New Orca3D Version (2.0.18) Available

We are happy to announce the release of Orca3D Version 2.0.18. This is a free update to Version 2 license holders. If you have a Version 1 license, please click here to purchase an upgrade to Version 2.

To update a previous installation of Orca3D Version 2, use the Control Panel to uninstall your current version. Next, download the installation file from this page. Double-click on the downloaded file to run it, and follow the instructions.

Following is a summary of what is new in Version 2.0.18, as well as the previous release, Versions 2.0.13, 2.0.14, 2.0.15, 2.0.16, and 2.0.17:

Release 2.0.18 (July 2020)

 Enhanced Features

  • Enhanced the OrcaHydrostatics command by allowing the user to display and adjust the mesh used in the hydrostatics calculation. The Hydrostatics form now includes an “Adjust Meshes” button that behaves similarly to that found in the CFD Options form.
  • Extended the form for creating/modifying CFD refinement zones so that the user can directly input the zone geometry definition in addition to specifying it graphically.
  • Added a “Reset” button to the Preview Mesh form so the user can reset the meshing values to the initial values when the form was opened.
  • Added a new command line option to the Orca3D MSI installer so that quiet installs can be performed without trying to open any UI elements. The option “ShowOrcaInstructions=false” will prevent the final Instructions form from opening.

 Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug in the face attribution logic for the SimericsMP CFD analysis where selecting objects for face attribution that were not part of the original object(s) selected for the CFD analysis could cause problems in the UI.
  • Modified the SimericsMP CFD command so that all 3 moments of inertia are exported in case the user is performing an analysis with user-defined degrees-of-freedom.
  • Also include a “CG” text dot when a user is performing a hydrostatics analysis and the “Transform Model to Resultant Condition” option is selected.
  • Fixed a bug in stability criteria analysis when no angle of vanishing stability is found by giving the user the option to use 180 deg (full inversion) as GZ0. Note that this analysis is also used in the STIX analysis command.

 

Release 2.0.17 (May 2020)

New Features

  • A new command, OrcaCreateCFDRender, was added. This command generates a rendered viewport of the selected Rhino model geometry together with the water surface. Two types of renders are supported. The first shows the model floating at static equilibrium (zero speed) based on the condition setup for the CFD simulation. The second shows the model in its dynamic heave and pitch attitude along with the water free surface mesh extracted from the CFD simulation.
  • Added two new options for the hull type used by the CFD marine template. In addition to displacement hulls, planing hulls, and high-speed displacement hulls, Orca3D now allows the user to specify “Low-Speed Hull” and “Submerged Body” hull types for the simulation. The low-speed hull type may be appropriate for full, low L/B hull forms running at lower Froude numbers where the ship-generated waves are relatively small (and therefore the wave-making resistance is a relatively small part of the total resistance). The marine template makes adjustments to the simulation for these conditions to improve resolution of the free surface waves. The submerged-body hull type allows users to analyze models without a free surface. This hull type is only available with the “Premium” version of Orca3D Marine CFD. Contact support@orca3d.com with any questions about obtaining the Premium version.

Enhanced Features

  • Extended the Savitsky planing hull analysis to include additional parameters in the generated report (wetted keel length, wetted chine length, transom keel depth, critical trim angle for porpoising stability).
  • Modified the Savitsky planing hull analysis so that if a computation fails at one speed do to a failure to find the equilibrium trim angle, that error is reported but the analysis continues instead of ending the analysis with no results.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a reporting bug in stability criteria evaluation in which the base hydrostatics condition for a rollover calc was not first in the list of reported hydrostatics and therefore a heeled condition was being reported. (Note this did not affect the overall evaluation results.)

 

Release 2.0.16 (April 2020)

Enhanced Features

  • Modified the hydrostatics command behavior so that when the user chooses the option to “Add Plane(s) Representing Water Surface” the Rhino objects/groups containing the float planes, text dots, and sectional area curves are created on sublayers of the primary hydrostatics output layer in order to allow easier visualization and identification of the output.
  • Added the ability to copy/paste data to/from the clipboard into the custom conditions control in the Hydrostatic form. A typical source of this data might be a spreadsheet table or a CSV file. When pasting, the data must have 10 columns matching the format of the data in the grid (including empty cells/data in columns where no numbers should be copied). After placing the data to copy into the Windows clipboard, right click on the custom conditions grid control and choose Paste from the pop-up menu.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue in the RIB hull assistant that was preventing the transom surface from being created
  • Fixed an issue in the Orca STIX calculation command that affected the beam-displacement factor, FBD
  • Fixed an issue in Orca control points that sometimes prevented the control polygon line segments from being drawn
  • Fixed an issue in the scriptable version of the OrcaHydrostatics command that caused the pop-up report to be blank if ShowReport=yes

 

Release 2.0.15 (February 2020)

Enhanced Features

  • Extended the Simerics CFD interface to automatically create XY plots for heave/pitch and resistance/EHP during generation of the CFD simulation. This requires SimericsMP version 5.0.9 or later.
  • Added the ability for the user to modify the gravitational constant used for hydrostatics computations.
  • Modified the behavior of the interactive hull assistants so that the view is not zoomed to extents as changes are made to the assistant.

Bug Fixes

  • Modified the scriptable version of the planing hull assistant to include the ability to adjust the chine vertically or transversely (which is already exposed in the interactive version of the assistant).
  • Fixed a bug in which copying Rhino objects that contain Orca CFD user data would create invalid user data on the copied objects.

 

Release 2.0.14 (January 2020)

Enhanced Features

  • Added digital signature to Orca3D installation to confirm software author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue in some of the Orca3D hull assistants related to non-US keyboard settings.
  • Fixed an issue in Orca3D design hydrostatics which occurred for free float calculations when an initial float plane height of 0 is not suitable.
  • Fixed an issue in the Orca3D CFD analysis form where the propulsor controls were not functioning correctly.

 

Release 2.0.13 (December 2019)

Bug Fixes

  • Modifications to NavCad export command related to mesh normal direction and meshing parameters.
  • Fixed a bug when defining propeller performance for self-propelled CFD simulations in which selecting user-defined Kt/Kq or constant thrust/torque options would not allow the user to continue.
  • Addressed an issue in the CFD report command, caused by an update to Excel, in which use of named ranges in formulas can result in “#SPILL” errors in the report.
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