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Shell Plate Interface to ShipCAM
By adding curved shell plating to the ShipConstructor structural model, ShipCAM has the capability to get a complete weight & CG calculation, as well as including shell plating in the nesting process easily.

Automatic 3D Mesh Reduction
ShipCAM is optimized to deal with large mesh surfaces, and thus is about 10 times faster than AutoCAD. High definition surfaces are essential for accurate production information and an accurate plate expansion. However, for visual representation of the 3D surfaces only a reduced mesh density is required allowing for increased performance.

Fashion Plate Expansion on Girth
Fashion plate is a term used for plates in the bow area that are symmetrical about center line. These plates often pose special forming problems. Yards have developed special techniques to deal with these problems.

An expansion technique has been added, on request from our Japanese customers, to the compound curvature plate expansion program for specific fashion plate expansion requirements. The function calculates perpendicular girth planes, cuts the sections and does a no-deformation girth-wise only expansion for plates symmetrical about centerline.

Import
Importing 3D surfaces or polylines from hull design software using DXF, IDF or NURBS ensures that the designed hull and lofted hull are identical.

Sections
Cut any 3D surface on standard planes or any skewed section to produce exact traces for the detailing of the internal structure.

Surface / Surface Intersection
ShipCAM can intersect any two surfaces. Some examples for intersections are :

- keels, skegs, or attached bulbs intersecting the hull
- transom plates intersecting the hull
- deckhouses inserted into a deck

Weights & CG
This function calculates surface area and Weights & CG of hull plating, providing fast and easy access to otherwise difficult-to-obtain information.

Although Structure can perform the same functions much more conveniently, this is a cost effective option for users without Structure.

Filleting
Fillets are calculated between any two surfaces generating a new surface, which can be expanded to flat plate or intersected to create internal structure.

Surface Trimming
Use seams and butts to divide the hull into individual plates ready for plate expansion.

Projections
Projecting 2D layouts on 3D surfaces is an important tool to achieve the true 3D shape of many structural components such as stringers. Draw a stringer layout in AutoCAD in 2D plan view and project them onto the hull surfaces for a true 3D representation.

Surface Generation
Developable Surfaces: ShipCAM's unique algorithm provides unsurpassed control over the surface shape for ease of production. The program generates roll lines very quickly and with great accuracy. Non-developable areas are clearly marked.

- B-Spline Surfaces: Two types of B-Spline compound curvature surface algorithms have been tuned to handle ship building specific problems easily.
- Straight Section Surfaces: This type of surface provides an easy way to ensure the plating matches the straight frames.
- Deck Surfaces: Deck surfaces are generated with various camber types such as sine, radius, parabolic, flat and faired slope cambers.
- Offset Surfaces: Molded surfaces can be offset by the thickness of the plate.

Lines Fairing
ShipCAM implements lines fairing optimized for the ship builder to match a given table of offsets. Stations or frames are faired first, then longitudinal fairing commences to produce developable, straight section or compound curved surfaces.

Reference geometry, such as appendages, sections, and simple geometric elements such as lines, circles and arcs can be displayed to simplify and assist with the matching process. A sophisticated breakpoint feature allows fairing of straight lines into curved areas without transmitting undulations. Matching an existing lines plan is easy, reliable and productive with ShipCAM. Sections can be cut at any location at any time. A "porcupine" curvature and slope display is used to judge fairness of splines and the sections. The faired splines are the basis for the following lofting process.

Batch-mode Plate Expansion
All plates are prepared in LoftSpace with plate stock, extra trim, neutral axis expansion etc. This provides a convenient and error reducing way of assigning all important information directly to the meshed plate while planning the expansion process.

ARL's Plate Expansion is well known for its reliable and efficient developable plate and compound curvature expansion of even the most complex shapes. Any type of plate is expanded quickly and accurately, whether it is a simple parallel mid-body, a complex propeller bossing, or even a complex bow wrapper plate across centerline. A typical plate expansion calculation including all markings takes less than 5 seconds.

Choose to generate strip or plate templates. Strip templates are placed on the plate during the rolling and bumping operation to check the shaping progress. Plate templates, on the other hand, are set up inverted on the shop floor and used as a forming jig.

Plate Marking
The expanded plate contains all marking, such as frames, water and buttock lines, stiffener placements, deck contacts and intersection with other surfaces of any kind, such as bow thrusters.

Strain Map
The unique 3D and 2D strain map displays allow optimization of plate shapes and sizes. This is an invaluable tool to optimize butt and seam placement. Never again will you be caught with a plate that just does not want to fit the frames.

Quality Assurance Markings
Plate diagonal measurements between the plate corners and also between the first and last frame mark allow checking of a formed plate quickly. Distances and deformations between frames along the plate edges show exactly where to line heat or bump a plate to achieve the desired shape.

Stringer Cutouts
StringerCutouts inserts hundreds of cutouts precisely placed and scaled within minutes.

Stringer marking - Stringer layouts may be simple, such as parallel to the centerlines, or complex, routed along the vessel's outside shell. Profile orientation can be at any angle or normal to the hull. Twisted or non-twisted stringers can also be expanded for NC-cutting or inverse bend.

Cutout insertion - Create a reusable library of cutouts using any CAD system. ShipCAM inserts and trims the cutouts to the frame. The cutouts are automatically sized correctly, depending on the intersection angle between the longitudinal stiffener and the frame. The frame sections with the cutouts are then exported in DXF format.

Shell Expansion
Expands the hull surfaces in a transverse direction to generate shell expansion drawings. Shell expansion drawings are used to layout seams, butts and internal structure on the hull shell plating. Markings include frames, waterlines, buttock lines, seams, butts, longitudinal stiffeners, decks, girders and more.

The drawing is output in DXF format. ShellExpand places text, such as WL5.0, on each line for easy identification. The CAD drawing colors of the polylines are user definable.

Inverse Bending
The InverseBend module helps produce perfectly shaped members from stock profile without templates. Inverse bending curves may be calculated for frames and also twisted or non-twisted longitudinal stringers. The curved members are converted to straightened stock material with measured length, inverse bending curves, and all intersecting cross members, such as frames, waterlines and buttock lines marked. InverseBend produces fully annotated CAD drawings for the expanded members with all markings and measured offsets. It is then a simple matter to prepare the raw stock material for shaping.

Pin Jigs
Generates the drawings required to setup pin jigs for the assembly of construction modules. The shell plates are manually or automatically oriented in the optimal welding position. Set up of the pin grid is conveniently provided with a graphical dialog. The program calculates the exact X, Y and height dimensions of each pin, plus the dead rise angle at the pin/shell plate contact position. The output of this program is a DXF drawing.

Printing Offsets
Generating complete offset books is a simple task with ShipCAM. Print offsets directly or export them to any word processor. ShipCAM provides fully formatted offsets for structural members of any kind, as well as for seams and butts. Just open the ShipCAM files with the frames, waterlines, buttocks, plate seams and butts or longitudinal stringers and output formatted offsets. Use any word processor to add headers, footers and page numbers to create an exceptional offset book in a very short period of time.