HISTORY OF SHIP MODELING

The quest of man to conquer the land, sea and air is eternal. Man first made their mark on land and then turned their eyes towards the water bodies. As the earth is surrounded by water on all three sides, the scope of mastering and utilizing this area was essential for the evolution of man. The most common way of manning the waves are rafts, boats, ships etc. These floating vessels have been helping man since the ancient Egyptian age to this very day to spread the hold of humans over the vast expanse of the oceans. Ship building and ship modeling have been the prime concern for man since time immemorial.

The first ship was probably built during 3500 B.C in ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia and huge ships made of wood were constructed in ancient Roman empire.

The first steam-driven ship was constructed by an American named Robert Fluton in 1807. It had paddles an a wooden hull. This was followed by the invention of propellers, in vented by Joseph Russel, John Patch etc.

Iron and steel took over the wooden hull around 19^th century. Later on steel was preferred to iron as it was stronger than iron.

With rapid advancements in technology, 3D ship modeling has taken up a huge space in recent scenario.

ADVANTAGES OF SHIP MODELING

Ø  Ship modeling is the process by which the architect can prepare a drawing, sketch of the model of an actual ship but in miniature size.

Ø  Ship models or model ships are miniaturized models of real ships which can be of any range starting from 1/6000 range.

Ø  It gives an idea about the shape, size and design of the ship to be made.

Ø  The modeling brings forth any probable errors that might crop up during the actual process of constructing the ship.

3D SHIP MODELING

3D modeling is the process to develop a mathematical representation of any three dimensional object. In this, computer software is used to create a model of the ship.

ADVANTAGES ODF 3D SHIP MODELING

The following points help in highlighting the advantages of using this technology  in ship modeling.

v  This creates a real time, automated and passive 3D modeling system.

v  This process is low cost intensive and aids the process of ship modeling.

v  The general functionality of this technology enables us to do proper modeling using the software.

v  This technology helps gives easy access to reviewing the entire model thus created.

v  The use of computer generated 3D model gives superb visualization scope.

v  Errors can be checked and corrected accordingly.

v  Any number of dummies can be used in checking the design and model created in any position, posture and situation.

v  Camera path is a feature which can be introduced to navigate the various areas of the ship. This path can be used to define the route for both camera and object.

Drawbacks of 3d ship modeling

Though there are many advantages of using 3D ship modeling technology, it has some disadvantages too. The most important drawback of the technology is the expanse factor. The cost of installing the hardware and software is too high in comparison to the other devices available in the market.

The ergonomic aspect of this process creates irritation to the eyes due to wearing the 3D for a long time.

3d Ship Modeling- An Innovation that Revolutionized the Process of Ship Building

  3D ship modeling is one of the most unique innovations that the nautical industry has ever seen. This advancement in technology has now bid farewell to the age old practice of building ships with the help of blueprints of model ships and replaced it with 3D ship design that enable an accurate and precise process of ship building.

 Marine engineering teams build 3D ship models with the help of various computer programs and software. They design a scaled down replica of a full sized ship in 3D which plays a major role in ship building. The scaling ratio is mentioned for every part of the ship so as to ensure that workers can build the ship with precision. The final design of the ship’s hull is selected first before designing the ship model.

 The first model ship was built in Egypt around 3200 B.C. Since, then the nautical industry has seen major advancements in technology. From the wood and plank models to the modern day 3D ship modeling, the nautical industry has seen a boom in innovations with the support of marine engineering teams. 3D ship building process has empowered professionals to incorporate various customizations with sheer ease and flexibility.

 3D ship modeling also helps in achieving precise hydrostatic measurements. The first step to ship building is the reconstruction of the hull which involves various capturing and analyzing techniques. This is the most important area where data capturing and analyzing is achieved effectively through 3D shipdesign.

 It is a well known fact that new ships are built with the help of blueprints of 2D ship design and manual measurements of 2D objects but when it comes to reconstruction, 3D ship modeling is the best approach owing to the perfection that can be achieved through computer programming with ease. 3D ship modeling mostly helps the workers to build modern day ships accurately.

So, it is quite evident how 3D ship modeling has completely revolutionized the process of reconstruction in ship building. Axsys Technologies Limited caters to specific needs of the customer in each and every stage of the building of a ship right from the concept and basic ship design to construction and accurate operation of the ship. The organization uses various modern day designing tools for this purpose, namely Tribon, Ship Constructor and Nupas Cadmatic for handing over innovative designs to clients and for analysis and data capturing tools like Ansys 8.0 and Hecsalv are used.

 Therefore, opt for the latest in 3D ship modeling to get best results in reconstruction and data capturing for the process of ship building.

Advantages of 3D Ship Modeling

The nautical world experiences innovations in terms of technology every single day. Contrary to the yesteryears, the rates at which advancements are taking place in marine engineering are quite high. The latest developments in the sphere of ship 3D modeling have taken the nautical world by surprise. The application of 3D computerized modeling is not just for visualization purpose. With the help of the specific use of some customized software, the application of 3D scanning reflects the potential for analysis of symmetry in reconstructed hulls.

The problem that researchers faced with the ancient ships is that they had to conduct their studies based on the 2D model of study. This however is no more a concern keeping in mind the recent advances in computerized visualizations. With the use of 3D models, presentation of reconstructed or preserved objects is no more a concern. The potential of 3D scanning technology can be further used to analyze and evaluate in detail the geometric models of ship hulls.

The data that are collected by archiving and analyzing 3D models of ships can be used to reconstruct the hull of a vessel. Therefore it can be said that the use of the latest technology of 3D has done a world of good to the ship building industry. It not only helps in analyzing and capturing data but also throws light on the hidden designs of the ‘eye-built’ hulls. The technological assembly process and the accurate reconstructions of scaled and full sized models can also be identified with 3D ship models.

In the past, researchers were faced with the challenges of data collection and this further increased the complexity of reconstruction of the maritime past. Most of the times hulls are partially preserved and this means that the hulls are preserved without any major structures like stems and sternposts. Today, this is no more a problem because of the introduction of cutting edge technologies like 3D ship models in marineengineering.

The contributions of 3D ship models in the nautical world are therefore huge. With every passing day new technologies are being introduced in marine engineering but the introduction of 3D modeling stands out from the rest. The introduction of this technology suggests that developments in the nautical world will come out bigger and better. What more innovations are to be seen in the nautical industry that will time will tell. 

Ship 3D Modeling helping Marine Engineering – Explained with Example

Marine engineering is facing some basic challenges. The ship production process is going through a rough patch due of sluggish economy with high input costs. However, the industry is trying hard to lower cost. Other than this, some associated challenges are also there such as efficiency and provision of support throughout the production process.

China has found out a unique way of taking care of all these challenges and that is ship 3D modeling. This process was first adopted in the Chinese yards. What had they done? They had adopted a support system based on 3D simulation. The consecutive steps involved:

i.                     Designing the concept

ii.                   Engineering

iii.                 Production

iv.                 Operation

v.                   Maintenance

Though this unique technology was started by China, similar efforts are also done in other parts of the world. This has helped in time bound work delivery, streamlined and structured approach, multiple corrections without complete rework, and others.  

One of the most successful implementation of this process has been done in Vietnam, where 3D ship modeling and 3D simulation based technologies have been used. In addition, digital shipbuilding database management has also been implemented. This approach has helped in:

A)    Saving man hours

B)    Optimizing Return On Investment and thereof its rate

C)     Improved decision making

D)    Better design and visibility

E)     Flawless production as well as operation

F)     Better maintenance

In Vietnam, there are three ways of building simulation-based support system. One of the ways involves development of 3D simulation-based design and computer integrated manufacturing system. This is developed by using interactive programming languages such as Visual Basic, Visual Fortran, or Visual C++.

This approach includes 3D modeling of ship, detailed production planning, and production environment of shipyard. Advanced 3D CAD solution can be used to create the models. SBD-CIM system actually helps in:

·         Management of ship lifecycle

·         Project management

·         Control of production process

·         Evaluation

3D ship modeling has therefore helped in ship building and marine engineering through higher efficiency and lower cost.