What's New – MultiSurf/SurfaceWorks 6.9.311

Selective Symmetry

Selective symmetry is a long requested enhancement from a number of users and we are happy to finally oblige. With this new release, every entity has a check box to exclude/include it from the model level symmetry. Of course this has implications in the visibility when symmetry is turned on, but more importantly has an effect on the weight schedule and hydrostatics for non – symmetric vessels. Please look for the example file SelectiveSymmetry.MS2, which is best viewed in shaded mode.

Layer Status in Property Manager

For every entity the visibility status of the entity's layer is now displayed in the layer field of the Property Manager. An illuminated light bulb indicates the layer is "ON", a dark light bulb indicates the layer is "OFF".

New Entities

HydroReal

The HYDRO function as currently implemented has problems related to updating following changes in the model. Because the calculation is done using all visible contours, a real that uses a HYDRO function is not connected to the contours through any dependency. When the contours change, or their visibility changes, no notification takes place, so the real doesn't update.

One possibility is to add another argument to the HYDRO function, the contours entity that it depends on. That would provide the needed notification. This has the drawback that it's often useful to generate offsets from multiple contours entities, a feature supported by the Tools/Hydrostatics option. Two other drawbacks of the HYDRO function are:

(1) It already has 6 arguments, and it's hard to remember what they all are, and what order they come in.

(2) The index argument has 29 possible values; it's hard to remember which is which.

(3) Unit dimensions of the result depend on index.

HydroReal is the suggested alternative new real entity type, in place of the function.

At this time the HydroReal is only accessed through the Tools/Command Line. "Insert HydroReal".

So, rather than remembering the identity and order of 7 arguments, you're filling in labeled fields in the Properties Manager. Rather than remembering the numbers for various index choices, you're picking from a dropdown with labels for the 29 values. The dropdown could also show the units of the result. And we can easily handle multiple contours.

Index	Units of Result	Result
1	Length	forward end of waterline
2	Length	aft end of waterline
3	Length	waterline length
4	Length	waterline maximum beam
5	Length	maximum draft
6	Length^3	displaced volume
7	Length	X coordinate of center of buoyancy
8	Unitless	center of buoyancy as % of waterline
9	MLT^-2	displacement
10	Length	Y coordinate of center of buoyancy
11	Length	Z coordinate of center of buoyancy
12	Length^2	waterplane area
13	Length	X coordinate of center of flotation
14	Unitless	center of flotation as % of waterline
15	Length^2	wetted surface
16	Length	X-coordinate of wetted surface center
17	Length	Z-coordinate of wetted surface center
18	Length	transverse metacentric height
19	ML^2T^-2	transverse righting moment per degree
20	Length	longitudinal metacentric height
21	ML^2T^-2	longitudinal righting moment per degree
22	Unitless	waterplane coefficient
23	Unitless	prismatic coefficient
24	Unitless	block coefficient
25	Unitless	maximum section coefficient
26	Unitless	displacement-length ratio
27	Length^2	lateral plane area
28	Length	X coordinate of lateral plane center
29	Length	Z coordinate of lateral plane center

Errors

1. Each Contours parent has to be X=constant contours.

Example

HydroReal.ms2 in Examples folder.

Property Manager Improvement

All True/False fields previously required multiple mouse clicks to invert the selection which was deemed excessive. A check box has been added to this field and now a single click is the only requirement to change the selection. The click does not need to be constrained to the check box. Any location in the field will have the effect of changing the selection.

New Units

The units added under Tools/Options/Model Units are Microns.

Bug Fixes

Fixed. EWS 6/18/2008. Build 307.

The Trimmed Surface does not shade in a CAD system which accepts this .DXF file. The Surf Trimesh does shade.

Trimmed surfaces are now exported as meshes when that option is selected.

Fixed. EWS 9/17/2008. Build 308.

Each time a model was opened and closed, a resource leak was occurring in the Entity Manager. When the resource instances reached a certain limit, no more could be allocated and the message above appeared. The leak has now been fixed so this no longer occurs.

FIXED by JSL 9/23/08 for build 309.

In WAMIT POT+CFG export, IRR can be in either file (but not both). We decided to put it in the POT, but Nick and Chang-Ho have reasons to prefer it in the CFG. This should be a very simple change in our program.

FIXED by JSL 9/24/08

Another WAMIT input file required for some analysis options (mean drift forces) is the Control Surface (CSF) file. Format of this file is very similar to GDF (either low-order or higher-order), only the header section is different. rg_WriteGDF already has an option to write the low-order form. It would be straightforward to add CSF to the WAMIT exports. We should be able to make the dialog by making a copy of the low-order GDF dialog and removing a few fields.

FIXED by JSL 9/23/08 for build 309.

In the WAMIT GDF (higher order) export dialog, there is a control for setting dipole patch color. In fact, color 11 is hardwired in the RG2WAMIT interface code, and no other color entered here is going to work.

I favor disabling the control, so it still shows color 11 for dipoles, but doesn't allow any change.

FIXED by JSL 9/19/08.

Insert a formula f1 -- unit dimensions area, expression AREA(hull,0). V for real values; it shows 188.193. Clear the selection set. Edit/Transform/Scale; scale x by 1.1; Ok, Ok. The real values dialog still shows 188.193.

FIXED by JSL 9/19/08.

Flatten surface with contours with Flatten TM. Choose to output snakes and magnets. The contours do not get written in the 2D file.

FIXED by EWS 10/1/08 for Build 311

Because of a prior bug fix, the ability to open a model and have it be in shaded mode is broken. If the model is saved in wireframe, it should open in wireframe. Saved in shaded it should open in shaded.