I'v managed to get preliminary results to generate the caprail (with a step in it), only the jean-bart was successful , the Vittorio and Bismarck did something strange where the keel and caprail meet at the bow. Should not take too long to fix that. Latest Jean Bart Image : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Bi8GMXyKZPNWRoMjdyeEVXaHc/edit?usp=sharing To get a better idea of the model use the Skethup file of the combined parts : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Bi8GMXyKZPcjl0b3FQQmdMMTg/edit?usp=sharing There are still some issues with the model, Sketchup still does not recognize the caprail as a solid, there are some issues with the triangulation of the horizontal aligned surfaces that leave gaps and I'll have to modify the ribs and keel to fit better with the caprail. Once these anomalies are sorted I'll look into generating the impenetrable hull areas. ( One day I'll try to figure out how to insert an image in my post.. )
I'm writing a program to automate the generation of the model, you need the hull manifold exported from Delftship though.. https://bitbucket.org/viljoenp/ship-builder It still needs quite a bit of work though, Just a small problem in the hull manifold can cause the program to go bonkers..
Still having some problems with the Bismark and the Caprail that Sketchup does not see as a solid. Just some stats on the models that completed processing.. Ribs Width (main ribs 3/8" and 3" spacing) 10mm extrusion depth Caprail 3/8" Height, 20mm extrusion depth Keel Width 3/8" and 10mm extrusion depth ( from the outer edges) According to Slic3r and Sketchup Vittorio = 1249.87 cc. Jean Bart = 1309.99 cc. That is a LOT of plastic ( 1.2 -1.4 kg rough estimate.. ) , and that is still without impenetrable areas.. You can view the current models as Skethup files in my public folder.. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7Bi8GMXyKZPa2NUWEZSc2hTdnM&usp=sharing
Fixed the issue with Bismark and the cap-rails triangulations ( Sketchup now recognize them as solids ). Current Volume Tally: Vittorio =1249.76 cc Jean Bart =1309.44 cc Bismark =1307.28 cc BTW: Tug do you have the Sketchup Pro paid version ?
I do not have the Pro version, it's like $500. I do have Alibre Design Pro, which can open most CAD type files.
I was just wondering if it is worth getting. I see that the Pro version has a menu option for Solids , but I cannot see what it can do with solids , any case for what you want to do Tug, we will have to fuse the separate parts together as one piece , ( Solid boolean operation ) , and generate the parts without notches, so the fusing don't leave nasty internal faces.. The fusing is not hard to do with Blender or OpenSCAD..
i have Blender. Need practice with it, but the price was right I got it because some ships have superstructure with curved surfaces, which I haven't had luck getting Sketchup to do. Blender is very good at curved surfaces.
I have fixed most of the issues (I hope) for making a model without the notches even found a simple way to merge them into a single model. I'll push the updates when I get home tonight.. Added the deck too. I think I'll have to split the keel down the center into two mirror images, to make it easier to print it on its own though.. I just have to finalize some issues with the notches (so that it isn't such a tight fit ), and add some checks that they don't break the model, then it is on to the impenetrable hull areas, and converting my current library of plans to Delfship.
BTW. printing the Deck is not going to be easy, unless you have some way of adding support material to the curved decks? For the steps I'll probably just split the deck at the bottom or top of the deck and print the parts separately.
For the curved decks... If you print them flat, with the top curved, the slicer will fill the volume between the bottom and top with a fill pattern. You can specify the type of pattern and what % solid that you want. For this, I'd go with a honeycomb pattern (takes longer but very strong) and 40% solid. I've printed some long, flat pieces in this manner (floorpan for a 1/10 scale RC truggy) and it doesn't bend hardly at all. If we print the superstructure and weld it to the deck, that will strengthen it enormously.
Hey tug, your idea to weld the super to the deck, on a Bismarck.... echoes history. Bis was a first for Blohm und Voss in that the super was welded there, too.... one of a first for them in the manner they did it. Quite cool.
Some bad news. The Boolean operation (union) from OpenScad did not result in a valid solid mesh. Have not tried Blender or Sketchup Pro, so there is still some hope that combining them all into a single model for printing like you want Tug. This issue is probably caused by coincident ( lie on top of each other) faces by the different meshes. So it might be possible to simply edit the models to avoid coincident faces , but that is way to much manual work to my liking.. If all else fails I'll roll my own algorithm to do the the merge. Noticed some issue the bismark model , I'm not sure if the plans I had was somewhat warped , the deck at midships seems to be lower than the deck at the stern. I was under the impression it should be quite flat ... Uploaded the models with the deck plate that fits the caprail/subdeck. I'll clean up the Delfship models and upload them too when I get some time.. Still have some work to do to ensure the (optional) Notches leaves proper tolerance and that they don't break the model before I tackle the impenetrable areas. I have a few ideas to optimise the model so it will use 30-50% less material to print, I just need to exporiment with them a bit. BTW. does the Vittorio qualify for two stringers ? It has a crease near the water line and then the clear 'step' in the hull higher up...
Irritating when that happens with a union (I usually see it with difference and intersection where you can just make one larger). If you difference instead can you see which face is causing the problem?
Another thing you could do is to try translating one of the models a small amount -- you may be able to move the faces off each other without distorting the final result too much.
Scaled the ribs to fit nicely inside the caprail/subdeck, same crap. I'm beginning to think OpenScad is just full of crap.. I would have been very nice if it worked but alas reality does not always play nice.. I'v found the ribs that cause the issue and there is nothing strange about them, no overlapping faces. I cannot even detect the hole that the boolean operation caused, it must be VERY small ( ie double arithmetic precision problems ).. I'll try the difference and see what I get, but it still boils down to the same problem, Boolean operations is not a reliable solution to get what Tug wants to do without lots of manual intervention. I'm starting to work on some ideas. For now I'll get the code to work properly on the separate parts with notches etc while I let some of my ideas brew for the uni-body model approach.. Found a small but not so easy to fix issue with the extrusion code that I'll need to fix.
