Maxsurf CONNECT Edition V23.06

Changes: MAXSURF Modeler

900986: Quad-Dominant Meshes can be added on structural parts
As with adding a Mesh on a structural part (Frames, Plates, Decks and Stringers), Quadmeshes can also be added on structural parts:


If include stringer path is checked then the stringer path edges will be coincident with the Plate Mesh quad element edges:


Import and export
The following import and export file formats now support quadrilateral elements: WAMIT, 3DM, PLY and OFF. (STL file format supports only triangular mesh elements and any quadrilateral elements will be subdivided into two triangles about their common internal boundary).
Mesh operations
A large proportion of the Mesh operations will convert the mesh to a pure triangular element mesh. However these may be remeshed to a quad-dominant mesh if required.
User interface changes
All references to “Trimesh” have been replaced with “Mesh” since Modeler can now include both triangular and quadrilateral elements. This is reflected in the Menu, Ribbon and Toolbar. We are updating the manual. However to prevent breaking automation scripts, we have not changed the COM interface objects; even though they retain the same “Mesh” name they do support both type of elements.
As noted earlier, the Mesh creation dialogs which now support an option for quadrilateral meshes.The Mesh toolbar has been extended to include all the commands available in the Mesh menu. Furthermore, the icon for the snap node to surface button has been changed:


901070, 992384: New Buttons in Modeler
Several new icons have been added and a few icons have been modified in the Modeler toolbars and menus:


901144: Insert Surface when Bonding
When bonding two Surfaces, t is now possible to insert a new surface, rather than moving the edge of one of the surfaces. Select the two edges to be bonded but hold down the shift key when selecting the bonding command to insert a new surface rather than moving the second edge.


901351: Mesh Planar Nodes
This command will create a new mesh from the selected nodes provided that they are coplanar. This can be useful for closing a tube for instance.


962179: Web Meshes
Modeler can now generate polygonal tri/quad "Web Meshes". Different element layouts can be user specified depending on the use of the mesh (i.e. hydrodynamics vs. FEA vs hydrostatic calculations).


997537: Model Quickstart Dialog
For academic users, the automatic display of the Quickstart dialog when Modeler is started may be disabled. This is done by setting the following registry entry to 0.


1143040: Quadrilateral Meshes
This version of Modeler introduces quadrilateral elements (facets) to Mesh objects as a technology preview. We aim to extend the features and capabilities for meshes containing quadrilateral elements over theforthcoming releases of Modeler.

Quadrilateral and Triangle mesh elements
The Modeler Mesh objects now supports quadrilaterals as well as triangles. This is done by tracking the link between pairs of adjacent triangles which are to be considered as a single quadrilateral mesh element. Since the quadrilaterals are composed of two triangles there is no requirement (or enforcement) that quadrilateral element be planar. Under most circumstances, the common edge between the adjacent triangles is not displayed, however it is apparent in the shaded, rendered view if the two triangles are not in the same plane. It is also for this reason that you will see two mesh normal arrows on a quadrilateral element (one for each triangle). However clicking on either will invert the direction of the whole quadrilateral.
Generating quadrilateral meshes
Primitive geometrical shapes (plane, box, cylinder, column) can be added from the Meshes menu. In the dialog you are given the option to mesh using triangles or quadrilateral elements. Where possible the resulting mesh will use quadrilateral elements (triangle elements will be used to close the ends of cylinders and columns).



Bug fixes and minor changes

- 899068: Multiple redundant refreshes in assembly view. Fixed.
- 900957: The Align to Vector and Align to Plane commands may now be used on Curve control points and Mesh nodes.
- 900962: Upstand display incorrect. Upstands are all being displayed at the angle specified for the first Upstand. Fixed.
- 900963: Create bonds on Stringer path when plates meshed and "include stringer path in mesh" chosen.
- 900965: Bonds are now preserved when remeshing triangles to quads.
- 900967: Invisible Frames and Decks can no longer be selected.
- 900968: Adding a marker in a graphical view now obeys the current snap settings.
- 900980: Surface Move / Flip / Rotate does not apply full transformation to unlocked bonded surface. Fixed.
- 901094: The Mesh resulting from a Boolean operation is now added in the assembly common to the two interacting Meshes.
- 901101: A problem which could cause the trimming to be reset when importing a Rhino .3dm file has been fixed.
- 901349: More sensible default target edge length for mesh 2d curve.
- 901354: A problem which sometimes prevented Surface intersection lines from updating while dragging control points has been fixed.
- 905307: Crash on bond Mesh at visible intersections (model specific). Fixed.
- 909803: Mesh nodes bonded to a stringer curve should be locked. Fixed.
- 925731: Modeler now display mouse coordinates in Perspective view when dragging or inserting markers or control points.
- 925735: False color rendering indicator ball has jagged edges. Fixed.
- 939142: Offset Curve Command. It is now possible to offset a curve in 3 dimensions. If a curve lies in a plane the offset curve will remain in that plane. If the curve is no planar the offset curve is offset in the plane of the local curvature along the curve.
- 948067: Speed up marker drawing for datasets >50,000 markers.
- 948073: Extrude surface dialog doesn’t remember last settings. Fixed.
- 949039: New marker function “Assign Markers to Stations”. Automatically assigns all markers within a user specified tolerance of a station to that station. Particularly useful when importing large scanned marker datasets.
- 962178: Rhino quad-mesh surfaces can now be imported via .3dm file format.
- 962180: Selected triangles can now be split off into a new Mesh.
- 967707: In new models, it is no longer possible to revert to use the V13.xx surface trimming engine. Models generated in MAXSURF V13.xx can however be updated to the newer surface trimming engine.
- 974154: Crash on opening of .wsd file. File specific. Fixed.
- 974978: The extrude Mesh dialog now remembers the previous settings including the ‘Close ends” option.
- 975055: Cutout and Upstand drawing and calculation incorrect when Stringers not perpendicular to Frames. Fixed.
- 981552: Curve Align CPs/DataPts to Plane or Vector causes the control points to disappear. Fixed.
- 985477: Contours on surface created by extruding are not selectable. Fixed.
- 988741: Trimming not working on some long, skinny surfaces. Model specific. Fixed.
- 989598: A new Mesh can now be created by extruding selected Mesh nodes.
- 996799: Mesh Bond to contour should respect existing bonds. Fixed.
- 997314: Tooltips that are more descriptive have been added for commands that have additional features when the Shift key is held down.
- 998681: The Close model logic has been improved for models containing structural parts to ensure that the .wsd file containing the structural parts is also saved if changes have been made.
- 1000455: The "Stringer | Snap To Grid" command has been removed since this option is set in the Drawing snap settings dialog.
- 1001819: A flag for turning gird contours on/off for internal structure surfaces has been added to the Modeler preference dialog (Edit | Modeler Preferences…). If this is turned off then grid contours (sections, buttocks etc) will only be drawn on hull surfaces (not internal structure surfaces).
- 1017222: Bond Meshes at visible intersections algorithm has been improved.
- 1021921: The algorithm for trimming long, slender surfaces with large differences in the parametric mapping in u- and v-directions has been improved.
- 1025726: Flip Mesh dialog logic incorrect when Meshes locked. Fixed.
- 1036848: Trimming from rhino imported model incorrect. Model specific. Fixed.
- 1042926: Double refresh of graphical view on select click. Fixed. However under some situations some objects may remain highlighted (as if selected) even though the selection has been cleared by clicking in the background. To force a screen refresh and un-highlight these objects, press the space bar.
- 1045978: The display of deducted sections now obey the visibility flags in the Design Grid dialog.
- 1046278: When importing a Wavefront .obj mesh file, separate Meshes are generated for each “object” or “group” in the file (all that is required is a line stating with the “o” or “g” character).
- 1043823: A crash which could occur when importing a mesh models with very complex outer boundaries has been fixed (this was caused by the edge contour exceeding the 10000 point limit.)
- 1000455: The "Stringer | Snap To Grid" command has been removed since this option is set in the Drawing snap settings dialog.
- 1001819: A flag for turning gird contours on/off for internal structure surfaces has been added to the Modeler preference dialog (Edit | Modeler Preferences…). If this is turned off then grid contours (sections, buttocks etc) will only be drawn on hull surfaces (not internal structure surfaces).
- 1017222: Bond Meshes at visible intersections algorithm has been improved.
- 1021921: The algorithm for trimming long, slender surfaces with large differences in the parametric mapping in u- and v-directions has been improved.
- 1025726: Flip Mesh dialog logic incorrect when Meshes locked. Fixed.
- 1036848: Trimming from rhino imported model incorrect. Model specific. Fixed.
- 1042926: Double refresh of graphical view on select click. Fixed. However under some situations some objects may remain highlighted (as if selected) even though the selection has been cleared by clicking in the background. To force a screen refresh and un-highlight these objects, press the space bar.
- 1045978: The display of deducted sections now obey the visibility flags in the Design Grid dialog.
- 1046278: When importing a Wavefront .obj mesh file, separate Meshes are generated for each “object” or “group” in the file (all that is required is a line stating with the “o” or “g” character).
- 1043823: A crash which could occur when importing a mesh models with very complex outer boundaries has been fixed (this was caused by the edge contour exceeding the 10000 point limit.)