Maxsurf Fitting

Windows Version 20
User Manual

© Bentley Systems, Incorporated 2014

License & Copyright
Maxsurf Fitting Program & User Manual
© 2014 Bentley Systems, Incorporated

iii
 About this Manual

Contents
License & Copyright ........................................................................................................ iii
Contents.............................................................................................................................. 1
About this Manual .............................................................................................................. 3
Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 5
Maxsurf Fitting and Maxsurf ................................................................................... 5
Bow and Stern Shapes ............................................................................................. 5
Transverse Splines ................................................................................................... 6
Fitting a Surface ....................................................................................................... 6
Chapter 2 Using Maxsurf Fitting ....................................................................................... 8
Getting Started ......................................................................................................... 8
Opening a Markers File ........................................................................................... 8
Generating Markers Stations in Maxsurf ............................................................... 10
Transferring markers to Maxsurf Fitting ............................................................... 11
Control Points ........................................................................................................ 11
Convergence Limits ............................................................................................... 12
Iterations ................................................................................................................ 12
Constraints ............................................................................................................. 12
Flexibility ............................................................................................................... 13
Sections .................................................................................................................. 13
Fitting Splines ........................................................................................................ 14
Generating a Surface .............................................................................................. 15
Creating a Markers Table....................................................................................... 16
Editing Markers ........................................................................................... 16
Selecting a Cell ............................................................................................ 17
Selecting a Row ........................................................................................... 17
Selecting a Column ...................................................................................... 18
Selecting all Markers ................................................................................... 18
Inserting a Marker ........................................................................................ 19
Deleting a Marker ........................................................................................ 19
Adding a Station .......................................................................................... 19
Deleting a Station ........................................................................................ 19
Saving a Markers Table ............................................................................... 20
Importing Markers From Text File .............................................................. 20
Chapter 3 Maxsurf Fitting Reference ............................................................................... 21
Windows ................................................................................................................ 21
Marker / Offset Data Window ..................................................................... 21
Control Points .............................................................................................. 21
Toolbars ................................................................................................................. 21
File Toolbar ................................................................................................. 21
View Toolbar ............................................................................................... 21
Display Toolbar ........................................................................................... 21
Contour Toolbar .......................................................................................... 22
Window Toolbar .......................................................................................... 22
Menus ..................................................................................................................... 22
File Menu ..................................................................................................... 22
Edit Menu .................................................................................................... 23
View Menu .................................................................................................. 24
Surface Menu ............................................................................................... 25
Display Menu............................................................................................... 26
Grid Submenu .............................................................................................. 27
Data Menu ................................................................................................... 28
Window Menu ............................................................................................. 28

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 Help Menu ................................................................................................... 29
Index ................................................................................................................................. 30
 About this Manual

About this Manual

This manual describes Maxsurf Fitting, an application that may be used to input existing
hull designs into Maxsurf. The manual is organised into three chapters.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Contains a description of Maxsurf Fitting and its interface to Maxsurf.

Chapter 2 Using Maxsurf Fitting

Explains how to use Maxsurf Fitting's powerful fitting routines to best advantage.

Chapter 3 Maxsurf Fitting Reference

Gives details of each of Maxsurf Fitting 's windows, toolbars and menu commands.

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 Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction
Maxsurf Fitting provides a means of keyboard entry of existing offset data for use in the
generation of a three dimensional surface. The surface generated by Maxsurf Fitting
may be saved as a Maxsurf design file. Offset data may also be loaded from a text file or
copied from a spreadsheet.

You may find it easier to use the fitting functions provided in the Markers menu in
Maxsurf rather than using the standalone version of Maxsurf Fitting.

Using Maxsurf Fitting is a three-stage process, entering the bow and stern shapes, fitting
the transverse splines, and fitting the surface.

Maxsurf Fitting and Maxsurf

The Maxsurf Fitting licence enables you to access many useful fitting tools directly
from Maxsurf. The features include a sophisticated automatic fitting tool which uses
advanced techniques to produce an accurate fit to marker data as well as a usable control
point net. There are also other tools for fitting corner points and edges to markers.

These are included in the Markers menu in Maxsurf. Please refer to the Maxsurf manual
for full details of these functions.

Bow and Stern Shapes

In the first stage, the bow and stern shapes are specified by entering their offsets. This is
followed by the offset data for all remaining stations.

All offsets appear in the same way as Markers in Maxsurf.

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Chapter 1 Introduction

Transverse Splines
Once the markers to be fitted have been entered, a set of transverse splines is generated
through the markers on a station-by-station basis. Control points to these splines may
also be displayed allowing for manual fairing of the splines.

Fitting a Surface
When you are satisfied that the splines fit the marker data, you may then fit a complete
surface through the transverse splines. The surface may then be saved as a Maxsurf
design file.

If necessary, the surface net may be refined manually to obtain a better fit to the
markers.

Maxsurf Fitting is not suitable for modelling discontinuities in designs such as the hard
chined hull shown below.

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 Chapter 1 Introduction

Designs featuring chines or discontinuities should be modelled as independent surfaces.

The above design should be modelled as below, using two Maxsurf Fitting surfaces,
with the chine as a common surface edge. Once the two surfaces have been fitted, they
can be merged together in Maxsurf.

Maxsurf Fitting allows you to choose how many control points you wish to use to model
the hull surface. The choice of the number of control points to use in the generation of a
surface and its net is a matter of trial and error, as different designs will require different
numbers of control points. As a rough guide, use slightly more control points than you
would use to model a similar hull in Maxsurf.

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Chapter 2 Using Prefit

Chapter 2 Using Maxsurf Fitting

You have been introduced to the way in which Maxsurf Fitting works and can now go
on to learn in detail how to use Maxsurf Fitting by following the example outlined in
this chapter.

The example uses a simple yacht hull form whose markers are supplied in a Maxsurf
Fitting markers file, with extension ‘.pfd’, called ‘Maxsurf Fitting
Sample_YachtOffsets’. This file may be found in the ‘Sample Designs’ folder.

The example goes through the steps needed to generate a surface from these markers.

Getting Started
Install Maxsurf Fitting from the CD. Maxsurf Fitting may then be started, and will
display the Perspective, Plan, Profile, Body Plan, Markers and Control Points windows.

Opening a Markers File

Choose Open Marker Data from the File menu. Select the file titled ‘Yacht Offsets’ and
open it. This file contains a table of markers for a simple yacht hull form. When it is
read in, it will fill the Markers window with marker data, and the markers will be
displayed in the Plan, Profile, Body Plan and Perspective views. Each marker point is
displayed as a cross in the view windows.

To edit the markers, bring the Markers/Offsets table to the front by choosing Markers
from the Window menu. The markers are displayed in a table and you can scroll through
the data to examine the markers at any station.

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The Markers window is similar to the Markers window in Maxsurf. The column
headings are: Position (longitudinal position); Offset (transverse position) and Height
(vertical position). The markers are grouped in stations. The first and last groups, or
fields, are labelled Bow and Stern in the Station column.

These two groups allow the specification of the bow and stern shape that do not
necessarily lie on an individual, planar station, as is the case with the other station
fields.

The bow and stern definitions are important as they describe the fore and aft edges of
the surface that you will create using Maxsurf Fitting. Note that the longitudinal position
of each bow and stern marker may be changed, allowing either to be raked; in general all
other sections are vertical (i.e. specified with a constant station position). Markers for
each station should be entered in order starting at the centreline and moving out towards
the sheerline. Similarly, markers for the bow and stern should start at the keel and move
towards the sheerline.

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Generating Markers Stations in Maxsurf

Additional functions in Maxsurf version 12 and later can greatly simplify the process of
getting the markers into their correct order for most designs. After for example
importing DXF markers or digitising a Linesplan in Maxsurf (see Maxsurf manual for
instructions), you may have a number of Marker stations and perhaps a bow and transom
shape described by markers.

Use the Markers | Generate Grid from Markers in Maxsurf to sort markers into stations
and order them automatically. If you have sloping sections, you should specify a
minimum of more than one Marker to define a station and perhaps loosen the tolerance
value:

To help verify that you have the markers in the correct order, turn on Connect Marker
Stations (Display | Markers menu). And display all the markers. The first marker for
each station will be shown in bold when the Connect Marker Stations option is turned
on.

Correctly sorted markers.

It will still be necessary to manually add “stations” for the stem and stern and to assign
the correct station index to these markers. There is a variety of additional tools for
correcting marker-ordering problems – see the Maxsurf manual for details.

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Transferring markers to Maxsurf Fitting

Transfer the markers to Maxsurf Fitting by going to the Markers table and saving the
table as a tab-delimited text file (Save Markers As…).

Open the Maxsurf Fitting Program and select File | Open Text to load the markers that
you just saved in Maxsurf.

Maxsurf Fitting should show a similar view, but the markers will be mirrored:

Control Points
When choosing the number of control points to be used in the surface net you should
observe the following:

1. The number of stations entered should exceed the number of control point columns.
2. The number of markers, for the station with the smallest number of markers, should
exceed the number of control point rows.

A surface net with 6 control point columns and 4 control point rows is shown below; the
square boxes indicate the net control points.

To set the number of control points and other surface properties, choose Control Points
from the Surface menu.

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Chapter 2 Using Prefit

A dialog will appear which allows you to enter the number of control points transversely
across the surface (rows) and longitudinally along the surface (columns).

For the example yacht data, set both the number of control point rows and columns to 7,
as the markers feature a large variation in sectional shape over the length.

Convergence Limits
The Control Points dialog also contains several other items, headed Limits and
Constraints. These limits control how much time Maxsurf Fitting will spend trying to fit
splines or a surface to your markers. You can instruct Maxsurf Fitting to iterate to
improve the quality of fit until the maximum error at any marker point is less than a
certain level. At the same time it is necessary to tell Maxsurf Fitting the maximum
number of iterations to make before it gives up.

For the moment, set maximum error to 10 mm. and iterations to 5.

Iterations
After the initial surface fitting, further iterations of the surface fitting procedure may be
carried out to obtain a better fit. To do this, select Regenerate Surface from the Surface
menu. The surface net may also be manipulated manually between iterations to achieve
a smoother and more useable net.

The net may be displayed by selecting Net from the Display menu. The control points
may be changed by directly dragging the points in the Plan, Profile or Body Plan views
or by typing their positions in the Control Points table. Dragging may be constrained to
either the vertical or horizontal direction by holding the shift button down.

Constraints
Constraints restrict control points to lie within certain areas to improve the regularity of
the control point net that is generated.

The constraints available are:

Flat Bottom.
This prevents any control points in a particular column being below the level of
centreline at that position. This is a reasonable constraint for the vast majority of
hull designs, the only exceptions being those tunnel hulls or concave bottoms.

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 Chapter 2 Using Prefit

Flat Side.
This prevents control points from going further from the centreline than the
widest point at the sheerline. Only hulls with tumblehome in their topsides would
need to have this option turned off.

Surface Columns.
This option constrains columns in the fitted surface net to a particular
arrangement. For example, if a design has a lot of longitudinal curvature in the
bow it is reasonable to constrain the control point columns so that they are
concentrated more in the bow. If a hull shape has fairly even curvature from bow
to stern, Even Spacing or no column constraint at all is acceptable.

If the Surface Columns constraints box is ticked, the desired control point
distribution may be selected from the Control Point Distribution radio buttons.

For the sample hull, all the Constraints may be left on.

Flexibility
Before generating splines through the markers, it is necessary to set the flexibility of the
splines to be used. Order 4 splines are most suited to the generation of surfaces in
Maxsurf Fitting. As you gain experience with the program you may wish to experiment
with other spline stiffnesses.

Click the OK button in the Control Points dialog to accept the changes and close the
dialog.

Sections
Next choose the Body Plan window from the Window menu.

When fitting the transverse splines you will need to show individual sections. As in
Maxsurf, either all the sections or just the current section may be displayed depending
on whether the Sections option is on or off. Select the Sections tick box in the Contours
dialog to turn on all sections; remove the tick to view only the current section.

The contours dialog is activated by selecting Contours from the Display menu.

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Chapter 2 Using Prefit

Remove the tick from the stations check box so that only the current section is
displayed.

As in Maxsurf, the current section is chosen from the inset box in the Body Plan view to
display the section and markers for the current section.

Fitting Splines
Now that you have set the flexibility of the splines to be used, you can fit the splines
through the markers by choosing Section Splines from the Display menu. This will
calculate all the splines and display the spline, which has been fitted through the current
section. Selecting Edge Splines from the Display menu will calculate and display the
splines, which are fitted through the sheerline and keel.

Once Maxsurf Fitting has calculated the spline, it will be drawn as a solid line through,
or very close to, the marker points.

If you wish you can modify any spline control point. To do this, select Spline Controls
from the Display menu. Spline Controls shows the control points for the spline as
generated by Maxsurf Fitting. You can drag the control points with the mouse to modify
the fit of the spline to the marker points. The movement may be constrained to the
vertical or horizontal direction by pressing the shift key while dragging the control
point.

Remember that if you are only showing one section at a time, you can change the
current section by clicking on the desired station marker in the inset box at the top right
of the Body Plan window.

When modifying the bow and stern definitions be sure to refer to the Plan and Profile
windows to check for fairness as well as in the Body Plan window.

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Profile and Plan views showing control points with constant longitudinal position for intermediate stations and
a completed definition of the bow and stern.

The splines generated through the top and bottom edges of the surface (normally keel
and sheerline) may be manipulated in a similar manner.

Generating a Surface
Now that you have automatically and manually fitted the splines to the points, you can
go ahead and generate the surface. Note that Maxsurf Fitting does not fit the surface to
the marker points but to the splines, which have been fitted to the points. Choose
Generate Surface from the Surface menu to fit the surface.

The calculation of a surface may take some time, as it is a complex mathematical

problem. The time taken depends on the size of the required control point net. The larger
the net, the greater the time taken to fit the surface. To speed up the process, fewer
initial iterations can be specified. At a later stage, subsequent iterations may be
calculated to refine the surface if greater accuracy is required. Chose Regenerate
Surface from the Surface menu to do this.

The resulting surface will be displayed superimposed over the original splines to check
for the accuracy of the fit.

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Chapter 2 Using Prefit

You may save the surface by selecting Save Surface As from the File menu. The surface
will be saved as a Maxsurf design file and may then be opened in Maxsurf. The markers
will also be saved and can be viewed in Maxsurf.

After the surface has been generated you may display the net to see if the result is a net
that is clean and easily usable in Maxsurf. Choose Net from the Display menu to display
the net.

Creating a Markers Table

Now that you have learned how to generate a surface from a table of markers, you can
start to create your own table of markers as you would for a new design.

Choose Close Marker Data from the File menu to close the table of yacht markers you
have been working with.

Next, select New Marker Data from the File menu and you will be presented with a
dialog box in which you may input the four corners of a new surface.

These corners are input as ‘Bow at deck edge’, ‘Bow at foot’, ‘Transom at deck edge’,
and ‘Transom at keel’. You may also enter the number of points you intend using in the
definition of the bow and in the definition of the stern, including the edge points.

The remaining stations may then be entered in the Markers window and the splining and
surface fitting performed as in the preceding example. Choose Markers from the
Window menu to bring the Markers window to the front.
Editing Markers

All cells in the Markers table are editable except:

 The column titles
 The row numbers
 The station column

Under most circumstances, it is desirable to have vertical stations (except for the Bow
and Stern). However, it is possible to have non-vertical stations.

To change the number in a cell, simple click on the cell to select it and then type in the
new number. You can use the tab key to move to the next cell to the right and the Return
key to move to the cell below. You can also use the arrow keys to move around in the
table.

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In order to add and delete information from the table of markers, it is necessary to select
cells and rows in the table.
Selecting a Cell

Clicking in a cell selects that individual cell and highlights it. When an editable cell is
selected new data may be entered from the keyboard. The data may be input in any units
and Maxsurf Fitting converts to the current units as set in the Units option of the Display
menu.

Append the appropriate unit’s symbol to enter data, which is not in the current units. See
Data Menu | Units in the Reference section for further details.

Selecting a Row

Clicking on a row number selects that row. When a row is selected a marker may be
inserted or removed from the marker definition of the surface.

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Selecting a Column

Clicking in a column title selects that column. A selected column may be copied to the
clipboard or may have the contents of the clipboard pasted into it.

Selecting all Markers

Clicking in the Sheet Select box (top left cell of table) selects the entire Markers
window. This is useful only to copy the entire Markers window.

Apart from the basic numerical editing of individual cells, operations may be performed
on whole rows or individual stations in the Markers window.

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 Chapter 2 Using Prefit

Holding down the shift key while copying data from the table, will also copy the column
titles.

On Windows, various other features relating to the table may be selected from the
context menu, which is activated by ‘right clicking’ in the table window.
Inserting a Marker

To insert an marker at a given station:

 Select a row in the table. The marker will be inserted immediately below this row.
 Select Add Marker from the Edit Menu.

Deleting a Marker

To delete an marker from the table:

 Select the row of the marker to be deleted.
 Select Delete Marker from the Edit Menu.

Adding a Station

To add a new station to the table:

 Choose Add Station from the Edit menu.
 A dialog box will appear allowing you to enter the position of the station and the
number of markers you require at this station.

 Enter the longitudinal position of the station and the number of markers you
require at this station.
 Click OK.
The new station will be inserted in the table at the correct location.
Deleting a Station

To delete a station from the table:

 Choose Delete Station from the Edit menu.
 A dialog box will appear:

 Enter the numbers of the first and last stations to be deleted. To delete a single
station enter the same number in the From and To boxes.
 Click OK.
All of the markers for these stations (inclusive) will be removed from the table.

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Saving a Markers Table

From time to time during the creation of your markers table, it is a good idea to save
your table to disk. Choose Save Marker Data from the File menu to save your table. If
you have not yet saved the data, Maxsurf Fitting will ask you to name your file.
Importing Markers From Text File

Markers may be imported from a standard, tab delimited text file. The text file should
have the following format:

There are 4 columns: the first contains the station number; the second the station
longitudinal position; the third the transverse offset and the fourth column contains the
vertical height of the markers.

A text file may be imported by selecting Open Text from the File menu.

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Chapter 3 Maxsurf Fitting Reference

This chapter describes the toolbars, windows and menu commands available in Maxsurf
Fitting.
 Windows
 Toolbars
 Menus

Windows
Maxsurf Fitting uses a range of windows. There are the four view windows that are
similar to Maxsurf as well as the following windows:
Marker / Offset Data Window

Display’s an editable table containing the markers/offsets data (stations, position, offset
and height).
Control Points

Display’s an editable table containing the control point net data (surface, row, column,
position, offset, height and weighting).

Toolbars
Users of the Windows version of Maxsurf Fitting can use the icons on the toolbars to
speed up access to some commonly used functions. You can hold your mouse over an
icon to reveal a pop-up tip of what the icon does.
File Toolbar

The File toolbar contains icons, which execute the following commands:
New Data – Open Markers – Save Markers | Cut - Copy - Paste | Print Preview
View Toolbar

The View toolbar contains icons that execute the following commands:
Zoom – Shrink – Pan – Home View – Rotate – Assembly window.

The Rotate command is only available in the Perspective window. The Assembly
window is not available in Maxsurf Fitting.
Display Toolbar

The Display toolbar contains icons, which change the state of the following parts of the
display:
Shape – Net – Half – Compress | Section Splines – Edge Splines – Spline Control Points
–Markers

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Contour Toolbar

The Contours toolbar contains icons, which facilitate the display of surface contours:
Sections – Waterlines – Buttocks – Intersections – Edges
Window Toolbar

The Window toolbar contains icons, which make the corresponding window come to the
front:
Perspective – Plan – profile – Body Plan – Control Points – Markers

Menus
Maxsurf Fitting uses the standard set of Windows menu commands for File, Edit and
Window operations. It also has a range of menus for control point and surface
manipulation and control of data and view displays.
 File Menu
 Edit Menu
 View Menu
 Surface Menu
 Display Menu
 Grid Submenu
 Data Menu
 Window Menu
 Help Menu

File Menu

The File menu contains commands for opening and saving files, importing and
exporting data, and printing.
New Marker Data
Selecting New Marker Data will present a dialog box where you may input the four
corners of the desired surface. These points are input as ‘Bow at deck edge’, ‘Bow at
foot’, ‘Transom at deck edge’, and ‘Transom at keel’. You may also enter the number of
points you intend using, including the edge points, in the definition of the bow and in
the definition of the stern.

Open Marker Data

Maxsurf Fitting has the ability to save markers to disk and recall them at a later date. By
selecting Open Marker Data, a dialog box appears with a list of marker files available.
Select the Markers file you wish to recall, click the Open button and the requested
marker file will be opened. In windows, the Maxsurf Fitting marker files are given the
extension ‘.pfd’.

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Open Text
If you wish to format a table of markers using a spreadsheet or word processor, or if you
have a file of points generated by another computer program, Maxsurf Fitting is capable
of reading in a text file of marker points directly.

The requirements for a text file are:

The data is in columns of station number, station position, offset from centre and height.

Each line should terminate with a Carriage Return (CR) and each column should be
separated with a TAB character.

The first marker for each station should be the centreline, and the final marker for each
station should be the sheerline.

Close Marker Data

Select Close Marker Data when you wish to finish with the current set of markers.
Before closing, a dialog box will appear asking whether you wish to save the current set
of markers. If you select Yes the current set of marker will be saved to the disk.
Save Marker Data
Selecting Save Marker Data will save the current set of markers to disk.
Save Marker Data As
Selecting Save Marker Data As enables you to save the current set of markers under a
new name. This is useful if you modify a set of markers, but wish to keep a copy of the
old version as well as the new.

Save Surface As
This allows you to save the surface you have generated to disk as a Maxsurf design file.
The file can then be opened by Maxsurf. All the markers entered in Maxsurf Fitting will
also appear in Maxsurf.

Page Setup
The Page Setup dialog allows you to change page size and orientation for printing.
Print
Choosing the Print function prints out the contents of the uppermost Maxsurf Fitting
window.

Exit Maxsurf Fitting

Exit will close down Maxsurf Fitting and return you to the Desktop. If Maxsurf Fitting
has a set of markers or a surface open that has not been saved to disk, you will be asked
whether you wish them to be saved.
Edit Menu

The Edit menu contains commands for working in the Data window.

Undo
Undo may be used remove the last change made to either the Marker or Control Point
tables.

Cut
Cut may not be used in Maxsurf Fitting.

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Copy
Copy may be used to copy data from the Markers or Control Points tables. It may also
be used to copy the contents of one of the view windows into a picture or metafile,
which may then be pasted into other programs.
Paste
Paste may be used input data into the Markers table.

Add Marker
When a row of the Markers window is selected, you may insert a marker below the
selected row. The new marker is given the same position as the selected marker, and you
can then edit the marker and height (initialised to zero) to the required position. No
sorting is done, Maxsurf Fitting assumes you have inserted these points in the correct
order.
Delete Marker
When a row of the Markers window is selected, choosing Delete Marker will delete that
marker point from the marker table.

Add Station
When you select Add Station, a dialog appears asking for the station position, and the
number of points you will use in the definition of that station. The station position is
sorted into place with respect to the other stations in the marker table, and all marker
offsets and heights are initialised to zero.
Delete Stations
When you select Delete Stations a dialog appears asking for the numbers of the first and
last contiguous stations to be deleted. Type in the new numbers, click the OK button,
and markers on the chosen stations will be deleted.
View Menu

The View menu contains commands for changing the way in which the drawing and
data windows are displayed.

Zoom
The Zoom function allows you to examine the contents of the Perspective, Plan, Body
Plan or Profile window in detail by enlarging any particular area to fill the screen.

Pan
Choosing Pan allows you to move the image around within the front window.
Shrink
Choosing Shrink will reduce the size of the displayed image in the front window by a
factor of two.
Home View
Choosing Home View will set the image back to its Home View size. Maxsurf Fitting
starts up with default Home View settings for the view window. However, the Home
View may be set at any time by choosing the Set Home View function.
Set Home View
Choosing Set Home View allows you to set the Home View in the View window.

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To set the Home View, use Zoom, Shrink, and Pan to arrange the view as you require,
then select Set Home View from the View menu.

Rotate
Activates the Rotate command, which is a virtual trackball which lets you freely rotate a
design in the Perspective view window.
Colours and Lines
The Colours and Lines function allows you to set the colour and thickness of lines and
controls.

Maxsurf Fitting will display a list of items that allows you to set any of the items to any
colour and intensity by using a colour pallet.

To set the colour and thickness of a given line or set of lines:

 Select Colours and Lines from the View menu.
 Select the line type from the scrollable list.
 Select a colour from the colour picker.
 Select a thickness from the thickness drop down list.
Note that the items in the list refer to the following line types used by Maxsurf Fitting:

List Name: Maxsurf Fitting

Item:
Stringers Splines
Grouped Control Spline Control Points
Points
Plates Spline Net

Font / Text Style

Font allows you to set the size and style of text used in the windows.

Toolbars
See “Toolbar Section”
Status Bar
The Status Bar command makes the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen visible. This
Status Bar displays information about the current state of what is being viewed in the
window, short descriptions of the functions of some commands as your mouse passes
over them and indicates the state of some control keys.
Surface Menu

The Surface menu contains commands for fitting a surface to your markers.

Generate Surface
Selecting Generate Surface sets Maxsurf Fitting to work generating a surface through
the marker spline points.
Regenerate Surface
Selecting Regenerate Surface performs a further iteration of the surface fitting
algorithm, this will refine the surface net and improve the fit. Modifications to the
surface control points may be made prior to selecting Regenerate Surface.

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Delete Surface
When you select Delete Surface, the surface you have generated is removed from
memory permanently.
Measure max. Error
This function measures the maximum error between the input marker points and the
fitted surface.

Enhance Data
This function adds further marker points to the stations. These new points are
interpolated along the splines, which have been fitted through the original marker data.
This may improve the surface fit.
Control Points
Selecting Control Points presents a dialog in which you may specify the details of the
surface which Maxsurf Fitting will fit to the markers.

You may specify the number of rows and columns of controls to be used in the fitted
surface. Rows run transversely and columns run longitudinally through the surface, as in
Maxsurf.

In general it is best to use about the same number of control points as you would use to
design the hull in Maxsurf. If more controls are used, the more exact the fit through the
markers will be, but with a corresponding reduction in surface fairness. The smoothness
of the net generated may also deteriorate to the point that it is unworkable. If too few
controls are used, Maxsurf Fitting will not be able to achieve a close fit of the surface to
the markers.

Constraints may be imposed on the positions of the surface’s control points; see Section:
Control Points for further details.

The maximum number of iterations used in the surface fitting algorithm and the desired
error may also be specified.
Display Menu

The Display menu contains commands for turning on and off items displayed in the
graphics windows.

Marker Points
When the Markers option is activated, the marker points as specified in the Markers
window are shown as crosses in all the drawing windows.

Section Splines
When the Section Splines option is activated, splines are fitted through the marker
points of each section and displayed.

Edge Splines
When the Edge Splines option is activated, splines are fitted through the marker points
of the top and bottom of the surface and displayed. These splines will normally
correspond to the sheerline and centreline of the hull.

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Spline Controls
When the Spline Controls option is activated, the splines and their control points are
generated and displayed through all visible marker points. The splines may then be
adjusted by dragging the control points.
Sections
Allows you to view all of the sections of the design at the same time.

Shape
When the Shape option is selected, the surface will be displayed. It is possible to display
the surface being worked on, or the surface control point net. Alternatively, it is possible
to show both the shape and the net simultaneously. This allows for the modification of
an entire control point net while viewing the changes in the surface itself.

Net
The Net display shows the complete control point net for the surface.

Half
As the net of control points only needs to exist for one half of a symmetrical shape, the
Half function controls whether the shape is mirrored across the longitudinal centreline.
Units
The Units command allows you to nominate the dimension units and the weight units.
Compress
By choosing Compress it is possible to foreshorten the display of the surface in the Plan
and Profile windows. This foreshortened display is valuable for fairing long slender
hulls on screen. The vertical axis is increased relative to the longitudinal axis by a factor
of four.

Grid
See “Grid Submenu”
Contours
The Contours option allows you to select which contours are drawn on the screen at any
given time. Any combination of contours may be chosen from the Contours dialog.

When the Sections item is activated, all sections will be shown on the Body Plan and
Perspective windows, otherwise only one section will be displayed. This option is useful
when modifying the shape in the Body Plan window, as this operation does not require
that all sections be shown, which may clutter up the display.

See Maxsurf manual for further details.

Render
Selecting Render performs hidden line removal on the design with a choice of the type
of surface shading used.

See Maxsurf manual for further details.

Grid Submenu

The Grid submenu allows you to turn on and off some of the grid options.

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Chapter 3 Prefit Reference

Hide Grid
When Hide Grid is selected, the grid will not be drawn.

Show Grid Only

When Show Grid Only is selected, the positions of the Sections, Waterlines, Buttocks
and Diagonals as specified by the Grid Spacing function from the Data menu, will be
drawn.

Show Grid & Labels

When Show Grid And Labels is selected, the names assigned to each grid line in the
Grid Spacing option, as well as the grid, will be shown on the screen and printed on any
prints or plots.
Data Menu

The Data menu contains commands for setting the size of your design.
Units
A variety of metric and imperial units may be used in Maxsurf Fitting. This command
gives you a dialog box where you may choose your preferred units.

Irrespective of the default units specified the Markers window will accept dimensional
data in any units. For Example, if the default units were metres, all of the following
input would be accepted and converted accordingly -

3 (interprets as 3.00 metres)

2.5c 3.25"
33cm 4 inches
328mm 5'4"
650.44mil 11.25feet
6ft 3.1in 5f5I

Grid Spacing
This menu function allows you to precisely specify positions for all Waterlines,
Buttocks, and Diagonals. Stations are disabled since they are specified by the positions
of the defined markers.
Window Menu

Selecting item in the Window menu brings the appropriate window to the front on the
screen.

Cascade
This function stacks up all the currently visible windows into the bounds of the screen in
a staggered arrangement.
Tile Horizontal
Tiles the open windows horizontally within the application window.

Tile Vertical
Tiles the open windows vertically within the application window.
Arrange Icons
Arranges the closed windows within the application window.

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 Chapter 3 Prefit Reference

Perspective
A perspective view of the hull.

Plan
A plan view of the hull.

Profile
A profile view of the hull.

Body Plan
A body plan view of the hull.

Markers / Offsets Data

Displays the Marker / Offsets data window.

Control Points
Displays a window containing the control points of the fitted surface mesh.
Help Menu

Provides access to Maxsurf Fitting Help.

Maxsurf Fitting Help
Provides access to Maxsurf Fitting Help.
Online Support
Provides access to a wide range of support resources available on the internet.
Check for Updates
Provides access to our website with the most recent version listed.

About Maxsurf Fitting

Displays information about the current version of Maxsurf Fitting you are using.

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Index
Index
A
About Prefit ................................................. 29
Add Marker .................................................. 24
Add Station .................................................. 24
Arrange Icons ............................................... 28
B
Body Plan ..................................................... 29
Bow Shape ..................................................... 5
C I
Cascade ........................................................ 28
Check for Updates ....................................... 29
Close Marker Data ....................................... 23
Colour .......................................................... 25
Compress ..................................................... 27
Constraints ................................................... 12
Contour Toolbar........................................... 22
Contours ................................................. 13, 27
Control Points ............................ 11, 21, 26, 29
Convergence Limits ..................................... 12
Copy ............................................................. 24
Cut ................................................................ 23
D
Data Menu.................................................... 28
Delete Marker .............................................. 24
Delete Stations ............................................. 24
Delete Surface .............................................. 26
Display Menu ............................................... 26
Display Toolbar ........................................... 21
E
Edge Splines ................................................ 26
Edit Menu .................................................... 23
Enhance Data ............................................... 26
Exit ............................................................... 23
F
File Menu ..................................................... 22
File Toolbar ................................................. 21
Fitting a Surface ............................................. 6
Fitting Splines .............................................. 14
Flat Bottom .................................................. 12
Flat Side ....................................................... 13
Flexibility ..................................................... 13
Font .............................................................. 25
G
Generate Surface .......................................... 25
Page 30
Generating a Surface.................................... 15
Getting Started ............................................... 8
Grid .............................................................. 27
Grid Spacing ................................................ 28
H
Half .............................................................. 27
Help Menu ................................................... 29
Hide Grid ..................................................... 28
Home View .................................................. 24
Iterations ...................................................... 12
L
Limits ........................................................... 12
M
Marker / Offset Data Window ..................... 21
Marker Points............................................... 26
Marker, Deleting .......................................... 19
Marker, Inserting ......................................... 19
Markers / Offsets Data ................................. 29
Markers Table .............................................. 16
Markers, Editing .......................................... 16
Markers, Importing from Text File .............. 20
Markers, Saving ........................................... 20
Measure max. Error ..................................... 26
Menus .......................................................... 22
N
Net................................................................ 27
New Marker Data......................................... 22
O
Online Support ............................................. 29
Open Marker Data ....................................... 22
Open Text... ................................................. 23
Opening a Markers File ................................. 8
P
Page Setup.................................................... 23
Pan ............................................................... 24
Paste ............................................................. 24
Perspective ................................................... 29
Plan .............................................................. 29
Prefit and Maxsurf ......................................... 5
Prefit Help .................................................... 29
Print.............................................................. 23
Profile .......................................................... 29

R
Regenerate Surface ...................................... 25
Render .......................................................... 27
Rotate ........................................................... 25
S
Save Marker Data ........................................ 23
Save Marker Data As… ............................... 23
Save Surface As… ....................................... 23
Section Splines............................................. 26
Sections .................................................. 13, 27
Selecting a Cell. ........................................... 17
Selecting a Column. ..................................... 18
Selecting a Row. .......................................... 17
Selecting all markers .................................... 18
Set Home View ............................................ 24
Shape ............................................................ 27
Shrink ........................................................... 24
Spline Controls ............................................ 27
Station, Adding ............................................ 19
Station, Deleting .......................................... 19
Status Bar ..................................................... 25
Stern Shape .................................................... 5
Surface Columns .......................................... 13
Index
Surface Menu ............................................... 25
T
Text Style ..................................................... 25
Tile Horizontal ............................................. 28
Tile Vertical ................................................. 28
Toolbars ................................................. 21, 25
Transverse Splines ......................................... 6
U
Undo............................................................. 23
Units ....................................................... 27, 28
V
View Menu .................................................. 24
View Toolbar ............................................... 21
W
Window Menu ............................................. 28
Window Toolbar .......................................... 22
Z
Zoom ............................................................ 24
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