edit background images window.
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· Setting exact scale - In addition to the mentioned stretching options you can 'right click' on the image (after
selecting the image) at a position that the coordinates are known for and then you can enter those coordinates.
The image will be scaled accordingly with the origin (0,0,0) as base point. For example when the origin is situated
at the baseline/keel line at the aft perpendicular. In a profile view, when 'right clicking' your mouse pointer in the
image exactly on the intersection of a known waterline high above the baseline at a known frame position near
the forward perpendicular, you can enter the coordinates belonging to that waterline and frame. The background
image will be scaled accordingly.
· Modifying an existing image - After an image has been added to DELFTship, it can be modified in the exact
same way newly added images are: Simply click on the 'Edit background images' button and select the image you
want to modify in the 'images' drop down list.
3.5 Control curves and fairing

For increased control over the shape of the surface, control curves can be added to the model. These control curves are
assigned to edges, and after each subdivision step the new edge-points are not only inserted into the surface but also
into the curve. This ensures that the control curves are always exactly embedded in the surface. If the display of curvature
plots is enabled from the display menu, selected control curves will be drawn including their curvature plot. This
curvature plot is updated in real-time if one of the control points of the curve is moved making it an excellent fairing
tool. If the curvature plot is interpreted and used correctly it is possible to produce a perfectly fair surface provided the
surface contains no irregular points. Bumps or dents in the surface that are normally too small to be seen on screen with
the naked eye are easily identified. Control curves are especially useful for fairing knuckle lines on the hull such as the
deck line, profile, and chines but they can also be used for fairing internal edges.
What is curvature ? The curvature of a curve can be defined as follows:

the rate of change (at a point) of the angle between a curve and a tangent to
the curve
Curvature is a measure for how strongly a curve changes in a point. In shipbuilding it is important that fair lines are
produced where the curvature changes gradually along that curve.
The illustration on the right shows a control curve in the aft part of a
container ship. The left part of the image shows the control curve (in blue),
to the right it is selected (yellow) and its curvature plot is shown (fuchsia).
The straight parts of the curve have zero curvature. If you travel along the
curve from the bottom to the deck, first the curve starts bending to the left.
In this area the curvature is positive. At a height of about 2.5 meters the
curve starts bending to the right, here curvature becomes negative. A little
bit further along the curve it bends to the left again, so the curvature
becomes positive.
So how is this information translated into the curvature plot? At regular
Control curve with curvature plot
intervals on the curve the curvature is calculated and drawn as a line,
perpendicular to the curve. The length of this line segment is proportional to the curvature in that point. If the curvature
is negative the line is drawn on the opposite site of the curve. While the absolute value of the curvature in a point is
generally not relevant, the way it changes along the curve is: it is a measure of the fairness of the curve. Abrupt changes
in the curvature plot are, as a rule, not desired- it should vary as smoothly as possible. Especially with small boats and
yachts, a change of the sign of the curvature (as seen in the second image), is highly undesirable.
28
The next illustration to the right shows an example of a control curve from
a sailing yacht. The upper part of the image shows a poorly faired curve.
We see a change of the curvature sign in an area where it should not occur,
followed by a sudden peak. The lower half of the image shows the same
control curve after being faired using the automatic fairing tool for curves.
The curvature now changes gradually and the curve is very smooth.
For high accuracy, the scale of these curves can be changed- zooming in as
the fairing gets better. The curvature scale in use is shown in the status bar,
at the bottom of the screen. Controle curve of a sailing yacht
Control curve controls are available on the "Home" tab, in the "Hull display" section.
Remember that the curvature at the first and the last point of the curve is always zero.
The curve has unclamped end conditions that correspond with a natural wooden spline
batten that has no moment forced upon its ends. This can be seen by the way the
curvature plot coincides with the end points of the curve.
Control curves are easier to fair if the points are spaced more or less evenly along the
curve and are regular whenever possible. The fewer points a curve has, the easier it is to
produce a good running smooth curve.
3.6 File group

The quick access toolbar is the set of buttons to the left above the ribbon:
This group of buttons allows for creating, opening, saving, importing and exporting of projects, and to close
DELFTship. A list of recent files is available in the System tab
New
Opens the new project window to start with a blank project, or load a template.
Load
Opens your file browser to open an existing DELFTship project file (Ctrl+O)
Clicking the pull-down arrow next to the open button shows import options, and a list of recent projects.
Import
Import a file (different file type as DELFTship .fbm).
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Save
Save file without prompting for the file name (CTRL+S). Clicking the little drop-down arrow opens the File Export menu.
This menu has the following options:
Save As and Export
Save file with prompting for a file name (Shift+Ctrl+S)

Export
The Export option allows to export (parts of) your model to file. See the screen shot to the right for an overview of
available formats, or open the File Export page for more details.
3.6.1 New Project
Starting a new project

Because starting a new project can be challenging DELFTship offers some
default templates to start with. It is very uncommon to start with a
completely empty screen- it is much easier to start with a shape that
resembles the design idea and work towards the ultimate design plan.
With this in mind the New Project dialogue offers a number of templates
to choose from, as well as access to our hull forms database. Templates
can be customized to a great detail, database models can be scaled to a New project window
specific length, beam and draft.
The new project window
The "New Project" button in the Quick access toolbar or the System tab opens a window where details for the new
project can be configured.
Parent hull
The parent hull menu group offers a choice of template and public domain
designs. These can be used as a starting point for a new project. Standard available
are available are Yacht and Planing hull. Fishing vessel and Multi purpose are
available in the Pro version
The aft ship and fore ship fields are only available for the multi purpose hull Templates
template: These fields add variations to the hull form by allowing the combination
of several predefined fore and aft ship configurations. Available options are:
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Aft ship Fore ship
· G ondola · Conventional
· Pram · ertical stem

V
· Conventional stem with knuckle
· Slender bulb
· Full bulb
Control points
Control points play an important role in building the model- see more information on control points in the
paragraph on surface modeling (In this context control points are simply referred to as points)
Adding more points a finer mesh is created, which gives more control over the shape. This is at the expense of ease of
modification: more points implies more work when the shape is to be modified. For most cases it is recommended to
use the default setting, and use the subdivide control net function when a finer grid becomes necessary. Because the
subdivide function multiplies all points of the model, it can be advisable to insert more control points at this stage
when a significant difference in detail between fore and aft ship is expected.
Dimensions
Specify the main design dimensions (length, beam, draft). The Units field sets the units to be used for this project.
Please note that, while units can be converted at any time in the general tab of the project settings window, this is not
simply changing Meters to Feet (Metric to Imperial) but a conversion: the model will be scaled (e.g. when switching
from meters to feet all dimensions are divided by 0.3048).
Options
Specify whether DELFTship should add control curves, Stations, buttocks or waterlines to the new project.
Online model database

The DELFTship user community has
made a large number of models
available to the public. These models
can be used as a starting point for a
new project. When using a database model it can be
scaled to fit your design particulars (length, beam, draft)
but the number of control points can not be altered.
New project from database
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3.6.2 File import
Here you will find a number of file types that can be imported and the conditions if they apply.
Please note that the professional edition of DELFTship also supports IGES and AYacht files.
Chines
When importing a hard chined hull, ruled surfaces are fitted between two successive chines. The coordinates of each
chine are read from an input file with the extension .txt. The input file has the same format as described in the paragraph
about importing surface, except for the fact that the type of curves in the file is restricted to longitudinal curves only.
Once the data points of each chine have been read from the file curves will be fitted to those points in such a way that
the chines from the DELFTship hull match these curves. The number of control points is the same for each chine and can
be specified by the user. The original curves are also added to the model as markers as a reference. The file chines import
demo.txt contains a more elaborate demo. It can be found in the DELFTship\ships sub folder. The chines must be
ordered from the bottom up with coordinates going from aft to front.
At least three curves must be in the file, representing:
1 . The keel line
2. At least one chine
3. The deck- or sheer line.
Control curves are added to the crease edges corresponding to each chine to make it easier to fair the chines.
Surface
Use this feature to import 3D curves from a text file. DELFTship will fit a lofted surface through these curves. This is a
good way to import round bottomed hulls. The curves may have any number of points,
and the number of points might differ from curve to curve. Usually the curves run from
the bottom of the hull upwards, however longitudinal curves are allowed too, as long as
all the curves have the same orientation and run in the same direction. It is important that
the curves do not overlap each other.
After opening the data file you will be prompted to specify the number of points in
longitudinal direction (number of columns) and in vertical direction (number of rows)
the imported hull must have. Then a B-Spline surface is fitted through these points so Hull defined with transverse
that the new surface interpolates the original points. curves
The format used for the file is as follows:
· The file must start with a line containing only a 0 (zero) or a 1. A zero indicates units are in meters, a one in feet.
· Each curve is defined by a sequence of X,Y and Z coordinates separated by at least 1 space.
· After the last coordinate of each curve there should be an empty line.
· The last line in the file should be 'EOF' in capitals.
An extensive sample file can be found in the the DELFTship\ships sub folder and is named Round hull import demo.txt.
When importing such a text file DELFTship assumes the following:
· X-coordinates are longitudinal. Positive Y coordinates correspond with the port side of the ship. The base lies at
z=0.0 and the aft perpendicular at x=0.0 (see coordinate system).
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· All curves must be singular: 2 curves at the same location leads to errors. Whenever 2 curves exist at the same
location, for example if the hull is fitted with a bulbous bow, these curves must be combined into a single curve by
connecting the segments with a line lying on the center plane. These segments can later be removed.
Carlson .hul file

Import files created with Carlson Hulls shareware program (available from http://www.carlsondesign.com/hulls.zip). only
the hull geometry will be imported; information about the rig will be ignored. When importing a file, you may specify if
the intermediate bulkheads, as specified in Hulls, should also be imported. If not only 5 points on each subsequent chine
are imported. Although the actual points in DELFTship are located outside the hull, the points as read from the .hul file
will be exactly on the hull surface. This can easily be checked: the original chines from the file are imported and added to
the model as markers. Control curves are added to the crease edges corresponding to each chine, which should coincide
with the markers.
Carene XYZ file

This option can be used to import a text file generated by the Carene program (available from http://www.epoxy-
resins.co.uk/Carene2013/carene.htm) The text file contains the coordinates of the chines describing the hull. These chines
will be imported into DELFTship and a spline is fitted so that the chine in DELFTship lies exactly on that of Carene. The
original chine as defined in the XYZ file is added as a marker. This way the imported model can be checked visually.
Control curves will be added to the crease edges corresponding to each chine.
Part
This imports a previously saved “part” from a file with all related settings such as layer settings etc. For more info
regarding parts see this link.
FEF files
This is an older and deprecated exchange format.
VRML
Imports a mesh from VRML 1.0 files. For information regarding the VRML format please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRML. When a VRML file is imported only the boundary-edges are set as crease-edges. All
other crease-edges should be manually after import.
Note: The only information imported from a VRML file are indexed face sets.
PolyCad
Used to import .geo files generated with PolyCad by Marcus Bole. (Freeware from
http://www.polycad.co.uk/downloads.htm). Information currently imported from the file includes either generalized
Bspline surfaces or surfaces generated with the Shiplines or Yachtlines option. Contours are also imported.
Coordinates
Used to import a set of 3D coordinates from a text file. The program will add these as control points. Please note that
only points are added, no edges or faces are created in between these points.
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Marker curves
Import 2D or 3D marker curves which function as reference curves. For more information see the following section.
Table of offsets
The following is a description of the file format that is used for importing a table of offsets. The file should be an ASCII
text file with the extension .txt. The file content should adhere to the following standards:
· The first line contains the number of waterlines.
· The second line the number of stations
· The third line indicates whether data describing the deck line at each station is present (1) or not (0).
· The fourth line indicates whether data describing the contour line at each station is present (1) or not (0).
· The fifth line indicates whether data describing the aft contour at each waterline is present (1) or not (0).
· The sixth line indicates whether data describing the forward contour at each waterline is present (1) or not (0).
· The seventh line indicates whether data describing the flat of bottom at each station is present (1) or not (0).
· The next three lines describe the length, beam and draft of the ship as used in the project settings respectively.
Information stored in the file header
This line represents the heights of each of the 11 waterlines
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Distance of aft contour points to origin on each waterline
Distance of each of the 20 stations ordered from aft to front
Distance of forward contour points to origin on each waterline
Actual offsets data. The intersection of each column and row gives the beam
on that waterline and station. The bottom right value in the green rectangle
indicates that on station 11.400 and waterline 1.600 the beam is 0.178.
35
Data describing the deck line height (left column) and beam (right column)
measured on each station.
The last column represents the height of the contour line on each station.
Michlet waves
Michlet is an free CFD program (available from http://www.cyberiad.net/michlet.htm). The program can be used to
give an accurate prediction of frictional and residual resistance. It is based on Mitchell's theory and is best suited for
ships with a large length/beam ratio (7 or higher) and low block coefficient. However Leo Lazauskas, the author of
Michlet, reported that even ships with a L/B ratio of 5 and up may be used, although this reduces accuracy. Michlet
also predicts the wave elevations of the far field (the waves behind the vessel). For more information regarding the use
of Michlet and its input values the user is referred to to Michlet manual.
3.6.3 File Export
This chapter describes the file types DELFTship can export, and any conditions that may apply.
Please note that the professional edition of DELFTship supports additional formats: IGES curves, IGES surfaces,
Mastership DXF, FEF and CFD meshes.
Coordinates
This option saves the coordinates of all the control points from the model to a textile. This text file can be read directly
into for example Rhino. Note that only the control points are exported; other information like the actual surface
geometry is ignored.
Offsets
Calculates and saves offsets to a file as described in the paragraph about importing a table of offsets. This option is only
enabled if the model contains stations and waterlines.
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DXF Curves (2D)
The intersection curves (except diagonals) can be exported to a 2D DXF file. A dialog allows to specify the directory
where the files should be saved.
Archimedes
Exports stations in the model either to Archimedes single body (.app file) or to ArchimedesMB, which is the multi-body
version of Archimedes (.hll file). This option is only enabled if stations are added to the model.
GHS
Exports all available stations to a GHS file. GHS is a widely accepted format and can be imported by most hydrostatic
programs that perform calculations based on a body plan.
Octopus
Exports all stations for processing in Octopus (http://www.amarcon.com/octopus-tms.html). Octopus is a strip-theory
program which is used to calculate motions of vessels in waves.
Stations
Exports the coordinates from all calculated stations to a text file, including knuckle point information.
DXF 3D curves
All visible intersection curves such as stations, buttocks, waterlines, diagonals and crease edges are exported to an
AutoCad DXF file as 3D polylines. Control curves will also be exported. Only information visible in the view ports is
exported.
Part
It is possible to save a selection of the model as a part to a so called part file. You can do this by selecting the desired
faces manually, or by selecting layers in the layer selection dialog. Next to the geometry the corresponding layer
information will be saved. This way any re-usable component (e.g. a keel) can be saved to file and imported in another
design.
DXF mesh
The same algorithm as described in the paragraph about exporting IGES surfaces is used to assemble small polygonal
meshes into larger sets. These meshes are exported as DXF polymeshes. Single faces that cannot be converted to meshes
are exported as 3D faces. 3D faces are small three or four sided surfaces used in AutoCad. Only visible layers will be
exported. If the view port shows both halves of the ship, both are exported
Wavefront file (obj)

Visible parts of the surface are exported to an .obj file as specified at
http://www.fileformat.info/format/wavefrontobj/egff.htm.
Color information is not included.
37
STL
The STL format (stereo lithography) is mainly used for manufacturing purposes, but sometimes also for exchanging data
with other CAD programs. All visible parts of the surfaces are exported as a large collection of small triangles. DELFTship
exports both ASCII and binary STL files.
Michlet
Michlet is an free CFD program (available at http://www.cyberiad.net/michlet.htm) and can be used to get a more
accurate prediction of frictional and residual resistance. It is based on Mitchell's theory and is best suited for ships with a
large length/beam ratio (7 or higher) and low block coefficient. However Leo Lazauskas, the author of Michlet, reported
that even ships with a L/B ratio of 5 and up may be used, although this reduces accuracy. Michlet also predicts the wave
elevations of the far field (the waves behind the vessel). For more information regarding the use of Michlet and its input
values the user is referred to to Michlet manual.
There are currently 3 ways of exporting a hull to Michlet:
· Mono hull. This is the default option for sending mono hulls.
· Mono hull as catamaran. This option is intended for designing catamarans. The usual way to do this is first design the
hull as a mono hull, with it's center plane still on the XZ plane through the origin. You can send the hull to Michlet as a
multi hull with a specified distance between the two center planes of each individual hull. Michlet can be used to
optimize this distance by varying it as the interference of the two hulls shows up in the wave pattern (and in the
resistance curves).
· Catamaran. If you have a design consisting of two hulls, again the distance must be specified. however in this case it
must be the actual distance between the center planes of the hulls otherwise DELFTship cannot calculate correct
offsets of the hulls.
If you want to use Michlet it is important to realize that each individual hull in Michlet must be symmetrical with respect
to its own center plane. In other words, it cannot handle asymmetrical hulls.
Background images
Saves all background images, including scale settings etc. to a native DELFTship background image file for use in other
projects. See also 'working with background images'
3.7 Top menu ribbon and tabs

3.7.1 Home tab
Home Tab
Next to access to the project settings, this tab contains menus with editing and viewing commands. The ribbon is
subdivided in menu groups (Project, Edit, Layer, etc), which will be outlined in this chapter. Note that availability of
many functions is conditional on the current status of the viewport (which objects are selected) and the project (what
elements are present).
38
3.7.1.1 Project menu
Project settings
Modify the project settings and main particulars.
Precision
Use this drop-down to select the precision you want used for display (rendering) and calculations of your model. This
control has an impact on both accuracy and speed of operations. If a large and complex model becomes sluggish it can
be useful to set the precision to a lower setting, until a higher precision is required.
3.7.1.2 Edit menu
Undo
Undo previous editing actions. DELFTship stores all actions into memory. Please note that this information is not stored
on file: when DELFTship is shut down the undo data is permanently lost.
Redo
Redo a action that has been undone with the undo command.
Delete
Use this to delete items that have been selected. The program first deletes all selected faces, then the edges and finally
the selected points. Any unlocked points or edges that remain unused after this process are deleted also.
If a point is deleted all attached faces and edges are deleted too. If an edge is deleted,
any attached faces will also be deleted. For removing a point without deleting the
connected faces and edges, use 'point collapse' command. For removing an edge
without deleting the attached faces using the 'edge collapse' command.
Not only items from the surface geometry but also markers, control curves, flow lines
and tanks can be deleted this way.
3.7.1.3 Layer menu
Edit
Opens the layer window (Ctrl-L).
Add
Adds a new layer and names it "LayerX", where X is an increment. Note that this increment does not necessarily reflect
the currently available number of layers- it is the number of layers that has, at one point, been added to the project. This
is to prevent duplicate naming.
39
Group
Create new layers by extracting faces from the current layer. Specifically, this function extracts groups of faces which are
completely surrounded by crease edges. Each group of faces is subsequently assigned to a new layer. If no faces are
selected, every visible layer will be processed, otherwise only the selected faces. DELFTship tries to save as much of the
present layer information as possible. If a set of faces is extracted, and they already belong to the same layer then this
layer is left undisturbed. Auto grouping is only enabled if the display of interior edges is switched on.
Clean
Removes empty layers.
Active layer
You can modify which layer is active when no faces are selected by selecting another layer from this drop down list:
Changing this field with faces selected will add the selected faces to the selected layer. If a face is selected, this field will
show the layer it belongs to. Not that this is not the active layer: the currently active layer is shown in the status bar.
When faces from more than one layer are selected, this field will show "Multiple layers".
layer.
3.7.1.4 Point menu
Please note that all point operations depend on the control net: (see the Hull display menu)- if the control
net is hidden, there are not points or edges to operate on.
Add
Adds a new point located at the origin (0.0, 0.0, 0.0) which is automatically selected. The control point window for
that point will open automatically. Adding new points is only enabled if the control net is visible.
Plane (intersection)
This is a convenient way to insert a range of points at a certain ordinate location: the plane intersection intersects all
visible edges with a plane. It inserts control points on each intersecting edge and splits faces with multiple points by
inserting edges. There is also an option to add a control curve to the newly created edges.The type of plane (vertical,
horizontal or transverse) and the offset can be specified in the dialog.
Lock
All selected points will be locked. Locked points appear dark gray on your screen and cannot be modified. This
option is enabled if at least one unlocked point is selected.
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Align
If multiple points are selected, these can be aligned on a single straight line. This is done by projecting all the selected
points on the line that goes through the first and last selected point. They are projected on the line rather than
uniformly distributed to keep the displacement of the points minimal. Additionally you can choose to only modify
certain coordinates of the points. For example: when you have selected multiple control points forming the outer
edge of a transom you should only adjust the X-coordinate in order to put all the points in the same plane seen from
the profile view. The shape of the transom, as seen from the back, will remain unaltered.
Intersect (layers)
Use this option to find the intersecting curve of two layers. This option is disabled in the menu if the model has only
one layer. All the edges of the first layer are checked for an intersection with the faces of the second layer. If an
intersection exists, the intersection point is inserted on the edge. All inserted points are connected with new edges
which form the intersecting curve of the two layers. Note that only the first layer is affected by this operation, the
second layer is unmodified. Note that points are only inserted in edges, not in faces. Intersecting layers can be useful
to find the intersection of the hull with a keel or rudder.
Unlock points
Unlocks selected points if they are locked. This option is only enabled if at least one locked point has been selected
Collapse
Removes selected points without deleting the surrounding geometry. A
point can only be collapsed if it is attached to exactly two edges. The point
is removed, and the two edges are replaced by a single edge. If a point is
attached to more than 2 edges, the other edges need to be removed first,
possibly by collapsing these edges. Collapsing a point is illustrated in the
image on the right. Note that the point that is to be collapsed is irregular
since it has two faces and two edges connected to it. By collapsing the
point the number of points of the two attached faces is reduced to 4 and
the control net is made more regular, making it easier to produce a fair
hull surface.
Copy (coordinates)
If multiple control points have been selected you can copy selected values Removing a point with 'collapse'
from the first selected point to all the other points. This way you can
quickly assign all selected points the same X, Y or Z coordinate.
Unlock all
All locked points in the model will be unlocked, selecting them is not necessary.
Extract (points from marker)

When a marker curve has been imported, this function will extract all points from the currently selected markers and
add those as control points to the subdivision surface. Please note that these control points can not be connected
automatically to edges or faces.
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3.7.1.5 Edge menu
Extrude edge
The most common (and preferred) way to create new surfaces is by extruding edges. Selected edges are copied in
the specified extrusion direction and new faces are created between each old and new edge. Since an edge has a
maximum of two faces attached, only boundary edges are allowed to be extruded. (Boundary edges are defined by
hydrostatic enabled layers - if an edge is bounded by a face in layer that has hydrostatics disabled in the layer settings,
the edge will be treated as boundary. Please be aware that enabling hydrostatics again for the bounding layer will result
in errors in your model). The new faces are assigned to the active layer.
An edge can also be extruded using the mouse: Select the edge(s) and hold down the SHIFT key- then drag the edge in
the direction it should be extruded. When releasing the mouse button, a dialog will allow you to fine tune the direction
and offset of the extrusion
The illustration to the right shows how a deck is added by extruding the sheer-line.
The three stages of the process are:
1 . Select the boundary edges that you want to extrude. Then choose the edit
=> edge => extrude option from the main menu. A window will appear
requesting direction of the extrusion. In the example the extrusion direction
is (0.0, -2.25, 0.02) meaning that a copy of all selected edges will be created
and moved 0.0 units in longitudinal direction, -2.25 units in the transverse
direction and 0.02 units upwards.
2. The extrusion command creates new faces between each original edge and
its copy. These new faces will be assigned to the active layer.
3. After moving the newly created edges to the center line (optionally, use the
align function)- the deck is finished.
Extrude curved
Sometimes it is required to create a deck with a deck-camber. This can be done by using the 'extrude curved'.
Select the sheer line and then click Extrude curved. You will be asked to enter a number of faces and a percentage. The
amount of faces is used to create the deck and will define the curvature (1 face will result in a flat deck resulting in a
knuckle at the center line, a number higher than 1 will create curvature). The percentage is the height of the deck related
to the beam of the ship.
Edge split
Selected edges are split by inserting a new point in the middle. After the
operation all newly created points are selected. This is a convenient way to insert
new edges. Multiple edges can be selected and split. All selected points belonging
to the same face may then be split by inserting a new edge. The image to the right
shows two selected edges before and after the split. Note that this way a face
consisting of 6 points is created, resulting in an irregular mesh. The two selected
points should be connected, splitting the face in two regular faces. This ensures a
more regular grid and a smoother surface. Splitting an edge in curved surface may
flatten the surface in that area. If you don't want the curvature to change, consider
using the advanced edge split command.
Please note that this example leaves us with two irregular faces: those bordering the Inserting points on an edge
split face to the aft and front: those faces now have 5 points, which to difficulties.
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Edge split advanced
Advanced differs from the regular edge split in that it tries to maintain the current shape and curvature by
modifying the coordinates of the adjacent points.
Edge collapse
Collapsing an edge removes the edge and combines the two attached faces into a single face. Since edge
collapsing requires two faces it can only be applied to internal edges. Using the 'edge collapse' command can locally
change the shape of your surface.
It can be necessary to collapse all edges of a certain type- when all visible edges are selected, the collapse edge function
will ask for a selection ('Crease only', 'Regular only' or 'All edges')
Edge remove
This command is similar to the edge collapse command above, except after collapsing the edge, it alters the
coordinates of adjacent control points in order to minimize shape changes of the surface..
New edge
A face can be divided into two new faces by inserting an edge. To do this at
least two points have to be selected. Both points must share the same face, and no
edge is allowed to already exist between the selected points. To ensure a fair surface
it is recommended to extend inserted edges as those seen on illustration 'inserting
an edge' to a crease or boundary edge if possible.
Set crease
Setting selected edges as crease-edges allows you to add knuckle lines to the
hull. The crease property of boundary edges cannot be changed, since they are
natural crease edges. The illustration below shows how a hard chine is created. To
the left the model without the hard chine is visible. To the right the yacht with the
new knuckle line is displayed. Below is a second image showing the lines plan of the Inserting an edge
yacht after the crease edges have been set. In this specific example the knuckle line
runs over the full length of the hull but this is not necessary: knuckle lines may run freely over the surface.
Creating knuckle lines / crease edges
43
Lines plan of a hull with crease edges set
3.7.1.6 Curve menu

About Curves
Control curves are a tool for fairing- for more information on control curves see the paragraph on control curves and
fairing.
Add
First select a number of connected edges. (Automatically select an entire connected edge by holding down the
control key when clicking on an edge) Then click the add button to create and assign a control curve to these edges.
Only one curve can be assigned to each edge. If the new curve is not shown on the screen, make sure that control curves
are made visible in your display settings.
Convert (to marker)

This option is only enabled if at least one control curve is selected. It converts the control curves into a marker
curve for future reference or export. See also the paragraph about markers for more information on this subject.
3.7.1.7 Face menu

As described in the paragraph Background to surface modeling, faces are the surfaces that close the space between
edges- they are the ultimately visible part of your model when shaded.
Add
Creates a new face between selected points. These points have to be selected in the correct order (normally
clockwise or counter clockwise) to create a regular face.
44
Flip normal
This option can be used to manually flip the
direction of normals of selected faces to the other side in
case the automatic surface check has failed. All surface
normals should point outwards, in the direction of the
water. The normals of a face can be visualized by selecting
the specific face, provided that you have selected the wire
Manually inverting the direction of face normals
frame (no rendering) from the Shade menu and the mesh
is made visible in the hull display settings. Each displayed normal is calculated as the average normal in a point of the
refined subdivision mesh. This average is calculated from all faces surrounding that point. Along the boundary of an
edge sharing two faces with opposite normal directions, this may seem a bit peculiar as can be seen on the left side of
the illustration. The normals along these boundaries look as if they are projected on the surface. The right side of the
illustration shows the normals after the face has been inverted and the normals face the right direction.
Extrude
Extrude a face: move the face in a given (orthogonal) direction while leaving it connected to its neighboring
faces
Faces can also be extruded using the mouse: Select the face and hold down the SHIFT key- then drag in the direction it
should be extruded. While dragging the outline of the face will be shown. This may differ from the size and shape of the
selected face depending on the control net.
When releasing the mouse button, a dialog will allow you to fine tune the direction and offset of the extrusion. After
extrusion, all bordering edges will be made crease-edges.
Close
Fill a selected and closed loop of edges with new faces
3.7.1.8 Hull display menu

The hull display menu has controls that allow you to switch specific rendering elements and tools on or off. Most of this
is functional: without the control net enabled points can not be manipulated, without the surface mesh normals will not
show.
Control net
Show or hide the control net.
The control net is the combination of all points and edges that form the initial
subdivision mesh. These are the entities that can be manipulated by the user to
shape the surface. Elements from disabled layers will not appear. That way the
interface can be kept clean by showing only the points or edges of interest.
Both sides
Control net
Displays both sides of the symmetrical model.
Since most surfaces will be symmetrical with respect to the center plane, only the port side of the hull is modeled. This
symmetry not only applie to the surface but also to the intersection curves, flow-lines, control curves etc. Symmetrical
elements are mirrored by the software to reduce the modeling time. With less information on the screen it is easier to
select a point, edge or face. Enable the 'Both sides' option to display the entire model.
45
Mesh (Interior edges)
Show or hide interior edges.
The interior edges are the edges of the subdivided surface. With higher precision
settings, more edges are shown. Interior edges are drawn in the color of the layer
they are assigned to. You can select a face by clicking on one of the interior
edges of that face. Since the mesh is the surface, it can not be shown in a shaded
view- it will only show on a wire frame.
Stations Interior edges

Use this button to toggle the display of stations. If no stations have been
added to the model the option is disabled in the menus. Stations can be added to the model from the Intersections
dialogue.
Buttocks
Use this button to toggle the display of buttocks. If no buttocks have been added to the model the option is
disabled in the menus. Buttocks can be added to the model from the Intersections dialogue.
Waterlines
Use this button to toggle the display of waterlines. If no waterlines have been added to the model the option is
disabled in the menus. Waterlines can be added to the model from the Intersections dialogue.
Diagonals
Use this button to toggle the display of diagonals. If no diagonals have been added to the model the option is
disabled in the menus. Diagonals can be added to the model from the Intersections dialogue.
Control curves
Show or hide control curves.
Control curves are curves that are assigned to edges of the control net and are used to fair the surface. The visibility of
these control curves does not depend on the visibility of the control net. In fact, selecting and manipulating control
curves is often easier if the control net is not visible. Points and edges assigned to a control curve become visible when a
control curve is selected, all other points will remain hidden.
Curvature
This option enables or disables the visibility of the curvature plot of control curves and certain intersection curves.
To include an intersection curve in this plot, make sure it is checked in the intersection dialog.
Increase scale
Increase the scale of the curvature plots (F10). The current curvature scale value is shown on the status bar, at the
bottom of your screen.
Decrease scale
Decrease the scale of the curvature plots (F9). The current curvature scale value is shown on the status bar, at the
bottom of your screen.
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Real-time hydrostatics
DELFTship provides the option to plot some key hydrostatic values in the
wire-frame of your model for the design draft.
These are:
· Displacement and center of buoyancy
Hydrostatic features
· Center of flotation
· Lateral area and center of effort
· Transverse metacentric height
· Curve of sectional areas. Contrary to the other values this curve is only plotted in the left, right or perspective view of
the hull.
These values can only be displayed if the model is sufficiently consistent to calculate the hydrostatics: if the model
contains leak points below the water plane no values will be calculated or displayed. The values are updated in real-time
when the model is being modified. You can specify which data should be shown in the project settings window.
Show grid
If intersection curves are added to the model it is possible to display a
grid marking the location of these intersection curves. It is visible in wire-frame
and shaded mode. Next to each line its distance to the origin is printed, and the Grid of stations, buttocks and waterlines
baseline, center line and design waterline are also indicated. The grid is visible in
all views except for the perspective view. This grid is displayed regardless of the display settings of the intersection
curves. The same grid is also visible in the lines plan.
Leak points
The Leak points function will hide all regular control points, showing only points that are considered “leak” by the
program. This enables easier identification of points restraining the hydrostatic calculations. For more information about
leak points, see check model.
Display flow lines

Show of hide flow lines. The flow lines displayed by DELFTship are calculated through analysis of the surface
geometry only and have nothing to do with CFD. This is a huge simplification since hull speed, pressure and waves are
excluded from the calculation. Despite this simplification the flow lines show a remarkable resemblance with those
calculated with CFD programs but keep in mind that the only purpose of this function is to give the designer an
impression of how the water will approximately flow. Real CFD calculations will be much more accurate and reliable.
To add a flow lines keep the alt-button pressed and click on a point below the
waterline (profile, plan or body plan view only). This point is used as the origin of the
flow-line. From there the flow is traced as far as possible to the stern until it crosses the
design waterline.
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Flow lines are only traced along surfaces that belong to a layer that is used for
hydrostatic calculations - generally the shell of the hull. (enable hydrostatics in
layer settings). The image above shows some flow lines at the bow of a hull with a
bulb fitted. The background image shows the results obtained from a CFD
calculation. The small black lines represent the direction of the flow as calculated
with CFD, the blue curves are the flow lines calculated by DELFTship. Flow lines can Flow lines
be selected and deleted like any other geometry.
Surface areas where flow-lines are converging are high pressure areas, where they
diverge are low-pressure areas.
Normals
If this option is switched on, normals of faces that have been selected are displayed. These normals are drawn as
thin white lines, pointing either inward or outward from the hull. This display option is disabled if the display of interior
edges is toggled 'off', and only works if the wire-frame is displayed. A normal is drawn at each interior point of the
subdivision surface so with a higher precision more surface normals are drawn.
Display markers
Markers are curves that are added to the model as a reference. For example the body plan of an existing design
could be imported as markers. Stations could then be added to the DELFTship model at the same location as the
markers. Points can be dragged until the stations and the markers are exactly on top of each other. In that case the
DELFTship hull matches the hull from the existing design. For more information about markers please see the 'Tools tab'/
'Markers' menu.
Marker points
Sometimes markers contain so many points that displaying these points obscures the marker or even the model.
Sometimes the shape of the markers is interesting, not the points used to model the markers. In those cases the marker
points can be hidden. Note that this option is only enabled in the menus if the display of markers is set to true.
3.7.1.9 Tank display menu
Display tanks
Enables/disables the drawing of tanks. If the model contains tanks and a number of modifications to the hull have to be
performed it is better to turn off the displaying of tanks: all tanks are rebuilt after each hull modification which can be
time consuming.
Transparent shading
Switch between solid or transparent shading of tanks.
Show sounding pipes

Display sounding pipes of tanks (only enabled if the model contains tanks and the display of tanks is enabled / tanks are
visible).
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Tank labels
Display the names of tanks in the model.
3.7.1.10 Window menu
New window
Open a new window- the view point can be chosen with the view button group (front/aft, left/right, top/bottom and
Perspective)
Tile
Tile all open windows horizontally or vertically, depending on the number of open windows. Use this function to
restore the viewports if resizing or moving to another monitor confused the viewport sizes
Cascade
Cascade all open windows
3.7.2 Tools tab
Tools tab
The tools tab gives access to a variety of modeling tools.
3.7.2.1 Layers
Edit
Opens the layer window (Ctrl-L).
Add
Adds a new layer and names it "LayerX", where X is an increment. Note that this increment does not necessarily reflect
the currently available number of layers- it is the number of layers that has, at one point, been added to the project. This
is to prevent duplicate naming.
Group
Create new layers by extracting faces from the current layer. Specifically, this function extracts groups of faces which are
completely surrounded by crease edges. Each group of faces is subsequently assigned to a new layer. If no faces are
selected, every visible layer will be processed, otherwise only the selected faces. DELFTship tries to save as much of the
present layer information as possible. If a set of faces is extracted, and they already belong to the same layer then this
layer is left undisturbed. Auto grouping is only enabled if the display of interior edges is switched on.
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Clean
Removes empty layers.
Active layer
You can modify which layer is active when no faces are selected by selecting another layer from this drop down list:
Changing this field with faces selected will add the selected faces to the selected layer. If a face is selected, this field will
show the layer it belongs to. Not that this is not the active layer: the currently active layer is shown in the status bar.
When faces from more than one layer are selected, this field will show "Multiple layers".
layer.
3.7.2.2 Project tools menu

Check model
DELFTship can check the model for inconsistencies and it will correct most of them automatically. This check is also
automatically silently performed each time hydrostatics are calculated, unless automatic checking is disabled in the
project settings.
First the entire surface is checked for disjoint segments. Then each segment is checked for a consistent direction of the
face normals. If inconsistencies are found, those faces will be adjusted. Next the lowest point of each isolated surface
segment is identified. For conventional ships this usually is the bottom. If this is indeed a point on the bottom then the
average normal of this point should point down in order to face the water. Under this assumption all faces are modified
so that the direction of their normal corresponds to the direction of the normal of this particular point. In some rare
cases this might cause the normals to point in the wrong direction. In that case it is recommended to manually flip the
normals to the correct side (see 'Face menu' under the 'Home tab') and to disable automatic checking of the surface. This
test also identifies edges with more than two faces attached. Lastly a list of leak points is provided; a point is considered
“leak” if the following 2 criteria are met:
· The point is not located on the center plane, meaning that the y-coordinate of the point >0.0001.
· The point is situated on a boundary edge (An edge with only 1 face attached to it). Faces that belong to a layer
that is not included in the hydrostatic calculations are not taken into account in this test., see also the note below.
For hydrostatic calculations, an edge is a boundary edge if one of the connected faces
is excluded from hydrostatic calculations. This could be the case for a ship with a closed
deck, where the deck is not included in the hydrostatics calculations. In that case
DELFTship keeps calculating until the deck line is submerged. Windows and other none
watertight surfaces could be treated similarly.
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It is important to realize that leak points are not necessarily leak in the sense that they
will always make water. A leak point in DELFTship is a point that is potentially leak and
only becomes actually leak if submerged. So the presence of leak points does not
always have to pose a problem, as long as they are not submerged.
If more then 10 leak points are found, only the first 10 are displayed. The points are shown sorted in ascending height
above the base plane. Leak points will be rendered a bright green in the view ports, but this color can be configured in
the preferences - hullform menu.
Finally a dialog containing the corrected items and possibly remaining errors is opened.
Intersections
Opens the intersection curves window
Lines plan
Opens the lines plan window.
Unfold / Plate developments

Opens the Unfold window
Keel and rudder wizard

The keel and rudder wizard helps to quickly define a keel or rudder with a
predefined planform. You can select the desired wing section from a list of standard
NACA sections. The keel or rudder is show in 3D along with it basic properties such
as aspect ratio, volume, center of buoyancy etc. The lift/drag tab shows an estimate
for the lift and drag curves. Once the keel or rudder is complete it can be exported in
two ways send or save. Using the “send” button it is inserted at the current
DELFTship model at the origin, using the “save as part” button saves it to a file as a
DELFTship part. Parts can be imported in other designs.
Keel and rudder wizard
CFD Meshes
Opens the CFD meshes window
3.7.2.2.1 Intersections
In the intersection window stations, buttocks, waterlines and diagonals can be added
to the model. Intersection curves are calculated from the surface model, so only their
location needs to be specified. Diagonals by default are created using an angle of 45
degrees to the center plane but this angle can be adjusted in the intersections
window.
When the model is modified the intersection curves are recalculated and updated.
The select buttons in the intersections window switch between the different types of
intersections. You can an intersection by selecting the Add button in the select menu.
A window is displayed asking for the location of the intersection. It is also possible to
Intersections window
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add a range of intersections by pressing the range option. In that case the location
of the first and last intersection are requested as well as the spacing between the
successive intersection curves. If an intersection with a surface has been found it will be added to the model. The
intersection curves appear in ascending order of location starting in the origin.
To delete a single intersection, select it and press the delete key on your keyboard.
All intersections in a group (e.g. buttocks) can be deleted by selecting that group and pressing the delete all button on
the toolbar.
The Markers button converts all the intersections from the current group into markers.
the Accept button submits the changes and closes the window. To drop changes, click the cancel button: this will ignore
the changes made and return to DELFTship.
The check box displayed to the right of each intersection indicates if the curvature
plot of that specific intersection curve must be plotted (for more information about
curvature plotting, see paragraph about 'control curves' in the 'curve menu'). Due to
the limited size of computer screens it is almost impossible to determine if a curve is
perfectly fair. To overcome this a curvature plot can be drawn. A curvature plot is
created by calculating and plotting the curvature in many points along the curve
(the pink line). Since the curvature can be both positive and negative, the plot can
be drawn on both sides of the curve (see illustration on the right). Where the plot
coincides with the curve the curvature is zero. In contrast, at knuckle points the
curvature is infinitely high. The higher the absolute value of the curvature, the Curvature plot of a buttock
further away from the curve the curvature plot is drawn. Smooth curves are
characterized by curvature plots with no unexpected humps or hollows. The scale of the curvature plot can be decreased
by pressing the F9 key and increased by pressing the F10 key. Make sure that the curvature plot is switched on in the hull
display settings.
3.7.2.2.2 Linesplan
DELFTship can create and display the complete formatted lines plan of the ship. The Lines plan button gives access to the
lines plan dialog, where the lines plan can be configured in detail:
File menu
Plot
Prints the lines plan to scale to a printer or a plotter.
Save to DXF
Save the lines plan as a DXF file. (to save as an image, see the Viewport menu)
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Layout
The Layout menu contains a control with a choice of views or layouts of the plan. Scroll the small
window, or click the arrow to open a larger select window, showing the options side by side.
Layer Settings
The layer settings button provides access to the layer settings window, where you can set layer properties such as
visibility and color.
Black and white

The lines plan can also be drawn in black & white by clicking on the appropriate button in the toolbar. Using fill colors
and lighting options is not possible in black & white mode.
Color fill
Fill the image with the colors as defined in the layer window (and the preferences for submerged surfaces color) Use
the Lights option to show curvature.
Lights
Use lighting effects to show curvatures by adding shading and highlights.
Lines plan, no fill Linesplan, fill and lights
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Display
Mirror plan view

Add the normally hidden symmetrical half. This option is only enabled if diagonals are not drawn to the linesplan.
Stations
Show or hide stations
Buttocks
Show or hide buttocks
Waterlines
Show or hide the water lines
Diagonals
Show or hide diagonals
Only if the model contains no diagonals, the plan view might optionally be mirrored so that both sides are visible.
3D View
Show (or hide) a 3D rendering of the hull in the center of the lines plan.
3.7.2.2.3 Unfold / Plate development
All layers that are marked as developable in the layer properties window can be unfolded
into flat plates (a process also called developing or flattening). If the model contains no
developable layers then this feature will be disabled in the menus.
Because it is not always clear which surfaces may be developable, DELFTship assists with
the Developable option in the shading menu. Green areas are considered developable, Developable shading
red areas less so. The extent to which surfaces are developbable depends greatly on the
materials used- or more precisely, on the elasticity of the materials used. For this reason the developability is only an
indication. Please not that although the 'developable' shading gives an indication to the developability of a surface,
setting the developability option in the containing layers is a manual action.
Note that the algorithm used for unfolding is only valid for truly developable surfaces. A surface is considered
developable if it is curved in at most one direction. Surfaces with compound curvature will also be flattened, but the
resulting surface will not be correct because stretching or compression of some areas of the surface is required to obtain
the correct shape. Take, for example, a sphere: its surface cannot be flattened without stretching or compressing certain
areas, unless cuts are made in the surface: a sphere is not a developable surface.
During the unfolding process the program will flatten all selected layers for both sides of the ship and a window is
opened showing the resulting plate developments. It is best to assign each strake, or part of the hull, to a different layer.
If a layer consists of multiple isolated parts, each part will again have its own unfolding:
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Developable surface plates surface stress view
The unfold window
There are many possible lay out variations- the Unfold window allows you to tweak display variables as well as export,
save or print the results.
The unfolded panels can be moved by dragging them with the mouse.
Buttons on the toolbar at the top of the window can be used to rotate the
currently selected plate. . Zooming and panning is done exactly as in the
normal DELFTship interface.
Plot
Prints the plate developments to scale to a printer or a plotter.
Save to DXF -
Save the plate developments as a DXF file. (to save as an image, see the
Viewport menu)
the unfold window
Save to text
Save to a text file
Rotate
Rotate the selected part in the indicated direction to better fit a plate layout
Several display options are available to fine tune the result:
Solid
Fill the parts with the assigned layer color
Show Submerged Area

Renders the submerged area with the color specified in the preferences.
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Interior edges
Displays the interior edges- only available when Show stress is disabled.
Show stress
Display the calculated stresses in the surface due to curvature: Once the plates have been unfolded to 2D, DELFTship
compares the length of the unfolded interior edges to the length of these edges in 3D. If this length is smaller then the
edges are compressed (drawn in blue). If the unfolded edges are longer then these edges are stretched (drawn in red).
Show Dimensions
Show or hide the part dimensions
Part name
Label the parts with the layer names.
Intersections
Visibility of stations, buttocks, water lines and diagonals can be toggled on or off for display on the flattened surfaces.
Grid spacing
There are also two input fields to adapt the X and Y grid spacing. The grid can be turned on and off from the toolbar
using the Show Dimensions button. Each intersection of a grid line and an unfolded panel has a number displayed next
to it indicating the coordinate of that intersection.
If two panels border the center plane of the hull, are completely flat and belong to the same layer (such as for example a
flat transom or bottom) then these 2 panels will be merged into one larger panel.
In the layers menu in the right bottom pane, the visibility of layers can be toggled on or off. Select the layer either by
clicking on the name, or by clicking on the part in the main view: the corresponding layer will be highlighted.
Judging correctness of the unfolded surfaces

Stress and distortion
In the Properties box in the right hand pane, come crucial information about the development
of the selected plate is shown (Select a plate by clicking on it). The calculated values include
maximum values for edge and face stress, and difference in area (that is, the difference in
surface area between the 3D shape and the flattened one). These values are color coded to
indicate suitability of plate development for the selected surface. Please note that this
indication does not consider the chosen construction materials. Properties of plates
Also shown are the dimensions of the plate and the rotation currently applied to the plate.
G enerally, surfaces that are truly developable have zero Gaussian curvature, meaning that unfolded the edge and face
stresses will also be zero. Surfaces that are not exactly developable can in most cases still be unfolded but might have
significant edge or face stress since the surface was curved in two directions. It is very important to check these stress
values if you actually want to use the unfolded plates for construction purposes!
The free version of DELFTship does not support printing or exporting the unfolded
plates.
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3.7.2.3 Modeling tools menu
Offset surface
The offset function creates new surfaces from existing ones. It will ask which layer to offset and an offset distance, and
then creates a new surface from all surfaces in the selected layer by offsetting the specified amount perpendicular to the
existing surfaces, in the direction of the normals. If the amount is negative, the offset direction is opposite the normals.
Beware that prior to offsetting the surfaces, the model is checked, and normals are repaired. This option can be disabled
in hydrostatics tab of project settings.
Subdivide control net

If a model needs more control points, for instance for more detailed
modeling, the control net can be sub divided (quadrupling the number of
surfaces). Please note that this is a global action, increasing the number of
points in the entire model. This option can be particularly useful in
combination with the automatic fairing function.
Move to base
Controlnet before and after subdividing
In DELFTship the draft is always measured from the baseline. If the lower
point of the hull does not coincide with Z=0.0, this command simply moves the model to the correct vertical position. In
order to do this, the lowest point of all layers included in hydrostatics is calculated and the model is moved vertically so
that this lowest point will be on the baseline. Note that surfaces not included in the hydrostatic calculation can still be
located below the baseline.
Remove SB side
Sometimes after importing a hull the geometry, both sides of the ship are present while DELFTship only needs the port
side. This option removes all faces from the model that are completely on the starboard side.
Unused points
Remove all points from the model that have no edge or faces connected to it.
Disable crease edges

Disables all crease edges in the visible layer. This function needs the control net to be visible.
3.7.2.4 Transform menu

The operations move, rotate and scale work on an actual selection of points. If nothing is selected, a window is presented
in which entire layers can be selected. If the checkbox at the bottom of this dialog is checked (“include points that are
shared with unselected layers”) then a point is selected automatically if at least one attached face belongs to a selected
layer. If the checkbox is not checked, then a point is selected only if all the faces around it belong to selected layer(s). If
all the points of the model are selected (all layers), then not only is the hull scaled, but all other information such as main
particulars, intersection curves, tanks and critical points too. More about selecting object can be found in the selecting
objects paragraph. Unlike moving control points with the mouse, this option can move a selection of objects.
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If the entire project geometry (all points, all layers) is selected when transforming, a dialog will ask to select project
related items to be scaled as well. Which items appear in the list depends partly on installed extensions (such as Tanks,
Critical points) but at the very least includes background images, markers and project dimensions.
Move
Moves (part of) the model. Works on the selection as described above.
Rotate
Rotates (part of) the model. Works on the selection as described above.
Scale
Scales (part of) the model. Works on the selection as described above.
Mirror
Unlike the previous transformation commands, mirroring is based on selected faces only- not
points. Selection works the same as before: either manually select faces, or if no faces were
selected, the layer select dialog is shown. The mirror plane can be either transverse (YZ plane),
horizontal (XY plane) or vertical (XZ plane). The distance of the mirror plane to the origin can
be specified in the distance field. Tick the checkbox at the bottom to connect the mirrored
points to the original points lying on the mirror plane.
Lackenby
Mirror faces
DELFTship has the ability to automatically adjust some hull form parameters in order to obtain desired characteristics.
You can use two different types of transformation:
· Displacement - The hull form transformation method developed by Lackenby is used to transform the hull to
match a desired displacement or longitudinal center of buoyancy while maintaining fairness of your design. This is
done by shifting control points in the longitudinal direction. The overall length of the design will be different after
the transformation.
· Midship coefficient transformation adjusts the shape of the hull so that a specified midship coefficient is met.
Note that after this transformation the displacement is also altered. If both the midship coefficient and the
displacement need to be modified it is advised to adjust the midship first before transforming the hull to the
desired displacement or center of buoyancy. The midship coefficient transformation may result in a distorted deck
line.
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This method opens a window where transformation details can be specified (see the Transformation details window).
The first row of controls allow to select the desired method (displacement or
midship), and the maximum amount of iterations allowed. If the desired
specifications are not attained within this number of iteration, an error
message is displayed. Some cases warrant a higher iteration setting: when a
design has a high prismatic coefficient in the aft ship, such as planing motor
craft, or when the midship location is far from the usual place at 0.5*Length,
the default 15 iterations may not be enough.
The checkbox to redraw after each iteration can be un-checked if iterations
are getting too slow. When the box is unchecked only the final result (if Transformation details window
attained) is shown, both in the preview window and in the DELFTship viewports.
The transform button will execute the transformation. If the results are OK, they can be accepted into the model by
clicking Accept. Cancel will discard all changes and close the window.
The input fields to the left are divided in 3 columns. The left column shows the current values as calculated from the
model. The middle column allows to set the desired values. Depending on which transformation method is selected
some input fields can be disabled. The right column shows the difference between the current and desired values. The
left and right column are updated after each iteration so the progress can be monitored.
Below these calculated prismatic coefficients and maximum displacements are shown.
Finally all layers of the model are shown. The transformation is only applied to selected (checked) layers. As the
transformation consists of shifting control points longitudinally, the locations of for example a keel, centerboard or
cabin are also likely to change. By excluding layers from the transformation they remain unchanged, potentially leading
to a distorted or unfair model.
Hull display, before and after: the main viewport of the transformation window shows the body plan of the original hull
displayed in black. If the transformation was successful then the transformed body plan is displayed in red lines on top
of the original body plan to visualize the difference between the original and transformed hull.
Below the hull the original sectional area curve and design waterline are displayed in black, the new sectional area curve
and design waterline are displayed in red. The dark gray dashed line is the location of the midship section as defined by
the user in the project settings. It is important to know that in contrast to the hydrostatics calculated elsewhere in the
program here it is calculated using ordinates, and not surface panels. This can cause a slight difference between the
displacement shown here and calculated elsewhere. A total of 82 ordinates is used to calculate the sectional area curve
and hydrostatics, 41 for the aft ship and 41 for the fore ship.
3.7.2.5 Markers menu

Markers are points that can be added to the model as a reference: the offsets of another design can be imported as
markers to serve as a blueprint for a new model. After importing marker points intersection curves can be specified in
DELFTship at the same location as the offset data. If the intersection curves coincide with the markers both models are
exactly the same. Another use for markers is to visually check the differences between two versions of a design. If you
convert all stations to markers before modifying the model then the difference between the markers and updated
stations will reflect the modifications made to the design.
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Import markers
DELFTship can read the following file formats and convert the data into markers:
· Autocad DXF files (*.dxf). All types of lines and curves are imported as markers.
· IGES files (*.igs, *.iges). The following entities are imported as markers:
ü NURB curves (entity 1 26)

· DELFTship marker files (*.mrk). This native file format is supplied to exchange markers
between different (versions of) designs.
· Text files (*.txt). If you need a different way to import markers you can specify the
data yourself in a text file. The file should meet the following format:
ü The first line of the file must either be a
(zero) or a 1. A zero indicates that all
0
coordinates are in meters while a one indicates that the coordinates are in feet.
ü Each curve is defined by a sequence of X,Y and Z coordinates separated by at
least 1 space.
ü Optionally add the word “ K NUCKLE” after the z coordinate to introduce a
knuckle point in the curve.
ü The end of a curve is indicated by an empty line after the last coordinate.
ü The last line in the file should be 'EOF'. The following is an example of a file example of DEFLTship marker
containing 3 longitudinal curves.
txt file
Export markers
All available marker curves are exported to a file in the native file format of DELFTship. This file has the extension .mrk
and can be imported into other designs.
Delete markers
This deletes all markers from the model. This option is disabled if there are no markers added to the model.
Weld
When a marker curve is split after import, but the separate curves share their end/starting point, they can be joined
using the weld function. This will do two things: it will joint the two segments into one, and it will remove the knuckle
that was the result of the split.
Fit surface
If multiple marker curves approach the surface you want to create (see below: Move markers on how to accomplish this)
a surface can be added. This surface ill run approximately through the curves. Select all the markers (in order!) and click
the Fit surface button. It helps to not select too many points here, since the resulting surface may still need tweaking.
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Move markers
In some cases it can be useful to reposition marker curves in 3D. For example a 2D marker curves file containing stations
could be placed along the hull to check accuracy and enhance understanding
of the design. Click (select) a marker curve to display the marker curve details
window. This window shows the number of curves selected, the minimum and
maximum coordinates of the curves (the 'bounding box'), the number of
marker points involved and the total length of the selected curves.
It also contains two editable fields, Distance and Step. The Distance field can
be used to offset the selected curve(s) the specified amount. The curves will
be moved in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the curve (so frames
will be moved along the X-axis). Not that if the orientation of the intersecting Marker curve details window
plane cannot be determined, this field will be disabled. This will happen for 3D curves and for straight lines.
If multiple curves are selected, the Step field can be used to specify an increment with which subsequent curve is moved
relative to the first one. This can be specifically useful in the case of frames- supposing the frame distance is a constant
0.6 meters, the shape of the hull can be re-created by selecting the curves in the desired order(back to front, since the
increment is added to each next offset) and enter the distance and step values. The image to the left could be the result.
Edit background images

DELFTship has the ability to display images on the background of your model. This functionality is
particularly convenient if you have a scan of the original lines plan and want to recreate the lines in
DELFTship. You can load images in the orthogonal planes/views (profile, plan or body plan view). See Marker curves
more in the paragraph 'Working with background images'.
moved to show
hull shape
3.7.2.6 3D primitives menu
Add box
Use this option to add a box shaped volume to your model, for example to represent a superstructure or as a starting
point for a new hull. The box can be added to either the currently active layer or to a new layer. Boxes are often used for
on-deck structures.
Add cylinder
Add a cylinder or a cone to the model. You can specify the start point, endpoint, radius at start, radius at end and
number of points in the pop-up. The resulting cylinder will have the specified radius- the actual control points may be
located outside of the cylinder. Optionally the cylinder can be added to the currently active layer or to a new layer. The
minimum number of points that can be used to form the cylindrical shape is 4, however 6 or more is recommended. A
common use for cylinders is to model bow thruster tunnels
Add sphere
Adds a sphere with set center point, diameter and number of faces. The minimum number of faces required for a sphere
is 4, but 6 or more is recommended. Spheres can be used as decorations (radar domes) or tanks.
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Tip: Select two control points to have DELFTship suggest begin and end points for the
shape:
Cylinder: Start and Endpoints
Box: Corner points
Sphere: Center and Radius
3.7.3 Calculations and extensions tab
'Calculations and extensions' Tab

The 'Calculations and extensions' tab gives access to DELFTship main calculation and extension tools. The image
above may differ from what you see depending on the installed extensions - Extensions (and related commands) are
not part of the basic Hull modeling module. More information can be found on the DELFTship website.
3.7.3.1 Hydrostatics menu
Design hydrostatics
Calculate hydrostatics for the design condition and create a report.
Hydrostatics
Calculate hydrostatics for a range of input data.
Resistance
Calculate the hull resistance.
3.7.4 Settings tab
The Settings tab contains application specific settings- use these to influence behavior of DELFTship: here you can open
the detailed Preferences window, apply themes (via the Appearance group), enlarge the menu items for use with a touch
screen (the Touch mode), check your registration status and program version, manually check for updates and access the
DELFTship backup folder. This backup folder contains some preference files and a lock file for your currently open
project.
The Criteria library gives access to the stability criteria window. This option is not available in the free edition.
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Preferences
Criteria Library
The Criteria library gives access to the stability criteria window. This option is not available in the free edition.
Preferences
The Preferences button opens a detailed program preferences window. The actual appearance of this window
differs depending on which extensions are installed with the main program: generally each extension has its own
tab page. 'Reset' can be used to revert to the default settings
Appearance
Touch Mode
Make DELFTship easier to use with a touch-screen by enlarging the menus and buttons.
Skins
A number of skins are available in a scroll menu. These skins can be selected to change the look and feel of DELFTship.
They have no effect on functionality.
Program
Register
Activate your software. Read more about this topic in the 'Registering your software' chapter
Updates
Check online for updates to DELFTship and installed extensions. A dialog will show whether updates are found, and the
progress of the update.
Edit Languages
Help us by translating DELFTship to your own language! If Microsoft Translator supports your language, you can use
it for a crude first translation. Then you can check (and correct) the translation section by section. You can also load a
translation for your use in this window. See for details the Translations page.
Import license
If you received your DELFTship license via email, this button can import the license file. Please see the more details in
the chapter on registering your software.
Open backup folder

This button opens the system folder where DELFTship stores license info, backup data and many program settings.
Please only modify files in this folder when instructed to do so.
63
About DELFTship
Shows information about your version, build number etc.
3.7.4.1 Translations
Translate DELFTship
While DELFTship offers translations (Settings-> Preferences->General tab->Language) that were made available
by the community, your language might not be there.
If you want to help us translate DELFTship, we would welcome your input! This interface is made available to help
you do just that- and if Microsoft Translator supports your language, it will even do a rough automated
translation.
This process requires two DLLs (libeay32.dll, ssleay32.dll) that we are not allowed to ship with our software, so if
you want to use this functionality, please get them at http://indy.fulgan.com/SSL/ . Locate the latest version of
OpenSSL for Windows and download the ZIP file. Inside this ZIP you will find the two missing DLLs- copy these to
your DELFTship program folder and you are set to go.
When you open the translations

window and you are running the
standard English, you will be asked
if you want to create a new
translation. If you answer 'yes' the
next window prompts for a
language. Choose the desired
language from the list. If your
language is not in this list, send us a
Translate DELFTship
message- we'll add it. Choose 'No' if you want to open an existing language file for editing.
The original (that is, not yet translated) text in the 'Translated Line' column is highlighted making it easier to
recognize lines that have not yet been translated. Automatically translated lines are highlighted in orange- they
may need attention: automatic translation is still far from reliable. To 'accept' a translation, select the field and
press 'Enter'. When you press Enter DELFTship will check if this exact phrase occurs in more places, and
automatically translates those, too.
When you are done, click 'Save' to store your work. Clicking 'Accept' will ask you f you want to load the selected
language.
New
Create a new translation (language). Choose the language from the drop down box.
Load
Load an existing translation (see above for the download location)
Save
Save your current translation work
64
Language
The list of languages apparently supported by Microsoft Translator- select the language you are creating a translation
for. If your language is not in this list, type it manually
Section
The section(usually window) of DELFTship currently shown
Complete
Progress indicator- this box shows the percentage of text that you have changed and submitted.
Search
Search for text in the current translation
Translate Line
Use the Microsoft Translator to translate the currently active line
Translate Section
Use the Microsoft Translator to translate the currently selected section
Translate All
Use the Microsoft Translator to translate the entire language file
The edit pane

The mail portion of this window shows the actual texts to be translated- and the identifier of that text. The identifier can
be useful to see what kind of text is represented, like a hint or a caption. The original line shows the text in the original
English you are translating from. Finally, the translated line is where you can add your translation (or where the Microsoft
Translator did). These lines are color coded:
Orange : Lines that were automatically translated, and not yet confirmed
Red : Outdated (or not yet translated) lines
White : Text that was entered or approved
3.7.5 System tab
The left most tab on the Ribbon is the System tab, which allows easy access to recent files and project preferences.
The left pane of the system tab shows file and project functions:
· Start an empty 'New project'
· Simple 'Load' and 'Save' buttons (note that import, export and Save
As are not located here: please refer to the file group for those
operations).
· the Register button starts the activation / deactivation process
· The 'Preferences' button opens the Program Preferences window

where interface details and extensions can be configured.
65
System tab: File operations
· The 'Open backup folder' button opens the system folder where
DELFTship stores license info, backup data and many program
settings. Please only modify files in this folder when instructed to do
so.
· The 'Exit' button will close DELFTship. If you have not yet saved your work a dialog will offer the choice to quit
(losing progress) or cancel.
The right side pane shows all recent projects, with a thumbnail of the hull-form and project details, such as last saved
date, file version and the number of critical points, tanks, wind silhouettes and loading conditions, if appropriate. If this is
not the case it may be that the file is last saved with an earlier version of DELFTship. Open the file and save it to upgrade
to the latest version. A dialog will appear to ask for conformation- click "yes" to save as the new file format, or "no" to
save as the old format. While it is generally advised to use the latest file version, it is possible that new file versions can
not be opened with older versions of DELFTship.
66
Hydrostatic calculations
Part
IV
67
Part IV Hydrostatic calculations
4.1 Design hydrostatics
Create an elaborate design hydrostatics report based on level trim
and design-draft condition. The design draft is specified in the
project settings. How coefficients are configured and calculated is
explained in the project settings chapter.
In addition to the common hydrostatic properties the report
includes the total surface area and center of gravity for each layer.
These layer properties are calculated for the entire ship (i.e. both
sides).
If your model contains stations the sectional area curve is also
plotted.
Sectional area curve
If imperial units are used, the displacement is given in long tons (1 long ton = 2240 lbs).
4.2 Resistance
DELFTship currently contains several methods to predict the resistance of a model. The resistance module is created so
all data relevant to the different prediction methods only needs to be specified once. Most hull form parameters are
extracted automatically from the model, while it remains possible to enter those parameters manually.
The first tab page contains a list with
the methods that are available, tick the
box of those that should be included in
the calculations. For easy comparison
the graphs representing the results of
each selected method are drawn in one
window.
Resistance window
The report button shows the numerical
results from the calculations for the selected prediction
methods in a single report.
The 'Hull and Appendages' tabs give access to relevant
properties that should be included in the calculations. Either
get the data from the model, or modify manually to
investigate the impact of different scenarios.
Calculation methods
Ø Delft series - The Delft series resistance calculation is a
method that is intended for fin-keeled yachts. From
version 3.2 and up the results are based on a the Relevant data can be read data from model
publication from 1998. It's a statistical method based
upon a whole series of models that are tested over the years in the towing tank of the Delft University of
68
Technology. The software does not restrict the calculations to use only models that that are in the same range as
those of the tested models. Results of models that are outside the range however can be very inaccurate with
sometimes even negative results for the residual resistance.
Ø Savitsky - The Savitsky method is specifically created for planing hulls. It is also an empirical method, which
allows for extrapolations as long as the hull is still relatively similar to the base shape of this method.
Ø John W inters (Kaper) - The KAPER resistance method is intended for canoes and kayaks. It was originally
developed by John Winters, a naval architect now specializing in designing canoes and kayaks. (See
http://www.greenval.com/jwinters.html) It is based on statistical data obtained by model tests. His method is
later extended by Matt Broze to higher speed/length ratios and to incorporate more variables into the equations.
This extended version is available in the form of an Excel spreadsheet from
http://www.marinerkayaks.com/mkhtml/downloads.htm. However while implementing this method in
DELFTship two serious discontinuities showed up in the curve of residual resistance. These consist of a sudden
drop in resistance of about 10% at speed/length ratios of 1.4 and 1.6 and are the result of a correction
implemented by Matt. After careful consideration the decision was made to only allow calculations up to a
speed/length ratio of 1.4 in order not to give the user a false sense of accuracy.
The range of valid parameters for the KAPER method is:
· Prismatic coefficient 0.48-0.64
· Submerged transom ratio 0.0-0.04
None of the other variables other than the waterline entrance angle is allowed to be zero. The center of buoyancy
used in the Kaper method is measured from the bow and made dimensionless by dividing the distance by the
waterline length.
69
Report viewer
Part
70
Part V Report viewer
When DELFTship generates a report, it will be displayed in a report viewer window. This window contains standard
browsing and save / export functionalities.
The window is divided in a top ribbon, a document navigator and a
graphic viewport.
The top ribbon contains buttons for report actions, such as export, print,
navigate and zoom functions. While export to PDF is available for all
versions of DELFTship, exporting to Excel and Word are only available in
DELFTship Pro. The "Display Bookmarks" button toggles visibility of the
document navigator.
The navigator shows the document outline, if available. Not all reports
have an outline, so the availability of this outline depends on the type of
report.
The graphic viewport is where the actual report is shown. Navigate to
next, previous, first and last pages using the Page menu group in the
Report viewer
ribbon. The ribbon also contains zoom options.
71
Index Point 5
Control curves 46
Control net 5, 17, 45
Index
Subdivide 57
A Control point
Add 40
Add Align 40
Box 61 Auto 2D 6
Curve 44 Collapse 40
Cylinder 61 Coordinate system 6
Edge 42 Copy 40
Face 44 Corner point 17
Layer 39, 49 Extract from marker 40
Sphere 61 Fair 40
Aft Incremental distance 6
Perpendicular 20 Intersect layer 40
Appearance Lock 40
Themes 14 Move 5, 6
Touch mode 14 Size 14
Appendage coefficient 12 Snap to straight edge 5
Automatic Unlock 40
Model checking 50 Coordinate system 20
Surface check 12 Copy Face 5
Crease edge 17
B Create new surfaces 42
Criteria
Background image Library 62
Editing 24 Critical point
Moving without scaling 24 Extract 57
Selecting 24 Cross curves 62
Set the origin 24 Curvature
Backup folder 14, 62 Decrease scale 45
Base Gaussian 54
Line 20 Increase scel 45
Beam Plot 50
Moulded 12 Curve
Bending moment Add 44
Envelopes 12 Control 45
Convert 44
C Fair 28, 44
Calculations and extensions tab 62
Check model
Automatic 50
D
Damage permeability 12
Close hole 44 Damage stability
Collapse Damage permeability 12
Control point 40 Design hydrostatics 62, 68
Edge 40, 42 Displacement 57
Consistent direction of the face normals 50 Draft
Constant BoK 12
Displacement 12 Marks 12
FSC 12 Moulded 12, 20
Control Draft readings 62
Net 5 Drag © 2020 DELFTship marine software
73
Drag Flip 44
Edge 5 Stress 54
Face 5 Fair
Point 5 Automatic 28, 40
DXF files 59 Control curve 28
Control point 40
E Manual 28, 40
Fairness 17
Edge File 29
Advanced split 42 Export 29, 36
Boundary 17 Import 29, 32
Collapse 42 Load 29
Crease 17, 42 Load last save project 14
Extrude 42 Menu 29
Extrude with the mouse 42 New 29
Interior 45 Recent projects 29
Internal 17 Save 29
Knuckle 17 Save as 29
New 42 Version info 65
Remove 42 File Export 29
Split 42 Flip normal 44
Stress 54 Flow line 45
Edit Footer 12
Undo 39 Frame
Elasticity 12 Numbers 48
Export Spacing 48
Archimedes 36
AutoCad DXF 36
Coordinates 36 G
DXF 36 Gaussian curvature 54
DXF 3D curves 36 Graphical user interface 2
GHS 36 Grid 45
IGES curves 36 Regular 17
IGES surfaces 36 GZ
Mastership DXF 36 Calculation 12
Octopus 36 Curve 12
Part 36
Stations 36
STL 36 H
Wavefront file (obj) 36 Hard chine 42
External tank 57 Header 12
Extrude Heel 12
Curved 42 Home tab 38
Edge 5, 42 Hydrostatics 22, 50, 62
Face 5, 44 Cross curves 62
Mouse 42 Design 68
Design hydrostatics 62
F Hydrostatic tables 62
Inclined 62
Face Mean shell thickness 12
Add 44
Close 44
Extrude 44 I
Extrude with mouse 44 IGES files 59 © 2020 DELFTship marine software
Import Move 59 Index
Coordinates 32 Weld 59
Fef files 32 Mean shell thickness 12
IGES 32 Mesh 45
License 62 Mirror 57
Marker curves 32 Model database 30
Part 32 Move 57
STL 32 Edge 5
Table of offsets 32 Face 5
Text files 32 Point 5
Inclined hydrostatics 62
Incremental distance 6
Inertia 12 N
Interface 2 New project
Interior edges 45 Model database 30
Interrogate surface 57 Online model database 30
Intersection curves 51 Template 30
Intersections 22 Normal
Buttocks 51 Flip 44
Diagonals 51 NURB curves 59
Stations 51
Waterlines 51 O
K Online model database 30
Keel and rudder wizard 50

KN sin phi 62
P
Knuckle line 17, 42 Pan 3
Part
L Export 36
Import 32
Perpendicular
Lackenby transformation 57
Layer 49 Aft 20
Active 22, 39, 49 Forward 20
Add 39, 49 Pin
Edit 39, 49 Pin down 7
Group 39, 49 Unpin 7
Intersect 40 Viewport buttons 7
Transparency 22 Plate developments
Leak points 45 Plot 54
License Point
Import 62 Control 17
Linesplan Corner point 17
Plot 52 Leak 45, 50
Longitudinal reference point 12 Precision 39
Program
M Appearance 14, 62
Import license 62
Markers Preferences 12, 14
Delete 59 Register 62
Details 59 Start in safe mode 14
Export 59 Theme 14
Fit surface 59 Updates 62
Import 59 Project © 2020 DELFTship marine software
75
Project Limits 12
Check model 50 Subdivide controlnet 57
New Project 30 Subdivision surface
Precision 39 Background 17
Settings 12, 38, 39 Crease 17
Templates 30 Edge 17
Project Settings 12 Face 17
Point 17
R Surface
Check 12
Readout points 12 Develop 54
Reference 20 Interrogate 57
Regular grid 17 Mesh 45
Relative water density 12 Normals 50
Remove Unfold 54
SB side 57 System tab 65
Unused points 57
Report
Create PDF document 71 T
Open in Excel 71 Tab
Open in Word 71 Calculations and extension 2
Save 71 Calculations and extensions 62
Resistance File 2
Calculations 62 Home 2, 38
Delft series 68 System 65
Kaper 68 Tools 2, 49
Savitsky 68 Tank
Ribbon Frame spacing 48
Calculations and extensions tab 2 Labels 48
File tab 2 Liquids in tanks 12
Home tab 2 Skeleton 48
Tools tab 2 Sounding pipe 48
Rotate 3, 57 Transparent shading 48
Themes 14
S Tools tab 49
Touch mode 14
Safe mode 14 Touch screen 14
Scale 57 Transform 57
Selection Hull form 57
All 4 Lackenby 57
Background image 24 Mid ship coefficient 57
Delete 39 Mirror 57
Deselect 4 Move 57
Shading Move to base 57
Curvature 7 Rotate 57
Developable 7 Scale 57
Smooth 7 Transparency 22
Sphere mapping 7
Wireframe 7
Zebra stripes 7 U
Skeleton 48 Units 12
Sliding cargo 12 Updates 62
Stability
Criteria 12 © 2020 DELFTship marine software
Index
V
View
Aft 7
Bottom 7
Clip 7
Front 7
Left 7
Pan 3
Perspective 7
Right 7
Rotate 3
Top 7
Zoom 3
Viewport
Automatically hide buttons 7, 14
Background color 14
Buttons 7
Clipping 7
Menu 7
Options 7
Pin 7
Restore 49
W
Watertight bulkhead 12
Wave
Animation 62
Height 12
Settings 12
Trough 12
Window
Cascade 49
New 49
Restore 49
Tile 49
View 49
Z
Zoom 3
Extents 7
In 7
Out 7
77

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DELFTship manual

Printed: January 2020 in Hoofddorp.

Part I The DELFTship interface 1

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

Part IV Hydrostatic calculations 67

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

Quick access toolbar

Calculations and extensions Tab

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

1.2 Zooming, panning and rotating

· By dragging a window around the area to be magnified.

· By using the scroll wheel of your mouse

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

1.3 Selecting objects

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

Edges- Move, Extrude

Moved edge Extruded edge

Faces- Move, Extrude, Copy

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

1.5 Manually modifying points

Control point window

· X-axis. Point movement is restricted to the direction of the X-axis.

1.6 Viewport menu

Zoom All (Alt-E)

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

Zoom previous (Alt-J)

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

Sphere map (Alt-H).

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

Coordinate axes (Alt-X)

Pin or Unpin (Alt-N) A clipped hull

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

2.1 Project settings

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

o Mid ship location (default)

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

2.2 Program preferences

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

· Maximum size of undo memory

· Automatically hide viewport buttons

· Control point size - larger points are easier to select

· iewport background mode - select a gradient or solid color as a background

· iewport background color

· Selected items color

General report settings

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

The effect of crease edges on a surface

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

3.2 DELFTship coordinate system

Reference, perpendiculars and baseline

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

© 2020 DELFTship marine software

3.3 Organizing your model with layers

The layer dialog

© 2020 DELFTship marine software