How to Surface Boat Hull

SketchUp
1

Hello,

I am new to Sketchup and have created the keel and cross sections of a boat hull from 3-view drawings. I am now trying to figure out the best way to create a skin surface across the hull. Any ideas on how to create these surfaces would be very much appreciated. I enclosed a screen shot of where I am at in the process.
Thanks
Griff

2

Try Fredo’s plugin Curviloft

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You can achieve the same thing by hand as you can using CurviLoft, if you like, using a technique called “hand-stitching.” The idea is to connect corresponding endpoints along the curves of the sections and then subdivide the resulting quadralaterals with a diagonal to form a mesh of triangles. (Occasionally, a quadralateral will happen to be coplanar and no diagonal is needed). Finally, use Soften/Smooth to give the appearance of a smooth, continuous surface. See picture below:

A few pointers:

  • Turn on Endpoints so you can see what you’re doing.
  • Try to make the spacing between endpoints (segment size) consistent. Try to line up
    the endpoints on adjacent sections.
  • Consistent, regular endpoint spacing makes for a smooth, regular final surface.
  • Take advantage of symmetry. Work on only half the hull.

-Gully

2 Likes
4

Thanks so much for the advice. I downloaded curviloft and it looks promising, I will also try some of the advice from Gully and see how things work.
Griff

5

I use Soap Skin & Bubble for shaping ship hulls
https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/soap-skin-bubble

1 Like
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Howdy Griff, I am also new here and spent the last 6 months following YouTube and assorted other ave`s tutorials trying to figure this out. I found the plug-ins great but knew to find and follow the old-school approach ( no offense guys ). What you miss out on in looking for and utilizing the tips and different ways of using the basic tools that is. To complete an object is something that needs to be considered if you want “depth” of this, instead of just banging it out. Just saying…I was passed a link to sketchUcation and from there saw a guy David Richard do a 3D Base camp piece. That took me to finewoodworking.com and holy ■■■■!! Common sense things I didn’t consider and simple utilization of these tools uses and concepts. I would be lucky to have found out only by mistake. I see it this way when you ( I ) use a plug-in you surrender your imagination to save some time and as a novice at best. It is like tossing the pencil and scrap paper and going to the calculator. If the battery goes dead your out of luck… just saying… and good luck and enjoy.

2 Likes
7

I’m interested in trying this. I’m using Sketchup 2017 and have not found a way to show the endpoints. Do you know how this is done?

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Change the current Style’s settings [Edge Settings under Edit] to show end-points etc…
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