Model Maker Tutorial
Model Maker Tutorial
Model Maker Tutorial
1. Start Modelmaker
Click the Modelmaker icon in the Autoship group/folder. When the view screen
appears, pull down the File menu and click New GF. In the dialogue that appears, give
your model a file name (MYBARGE.GF1, for example), and then specify a directory
to store it in. Make a note of the filename and the directory where you are storing the
file. Click OK to close the dialogue and accept your input.
2. Create a Part
On the top menu bar, click Options and select Meters as your measuring unit.
Select the Part Create/Edit command in the Edit menu; a dialogue will appear. Under
Part Name you will see NEWPART highlighted. Type HULL over it (it does not matter
whether you type in upper or lower case). You must have a part named HULL - if you
don't, the model won't work in Autohydro. For Side, select the Center radio button. For
Class, select the Displacer radio button. After you have made these selections, click OK.
Now you are back at the main screen, which is still blank.
Now for the Components:
We will create the model as a combination of two box-shaped components. The first
component will be the parallel midship section including the aft rake, and we will shape
it to form the aft rake. The second component will be the forward rake, and in order to
demonstrate different techniques we will shape it using a different method. We will then
join the two components together to make a single component.
3. Create Component 1
Go back to the Edit menu and select the Component Create command. In the dialogue
that appears, you will see HULL on the left hand side. If it is not already highlighted,
click to highlight it. On the right hand side you will see a list of the basic component
shapes, called primitives, that Modelmaker uses as building blocks.
Click the Box radio button and then click Input; the Create Box dialogue will
appear. Under Component Name you will see C1.
Click the FWD End input box and type 15f (the system will add three significant
figures - 15.000f).
Click the Station Spacing input box and type 2.5 to specify the space between
adjacent stations. Later, if you find this station spacing too large for fitting parts
and components together smoothly, you can change the spacing by adding more
stations with the Fill command in the Edit menu.
To the right of OUTBOARD, in the TRANS input box, type 5 to set the halfbreadth.
To the right of TOP, in the VERT input box, type 5 to set the height of the deck
above baseline.
Click OK.
In the Create Component dialogue, click Done to return to the main screen. A
rectangle will now appear on the screen.
Choose Iso (Isometric) from the View menu. This will display the first component of
the model showing all the stations, with the currently selected station (the forward-most
one) highlighted in black and the red cross-shaped cursor highlighting the first vertex of
the station.
4. Shape Component 1
Shift through the group of stations to the aft-most station, by pressing F6 until
the aft-most station is highlighted. Location, near the bottom left of the screen,
will read 20a.
The cursor will appear at the bottom-center of the station, highlighting the first
vertex of the station. We will change the shape of this section by moving the two
bottom vertices up to form the lower edge of the headlog. To do this, press the
up arrow on the keyboard (repeatedly) until you can see 4.5 in the first vertical
cell under Edit Points (at the left of the screen).
Shift the cursor to the next vertex on the station by pressing F4.
Move the cursor up with the up arrow until the 2nd vertical cell under Edit
Points reads 4.5. Press Enter to update the changes and redraw the view.
Shape this station differently (just for practice): type 2.25 in the first vertical cell
and 2.25 in the second vertical cell, then press Enter to update the changes and
redraw the view.
If at any time the screen does not show changes that you have made, click the
Redraw button.
Select the Component Create command in the Edit menu; then, in the Create
Component dialogue: click HULL, then click Box, and then click Input. The Create Box
dialogue will now appear, and in it you will see C2 as the name of this component. Now
type these values:
Vert 4.5
Long 20f
Vert 0
Long 15f
Make sure that Side Factor is set to Center, then click OK. Click Done. If the main
screen shows no change, select the View Part command from the View menu - you
should now see the entire part.
To scroll through the components of the model, use the space bar.
6. Join Components
We will now join the two components for a cleaner appearance. Note that whether a part
is made of one component or several, there will be no difference in the resultant
calculations.
Select the View Profile command from the View menu to see the entire model in
profile.
From the Edit menu, select the Join To command; the Join dialogue will appear.
Under Join Component, select HULL for part and C2 for component.
Under Component To Join To, select HULL for part and C1 for component.
Click OK.
You will now see your complete model without any break between components.
Note that all reference to the component C2 is gone - it has been amalgamated with
component C1.
7. Save the File
Start Autohydro by clicking the Autohydro icon in the Autoship group/folder. When
Autohydro has finished starting, select the Open command from the File menu. Next,
select the GF you just created and click OK. After the GF is loaded, you should see a
representation of your barge in the main views.
1.34m aft (at the forward end of the aft rake, at 15a); and
1.26m fwd (at the aft the of the forward rake, at 15f)
Input these drafts into Autohydro by typing in the command line:
DRAFT 1.34 @ 15a, 1.26 @ 15f (Enter)
Note that the comma is optional, and it does not matter whether you type in upper case
or lower case.
Now let's get Autohydro to find the displacement and longitudinal center of gravity
(LCG) corresponding to these drafts. In the command line, type:
In the Hydrostatic Values window you should now see the following results:
Note that the drafts shown are not the drafts you put in. This is because the drafts
shown are being measured at the extreme ends of the vessel, while the drafts you input
were located closer to midships. Reset the locations where the drafts are reported so
they match your draft mark locations, by typing in the command line:
Now we know the lightship weight and its LCG. By default, both the transverse and
vertical center of gravity are zero. Assuming we had calculated the vertical center of
gravity to be 3.2m above baseline, we can input this value with the command:
Since you have changed some variables, the vessel is no longer in equilibrium. This
will be indicated by the red Solve button in the top left of the screen.
Equilibrium in Autohydro
Autohydro considers the vessel to be in equilibrium when three conditions are met:
1. the displacement = the total of all weights (lightship + added weights + tank loads)
2. the LCB = trimmed LCG (RAt = 0)
3. the TCB = heeled TCG (RAl = 0)
To get Autohydro to calculate a new equilibrium, click the Solve button. After a quick
calculation, the Solve button will turn grey, the graphics window showing the model
will be updated, and the Hydrostatics Values window will show new values. At this
point, Autohydro has a model to work with, has a reference line for measuring the
drafts, and knows the vessel's lightship weight and center of gravity.
Now we can add some deck cargo and find the drafts that result.
Autohydro maintains two separate weight categories: Fixed and Tank Loads. The Fixed
category has two further sub-categories:
1. Fixed Weight:
2. Tank Loads
In our barge model we will add two fixed weight items as deck cargo. (If we had
defined some tanks in the model, we could also have loaded them with contents.) To
add a fixed weight item, click the Fixed Weight button.
In the Weight List dialogue that appears, click Add, change the label New Weight
Item#01 to Lumber on deck, set its LCG to 12a, VCG to 6.5, and Weight to 3.
To add the second fixed weight item, click Add, change New Weight Item#01 to
Forklift on deck, set its LCG to 10f, VCG to 6.1, and Weight to 1.3.
Close the dialogue box by clicking OK and return to the main Autohydro screen.
Even though you have now changed some variables, when you exit the Added Weights
dialog, Autohydro will automatically find the new equilibrium. Now we know the total
weight and center of gravity of the vessel and cargo, and the resultant drafts. All we
need to do now is to create a report of this condition and print it out.
Autohydro has different commands to produce different outputs. The most commonly
used (and most general) is Status, which creates an overall status report of the current
loading condition.
To generate a report: type STATUS in the command line, then click Enter. This will
fill the output window with lines of unformatted information. To see the formatted
report, click the Report button.
You can resize the Report window (like all other windows in Autohydro), and use its
scroll bars to adjust your view of the page. Since the Report window is an editable
spreadsheet, you can both edit directly within Autohydro and edit a file that has been
opened by Excel or Word.
Review
You have used Modelmaker to create and edit a vessel model.
You have used Autohydro to calculate some hydrostatic behaviour of the model.
You have produced a report of the vessel condition.
Task A
A1
Load MYBARGE.GF1
(The name you used for your geometry file may be different)
A2
Add more stations to the model so that Modelmaker can fit parts together
smoothly:
This will fill the HULL with more stations and ensure smooth
fits.
A3
Create the fwd tank:
Part:
(Edit - Part Create/Edit and then Add)
Under Part or Component to Fit To, for Part Name choose HULL and
the appropriate component.
Click OK.
A5
A6
A7
Part:
Part name: NO1
Side: Port
Class: Container
Category: DO
Contents: Diesel oil
Component: (Box)
FWD: 5a
AFT: 14.5a
Station spacing: Match Stations to Hull
Outboard Trans: 6
Top Vert: 6
Bottom Vert: -1
Component, for the second of the 3 components: (Box)
FWD: 0
AFT: 5a
Station spacing: Match Stations to Hull
Inboard Trans: 2
Outboard Trans: 6
Top Vert: 6
Bottom Vert: -1
Component, for the third of the 3 components: (Box)
FWD: 0
AFT: 5a
Station spacing: Match Stations to Hull
Outboard Trans: 3
Top Vert: 3
Bottom Vert: -1
Join the third component to the second component:
Click Edit - Join To.
Under Join Component, for Part Name pick NO1.P, for Comp Name
pick C3.
Under Component to Join to, for Part Name pick NO1.P, for Comp
Name pick C2.
Click External and then OK.
Join the second component to the first component in the same manner.
A8
A9
AFT: 14.5a
Station spacing: Match Stations to Hull
Outboard Trans: 6
Top Vert: 6
Bottom Vert: -1
Part: (the temporary part)
Part name: Temp
Side: Starboard
Component: (Box)
FWD: 0
AFT: 5a
Station spacing: Match Stations to Hull
Inboard Trans: -1
Outboard Trans: 2
Top Vert: 7
Bottom Vert: 3
A10
A11
A12
Now you have a starboard tank exactly opposite to the port side tank created
previously.
A13
A14
A15
Task B
B2
In the Sounding Tube dialog, choose the part to have the sounding tube; start
with NO1.P.
B3
B4
In the grid, type in the following values for points 1 and 2 (Note that Point 1
must be the lowest point on the tube, and be sure to click on Record to register
the changes):
Pt. 1
Long
Trans
Vert
0.2a
4.8p
.005
Pt. 1
0.2a
4.8p
B5
Create sounding tubes for the other tanks in the same way. Remember to
designate aft or forward, and port or starboard.
5.25
Task C
Create a deckhouse
C1
Part:
Part name: Deckhouse
Side: Starboard
Class: Sail
Component: (Box)
FWD: 14a
AFT: 19a
Station spacing: Match Stations to Hull
Inboard Trans: 2.5
Outboard Trans: 5.5
Top Vert: 7.5
Bottom Vert: 5
The modifications to the model are now finished. Save your model. To avoid
overwriting your original model, use a different name; we suggest incrementing
the extension, i.e., if you named the original barge MYBARGE.GF1, name this
model MYBARGE.GF2.