Orca3D Release Notes
Orca3D is a plug-in for designing and analyzing marine structures in Rhinoceros. These release notes describe the status and updates included in the current release of Orca3D.
Important instructions when running in Windows Vista or Windows 7: After installing Orca3D, you must run Rhino once using the Windows “Run as administrator” option in order to install and start the Orca3D License Service. This is most easily accomplished by right-clicking on the Rhino desktop icon and selecting "Run as administrator." This is only required once; thereafter you may start Rhino in the usual fashion. If you do not perform the steps above, you may receive an Orca3D License Service error.
Orca3D Requirements
| • | Rhino Version 4, SR 9 or higher |
| • | Operating Systems tested: Windows XP , Vista (all 32-bit) |
| • | Operating Systems not tested: Windows 2000, 64-bit XP, Vista, and Windows 7 |
| • | Operating Systems not supported: Windows ME, 98, 95, NT |
| • | Mac: The Intel Mac with Bootcamp or Parallels has not been tested |
| • | Mac: VMware Fusion2 is not supported |
| • | Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (the Orca3D installation will install it if it is not already on your computer) |
| • | Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2008 (the Orca3D installation will install it if it is not already on your computer) |
| • | Valid license key (without this, Orca3D will operate as a 15-day fully functional evaluation copy) |
Release 1.1.0 (April 2010)
Please note that this release requires Rhino service release 6 or later.
New Features:
| • | T-Splines Compatibility: Orca3D has been made to be compatible with the T-Splines plug-in for Rhino (see http://www.tsplines.com). Orca3D sections can be cut through T-Splines objects and these sections will update dynamically as control points are edited. T-Splines objects can also be used for Orca3D hydrostatics analysis and can have Orca3D weight/cost properties assigned to them. |
| • | OrcaCreateFoil: A new command was added for creating 3D foil shapes based on a 2D cross section. OrcaCreateFoil allows the user to choose a 2D foil section shape and specify the shape in planform including span, root and tip chord lengths, and trapezoidal or elliptical planform. Custom foil sections can be imported. A sample csv file is included to demonstrate how to import new foil offsets. The root and/or tip of the foil can be capped. A bulb body of revolution can optionally be added at the foil tip. This command also allows the user to analyze the volume, weight, and center of mass of the foil prior to creation. |
| • | OrcaCreatePlate: A new command, OrcaCreatePlate, was added to create a flat Nurbs surface of specified degrees and number of control points. This command also allows the user to specify the location and orientation of the surface. |
| • | OrcaHullAssistant: A new command, OrcaHullAssistant, has been added that lets the user create and manage hull shapes. This command replaces the previous Orca3D commands, OrcaCreateSailboat, OrcaCreateShipHull, OrcaCreatePlaningHull, although the scriptable versions of these commands remain in place for script use. OrcaHullAssistant allows the user to save specific combination of hull assistant settings in a library to be retrieved or modified for future use. Hull assistant settings can also be exported/imported to a file. |
| • | OrcaViewports: A new command, OrcaViewports has been added that lets the user setup viewports in Bodyplan, Profile, Planview, and Perspective views, taking account of the user-specified model orientation in Orca3D Document Properties. Initial display settings for the Orca3D viewports including grid lines display, grid axes, world axes icon, background gradient, control polygon culling, and bow direction can be set using the OrcaProperties command. OrcaViewports replaces the OrcaViewport macro in previous versions. |
| • | OrcaSelWeightCost: A new command, OrcaSelWeightCost, allows users to select "normal" (e.g. unlocked and visible) Rhino objects that have or don't have (at the user’s option) Orca3D weight/cost properties associated with them. |
| • | OrcaManageWeightCost: A new command, OrcaManageWeightCost, allows the user to manage Orca3D weight/cost properties. This includes viewing current weight/cost properties including weight/cost totals, adding weight/cost points, and editing/deleting weight/cost properties. |
| • | OrcaProperties/Units: The OrcaProperties command has been modified to allow the user to choose a currency unit label for cost input/output. Note that unlike other Orca3D units, there is no conversion factor associated with cost units. The command was also modified so that when a Custom unit system is chosen, the user can copy units from another non-custom system as a starting point. Also made default speed unit knots for all standard unit systems and the default power unit horsepower for imperial systems and kilowatts for SI systems |
| • | OrcaProperties: OrcaProperties now allows the user to specify the forward and up directions for the current model. This removes the orientation restrictions on other Orca3D commands that required a particular model orientation. Note that specifying the model orientation via OrcaProperties does not transform your Rhino model in any way. It merely provides orientation information to Orca3D about the orientation of your model for use in other Orca3D commands (e.g. hydrostatics, drag analysis, lines drawing). If you wish to change the orientation of your model you need to use the native Rhino transformation commands (e.g. rotate). |
| • | Hydrostatics/weight integration: Orca3D hydrostatics calculations have been integrated with weight properties. In the Orca3D command for defining the design hydrostatics condition (OrcaDefineDesignSimulation), the user now has the option to “Link to Orca3D Weight/Cost Items”. This option, available only when defining the design condition with a weight/center, will automatically extract the weight and center of gravity from the total of all currently defined weight/cost properties. This link is “live” in the sense that changes/additions to weight/cost properties will be automatically reflected in the design condition. In the Orca3D command for computing non-design hydrostatics (OrcaHydrostatics), the user now has the options to get the weight/CG from the currently defined weight/cost items or to use a simple weight/cg calculator to define the weight and center. These non-design options are static computations and thus are not automatically updated as weight/cost properties change. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Orca3D hydrostatics now allows the user to define virtually any combination of loading conditions in analysis using the “Custom Conditions” feature. In previous versions of Orca3D, the user could define many loading conditions for an analysis using the ellipsis syntax in the input fields. The resulting output would contain all combinations of the specified input values. Now the user can customize the collection of loading conditions to exclude or modify specific conditions. Further details on this functionality are provided in the Help file. |
Enhanced Features:
| • | User Interface: Orca3D forms have increased error checking, logical tab orders, and improved resizing behaviors. The real-time hydrostatics form is now dockable and allows the user to choose the hydrostatics information to display. The lines drawing form has been modified to use a tabbed form due to the increased number of user options. The Orca3D toolbar behavior has been modified to allow the user to show names on the toolbar buttons. The Rhino model/filename has been added to the hydrostatics, powering, and weight/cost reports. |
| • | Orca Meshing: Changed default Orca3D meshing parameters (used for hydrostatics and other Orca3D calculations) to obtain a more precise mesh at a cost of a slightly slower computational speed. The user can still set the Orca3D meshing parameters using OrcaProperties. Also changed the Orca3D Document Properties form to have new options for setting mesh parameters. These include "Orca3D Default", "Custom(Basic)", and "Custom(Advanced)". See the help documentation for a complete description. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Added the ability to use multiple ellipses in lists (eg. 1,2,…30,35…90). Added “Weight to Immerse” and “Moment to Trim” values to the hydrostatics condition detailed output, and added GMT and GML to the hydrostatics condition summary. Modified the station data plot so that immersed area and immersed girth are plotted to a similar scale by using exponential notation. Added list of Rhino objects selected for hydrostatics calculation to hydrostatics output. Users who want to script the OrcaHydrostatics command can now retrieve the resulting hydrostatics values from their script. A sample script demonstrating how to do so is included in the distribution. CSV file hydrostatics output is now an option for both the interactive and scriptable versions of the OrcaHydrostatics command. This provides users with a format they can use to customize their hydrostatics output and also provides a way to write scripts that analyze the hydrostatics output. Added non-dimensional longitudinal locations of center of buoyancy and center of flotation as measured from the aft end of the waterline (measurements from forward waterline ending are already included). Added decimal places to some of the hydrostatics output which is especially useful for smaller models. Improved readability of the computed sectional area curve by removing wetted girth from the plot. |
| • | OrcaDefineDesignSimulation: If a design hydrostatics condition has already been defined in Orca3D, then the OrcaDefineDesignSimulation command will display the current design condition. Modified "real-time hydrostatics" behavior to make real-time hydrostatics window open immediately after the OrcaDefineDesignSimulation command is complete. Real-time hydrostatics window stays visible now even when the Rhino application is deactivated. |
| • | OrcaAssignWeightCost: Users can now assign Orca3D weight/cost properties to Rhino mesh objects. Also, the form for assigning weight/cost to a Rhino geometry object has been modified to allow the user to filter the types of materials to choose from and to show the name of the Rhino object (when a single object is selected). |
| • | OrcaReportWeightAndCost: Modified the weight/cost report to use separate pages for weight and cost and to add a column for the dimensional basis used for computing weight/cost, i.e. the length, area, or volume associated with the Rhino object (N/A is reported if all weight or cost values were directly assisnged). For the stock materials page of the report, if a material is not in the user’s material library it is denoted by prepending “local” to the material name. Also modified the OrcaReportWeightAndCost command to have a command argument indicating what Rhino objects to include in report (all objects, visible objects, selected objects). |
| • | Orca3D Drag Prediction: The Orca3D drag prediction library, provided by HydroComp, Inc. has been updated. The new version has improved error checking and allows non-integer speed increments for both Holtrop and Savitsky analyses. |
| • | OrcaCreateLinesDrawing: Enhancements to the Orca3D lines drawing functionality include: the user is now able to specify which lines to include in the lines plan (Orca3D sections, all curves, selected curves), specify if x,y,z axes are shown in all three views, and specify the longitudinal location at which to split between fore and aft sides of the bodyplan view (stations and perimeter curves). This command now shows the maximum scale that will fit on the sheet size, and allows the user to adjust the text size for the labels. Diagonals, cants, and inclines are projected to their own plane in the lines drawing. Internal surface chines (defined by multiple surface knots) are now drawn in the lines drawing. |
| • | OrcaSections: Modified Orca3D sections behavior so that if a section has a curvature graph turned on, it retains that setting after surface control points are moved and placed. Modified behavior of form for defining Orca3D sections to better handle issues related to negative section spacing values. |
| • | OrcaPointsOn: Orca3D control points now draw net rows/columns corresponding to multiple knots in the surface in a user-specified color. This color is specified using the OrcaProperties command and is referred to as the “Chine Color”. |
| • | Planing Hull Assistant: Changed the default interactive behavior of the planing hull assistant so that the “mid-deadrise” angle is linked to the transom deadrise angle by default. This gives more usable hull shapes when modifying transom deadrise. The user can adjust the mid-deadrise angle independently if desired by clicking the associated checkbox. |
| • | Ship Hull Assistant: The Orca3D ship hull assistant has been vastly improved to allow much better control of the hull shape, especially in the forebody. The user can also independently control side slope and deadrise angles, the flare curvature of the hull sides, the stem profile curvature, the forefoot shape, and the bow rounding. See the Orca3D Help file for complete details. |
| • | Sailboat Hull Assistant: The sailboat assistant has been improved to allow independent control of hull flare and deadrise angles. |
| • | Orca3D Hull Assistants: All of the hull assistants were improved to show section preview in a different color from the hull wireframe preview. Currently the section preview color is the same as that specified in the Orca3D properties for the “Chine Color”. |
| • | OrcaWrapCorner: Modified the command behavior so that Rhino viewports are not fit to extents after command completion. |
| • | OrcaInsertChine: Modified the command to permit object snapping when selecting the chine insertion point. If intersection snapping is enabled, the chine can be inserted at selected iso-parametric mesh lines by selecting near u-v mesh line intersections. Also fixed a bug in which pressing <ESC> during point selection still inserted the chine. |
Bug Fixes:
| • | Sailboat Hull Assistant: Now allows negative transom heights (i.e. transom immersion). |
| • | Planing Hull Assistant: Fixed a bug when setting transom deadrise angle to zero in which a non-zero chine width was not properly accounted for. |
| • | Hull Assistants: Fixed a bug in the preview hydrostatics for the Orca3D hull assistants. |
| • | OrcaCreateLinesDrawing: Fixed a bug that caused a crash if no printers were installed. Fixed the format of A-sized sheets to fully fit the lines on the paper. Fixed a bug in which the views were sometimes not properly located. |
| • | OrcaMove: Fixed several bugs that caused crashes. |
| • | OrcaExport: Fixed a bug in export of sections to PIAS format. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Fixed a bug in which running non-design hydrostatics after design hydrostatics were defined, could affect the defined design condition. Also fixed a bug in computing Ax and station of max area when there is parallel midbody and many sections are defined in the PMB. Fixed an intermittent bug in computing immersed girths in certain instances. Fixed a bug in the units label for righting moment. Fixed a bug in presentation of Mt and Ml which is now measured from the resultant flotation plane. Modified computation of non-dimensional station of maximum area to be from the forward end of waterline instead of from the origin. The dimensional location is still measured from the origin. Fixed a bug in serialization of fluid density. Improved the overall stability and robustness of the Orca3D hydrostatics calculation engine. |
| • | OrcaAssignWeightCost: Fixed a bug that caused a crash if a Rhino object is assigned a name containing a backslash (“\”). Rhino point objects that have weight/cost properties assigned to them can only get their CG location from the point itself. You cannot assign the CG for a point object. Also fixed a units bug in the CG calculation for weight/cost points for units other than meters. |
| • | Orca Weight/Cost: Fixed a bug in the Orca3D weight/cost calculation when objects with weight/cost properties were copied or mirrored. Also fixed a bug that occurred when Rhino objects with Orca weight/cost properties were joined or exploded. |
| • | OrcaPlaningAnalysis: Modified section cutting/merging logic for complex geometries with holes, spray rails, tunnels, etc., to make the planing analysis more robust. |
| • | Orca Units: Fixed a units conversion bug for moment values. |
| • | OrcaSections: Fixed a bug in the preview of Orca3D sections for non-orthogonal sections (e.g. diagonals, cants, inclines). |
Release 1.0.14 (November 7, 2008)
New Features:
| • | OrcaInsertChine: A new command was added to allow a user to insert a chine (i.e. slope discontinuity) into a surface along an iso-parameter. The command allows the user to choose the parametric direction, u or v. |
Enhanced Features:
| • | OrcaAssignWeightCost: The form for assigning weight/cost to a Rhino geometry object has been modified to allow the user to create new materials by selecting “Add New Material(s)…” from the dropdown list. |
| • | OrcaAssignWeightCost: The command now allows selection of more than one object at a time for assigning weight/cost properties. A “Clear” button was added to the form for assigning weight/cost properties to allow a user to remove weight/cost properties from selected objects. |
| • | OrcaReportWeightAndCost: Added a progress bar during weight/cost report generation since calculations can be time consuming. |
| • | OrcaCreatePlaningHull: The Planing Hull Assistant has been modified so that the resulting hull surface is degree 3 in both parametric directions. It had been degree 2 in one direction. |
| • | OrcaPlaningAnalysis, OrcaHoltropAnalysis: The resistance analysis commands have been modified to allow the user to export the calculation to HydroComp NavCad and SwiftCraft files. |
| • | OrcaWrapCorner: Added a check to see if the selected surface is trimmed. If so the user is notified that the command will remove trimming information and given the option to proceed or quit. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: The OrcaHydrostatics command is now scriptable. |
Bug Fixes:
| • | Internationalization: Made numerous changes to facilitate using Orca3D with international keyboard settings. In order to be consistent with Rhino, Orca3D requires all input using “.” as the decimal separator and “,” as the list separator. |
| • | Hydrostatics: Fixed a unit conversion error in output of righting moment in lb-ft units. |
| • | OrcaCreateLinesDrawing: Fixed a bug in display of block and prismatic coefficients when length and volume units are not consistent. Fixed a bug in display of wetted surface area value. |
| • | OrcaReportWeightAndCost: Fixed a bug in which cost item output was sometimes denoted as having been set directly when it was computed from the associated geometry properties. |
Release 1.0 (October 1, 2008)
| • | Weight and Cost Module: New functionality has been added for tracking weights and costs of geometric objects. A stock materials list facilitates rapid and consistent tracking of commonly used materials. Summary reports of weight and cost can be generated for the model. |
| • | OrcaHoltropAnalysis: A new command, OrcaHoltropAnalysis, provides a method to compute the hull resistance and power of a displacement hull model. The command uses the HydroComp Drag Prediction Library and is based on the Holtrop method for computing resistance. A propulsive efficiency is entered by the user to compute propulsive power. |
| • | OrcaMove: Fixed a bug which did not allow control points from multiple surfaces to be moved, and improved the preview mode for more consistent operation when moving multiple types of objects simultaneously. |
| • | Report Format: Adjusted the format to allow for a larger company logo. Extraneous blank pages were removed from the reports. |
| • | Planing Hull Assistant: Fixed a bug which caused the chine height adjustment not to work. |
| • | Toolbar Settings: Fixed a bug which prevented toolbar settings from being saved in Windows Vista. |
| • | Orca Sections: No longer become selected when editing a surface. |
WIP Release 4.1 (September 2, 2008)
| • | Units: Fixed several issues related to units used in hydrostatics and speed/power calculations. |
| • | Orientation: Fixed a bug in model orientation settings which occurred when reading in files saved in earlier WIP releases. This may show up as nonsensical results in either hydrostatics or resistance calculations (e.g., LCB=0 when it shouldn't be). |
| • | Formatting: Modified the number format used in the section area and section girth hydrostatics output. |
WIP Release 4 (August 29, 2008)
New Features:
| • | OrcaOffsetTable: A new command, OrcaOffsetTable, allows users to create traditional offset tables from a selected set of planar and 3D curves. When the command is run the user is prompted to include all curves, include Orca3D sections, or to select the curves to use for the offset table. The command opens Excel (must be installed on end-user machine for command to work) and generates the offset table output. |
| • | OrcaPlaningAnalysis: A new command, OrcaPlaningAnalysis, provides a method to compute the hull resistance and power of a planing hull model. The command uses the HydroComp Drag Prediction Library and is based on the Savitsky method for computing resistance. A propulsive efficiency is entered by the user to compute propulsive power. |
| • | Licensing: Added Orca menu item to start Orca3D License Manager as well as shortcuts to the Start menu. Also added current license status to Orca3D About box. |
Enhanced Features:
| • | OrcaCreateLinesDrawing: Several enhancements were made to the Orca3D lines drawing functionality. Instead of having to specify the page size, dropdown lists of connected printers and available page sizes are presented. A custom paper size option is still offered. Portrait and landscape page orientation options have been added as have options to display/hide the title block, page border and section labels. Labeling of section curves is a new functionality. For station curve labeling, the user is provided the option to input station spacing and a station 0 location. The title block has been enhanced with more detail and available input. If the user has defined a “Design Hydrostatics Condition” an option to include principal characteristics on the drawing based on the hydrostatic properties at the design condition is included. The body plan view now shows stations aft of amidships mirrored about centerline as in a traditional lines drawing. Lines drawing geometry is placed on a unique “Lines Drawing” layer incorporating date and time of creation. The drawing border, title block, and section labels are placed on their own sub-layers. Finally, if the user tries to create a lines drawing but has not defined any Orca sections, a warning message is issued. |
| • | OrcaCreatePlaningHull: Modified the behavior of this command so that the hull is created as a single surface (in addition to the transom and deck). Previously the hull was created as a polysurface which meant it had to be exploded in order to perform control point editing. |
| • | Hull Assistants: Improved user interface error handling to trap invalid input. Also changed “Stem” text occurrences to “Bow” to minimize confusion (“Stem” sometimes looks like “Stern” with certain fonts). |
| • | OrcaDesignHydrostatics: Inform user if no design condition has been defined when attempting to compute design hydrostatics and provide option to define the design condition. |
| • | OrcaTheater: Modified so that the theater page opens in a modeless form so that the user can continue to work in Rhino while the form is open. |
| • | OrcaSections: Implemented the capability to import Orca section definitions from another 3dm file. |
| • | Persistence: Improved robustness of logic to read and write Orca3D document data to 3dm files. |
| • | Help and Documentation: Updated existing and created new Help Videos documenting the use of many of the Orca3D capabilities. Extended Orca3D Help documentation. Implemented context-sensitive help in Orca3D forms and added Orca commands to Rhino command help. |
Bug Fixes:
| • | OrcaCreatePlaningHull: Fixed a bug in retrieving/applying Chine Height at Stem input parameter. |
| • | OrcaCreateSailboat: Fixed a bug in sailboat hull assistant in which a manual change to the beam at transom text box did not cause an update when leaving the textbox. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Improved robustness for large heel angles and in handling ranges of input conditions. Modified the computation of LCB/Lwl and LCF/Lwl to be independent of longitudinal location of origin. |
| • | OrcaSections: Fixed a bug in the definition of diagonals which had been using the transverse coordinate instead of the vertical coordinate. |
| • | Hull Assistants: Fixed a bug in the unit labels for dimension input which originated when converting Hull Assistants to modeless forms. |
| • | Orca Toolbar: Changed the location of the Orca3D toolbar from the Orca installation folder to the “Common Application Data” folder. This was done to allow saving of changes to the toolbar location on Windows Vista where the standard user does not have permissions to write to the Orca installation folder. The location of the Command Application Data folder varies with operating system (typically “c:\documents and settings\all users\...” on Windows XP and “c:\program data\...” on Windows Vista). |
WIP Release 3 (June 30 , 2008)
New Features:
| • | OrcaProperties: Implemented the line type functionality for Orca3D control nets, set from the OrcaProperties command. |
| • | OrcaPointsOfInterest: Implemented a new “Points of Interest” functionality in Orca3D. Points of Interest are defined via the OrcaPointsOfInterest command. They are used in any hydrostatics/stability calculation. The hydrostatics output reports the distance of the points of interest to the resultant waterplane. Points of Interest have an activation flag so they can be disabled/enabled at will. They are persisted with the 3DM file. |
| • | OrcaMove: Implemented a new command, OrcaMove. This command allows the user to perform complex manipulations of geometry objects and Orca3D surface control points via a custom user control. This includes absolute or relative translations in either Cartesian or polar coordinates. Use of the mouse wheel permits the user to nudge the selected entities as needed. |
| • | Licensing: Implemented a licensing mechanism within Orca3D. This mechanism will allow the end user to try out demo/evaluation versions, to purchase and activate a licensed version, to move a license from one machine to another, and to perform various other licensing operations. |
Enhanced Features:
| • | Hull Assistants: Added session persistence to the Orca Hull Assistants so values entered will be remembered the next time that assistant is re-opened during the same session. |
| • | Hull Assistants: Add content to Rhino document notes whenever a user creates a new hull via a Hull Assistant to indicate date of creation and parameters used. |
| • | Hull Assistants: Implemented modeless forms for Orca3D hull assistants so that the user can modify the view while working with the assistant. |
| • | Hull Assistants: Made the Orca3D Hull Assistant commands, OrcaCreateSailboat, OrcaCreatePlaningHull, OrcaCreateShipHull scriptable. |
| • | General User Interface: Made numerous text, format, and behavioral changes to enhance the user experience. |
| • | OrcaExportCurves: Added a default part name for IDF export since some programs will not accept a blank part name. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Modified hydrostatics calculations so that stations are computed on the surfaces selected for hydrostatics, regardless of what surfaces have Orca3D sections defined. If there is a mismatch between surfaces selected for hydrostatics and the surfaces for which Orca3D sections are defined, a warning message is issued to the user. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Made hydrostatics more robust for unusual resultant flotation plane attitudes. |
| • | OrcaProperties: The user can now specify a logo file to use in Orca3D hydrostatics output. If the logo file specified cannot be found, the default Orca3D logo is used. |
Bug Fixes:
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Only compute section properties for those sections with the “calculation” checkbox set during hydrostatics calculations. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Fixed a bug in computation of section properties for heeled models. |
| • | OrcaProperties: Fixed a bug in the behavior of the Orca Properties form when switching water density. |
| • | Globalization: Fixed a bug which prevented use of Orca3D on computers with non-US keyboard settings. All Orca3D input should use US keyboard settings (decimal separator is “.” and list separator is “,”) as in Rhino. |
WIP Release 2 (May 1, 2008)
New Features:
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Added an option to insert the resultant flotation plane in the hydrostatics command. Also added an option to alternatively transform the model so that z=0 represents the resultant flotation plane. When either of these options is selected, Orca3D places points representing CB and CF. It labels and groups these objects with their associated flotation plane in case multiple flotation planes are being computed. |
| • | Reports: Hydrostatics reporting now uses the Microsoft ReportViewer control. This control makes for faster reporting and has a much smaller installation footprint; User formats are supported through the use of the MS Express Web Developer with the appropriate report designer add-in |
| • | OrcaSections: A new command to refresh the Orca3D Sections has been added (OrcaSectionsRecompute). It is assigned to the right mouse button on the Sections icon. |
| • | Real-time Hydrostatics: The ability to see real-time hydrostatics while editing a surface has been added. This is enabled via the Design Hydrostatics. |
| • | Export Formats: IDF and PIAS formats can now be exported using the Orca Sections that have been defined. |
Enhanced Features:
| • | Installation: The installation program now opens the user’s default web browser to display the Orca Theater html page, so that installation is not interrupted. It also now works with a FireFox browser. |
| • | OrcaProperties: The handling of SI, Imperial, and Custom units has been overhauled. A user can now choose from four pre-defined Orca3D Unit Preferences: SI-kg, SI-tonne, Imperial-lbs, Imperial-LT. Further, a user can now choose a Custom units scheme, which allows the selection of specific units for different categories, e.g. volume in foot^3 and area in inch^2. The Custom settings are accessed via the Show Units button. |
| • | OrcaExportCurves: Default file extensions are now added when exporting to IDF or PIAS file formats. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Through the use of report parameters, the project, company, and analysis info is shown on all hydrostatics report pages. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: BM, GM, LCF, TCF, and VCG values have been added to the condition summary and the summary has been slightly restructured. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Added button to access Orca3D Properties from the hydrostatics form |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Modified the behavior of the Hydrostatics input dialog so that if Model Sinkage is chosen, Model Heel and Model Trim are automatically selected and LCG,TCG are disabled; if Weight is chosen all options are available. |
| • | Orca3D Tree: The Orca Tree now supports multiselect. |
| • | OrcaSections: Orca Sections may no longer be deleted with Rhino’s Delete command. They can only be deleted by removing them in the Orca Sections dialog. They also cannot be edited directly. You must make a copy if you want a curve that is editable. |
| • | OrcaSections: Made all of the layers created for Orca Sections a child of the "Orca3D Sections" layer. Removed the option to put all sections on one layer; the default color of sections is by layer; right-clicking section(s) and setting color changes the color to By Object or lets user set it to ByLayer. |
| • | OrcaSections: Orca Sections are now given names according to their type and location. |
| • | OrcaSections: The Orca Sections tree now allows multiselect. |
| • | OrcaSections: Behavior has been changed so that the Orca Sections are updated any time a surface is transformed or modified. Real-time (dynamic) updating still only occurs when editing Orca Control Points. |
| • | Real-time Sections: When moving Orca control points with Sections updating in real-time, after each move the Sections would be selected. This has been corrected. |
Bug Fixes:
| • | General: Verious speeling errers hav bin fixd. |
| • | Orca3D Toolbar: Issues regarding the visibility of the toolbar have been fixed. |
| • | Orca3D Tree: Inserting control points into a surface while the Orca Tree was on caused an error. This has been fixed. |
| • | Orca3D Tree: Fixed an error where the lightbulb indicator in the Orca Tree would be off for items that were just grouped. |
| • | Orca3D Tree: Fixed a bug in the Orca Tree where a layer could remain highlighted in the tree after an object had been selected in the graphical window. |
| • | OrcaCreatePlaningHull: Planing hull assistant did not allow flat sheer line. This is now allowed. Corrected in the Sailboat Assistant as well. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Stability calculations at 90 and 180 degrees are now correct. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Corrected waterplane inertia unit labels in hydrostatics output. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Fixed the reporting of section locations in the Hydrostatics output to reflect the current units. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Hydrostatics reports no longer include blank pages for section and righting arm data if that data is not available. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Corrected error in the reporting of TCF. |
| • | OrcaHydrostatics: Corrected waterplane area calculation in English units. |
| • | OrcaProperties: Removed zoom extents behavior after OK on OrcaProperties dialog. |
| • | OrcaSections: Error caused when Preview was used in the Sections dialog before defining any sections has been fixed. |
| • | OrcaSections: Corrected error that caused the section calculation checkbox to not remain unchecked. |
| • | OrcaSections: The names of Orca Sections now update in the tree to reflect a change in units. |
| • | OrcaSections: The options in the Orca Sections dialog are preserved for each Section type. |
| • | OrcaTree: The Orca Tree was modified so that it no longer slows way down when large models are loaded. |
| • | Real-time Hydrostatics: The units in real-time hydrostatics would not reflect the units of a model that was read in while the real-time hydros window was open. This has been fixed. |
| • | Real-time Sections: Corrected error that when recomputing sections; locked sections and section layers did not get deleted when they should have been. |
| • | Real-time Sections: Corrected a problem that caused the real-time section line types to not be correct. |
| • | Vista OS: Fixed a bug that caused a crash when exiting in the Vista operating system. |
WIP Release 1 (Feb 29, 2008)
The Work-In-Progress (WIP) is intended to begin the process of soliciting feedback from the user community. While every attempt is made to release stable code, it does not undergo as thorough a testing process as a commercial release. After receiving feedback, there may be major changes in functionality.
