Maxsurf has some commands that help you manipulate a group of control points. The Smooth Controls and Straighten Controls can be used on one row or column, or on a selection of control points from one surface (this is called a “patch”).

§   Smoothing and Straightening - Rows or Columns

§   Smoothing or Straightening a Patch

Other commands that let you manipulate groups of control points are discussed in the section Manipulating Groups of Control Points on page 132.

 View a video that shows you how to use the straighten command to straighten control points on the deck edge of a containership followed by straightening the Flat of Sides area of the hull.

 Any complete or partial row or column of control points can be straightened into a straight line, or faired into a smooth curve.

To smooth or straighten three or more control points

§   Click on the control point at one end of the group to be straightened.

This control point will be the control point at one end of the selection to be smoothed or straightened. If after selecting one point you wish to change your selection, simply click anywhere in the background of the window.

§   Hold down the shift key.

§   Click on the control point at the other end of the group.

This control point will be the control point at the other end of the selection to be smoothed or straightened. It should lie in the same row or column as the first selected control point. If you wish to change your selection after selecting a second point, release the shift button and start again with the first point.

§   To fair the control points, select Smooth Controls from the Controls menu and select the desired stiffness.

The stiffer the smoothing, the straighter the line will become. Smoothing is done in three dimensions.

§   or to straighten the control points, select Straighten Controls from the Controls menu and select whether you wish to straighten in 2D or 3D.

If you straighten in 2D, the control points will be forced to a straight line in the current view direction, leaving the third direction unchanged. This can be particularly useful for producing straight bow profiles or transoms; this is done by using the Straighten in 2D command in the profile view. Straighten in 3D will produce a straight line in all three dimensions.

You can choose to undo a smooth or align operation by selecting Undo from the Edit menu.

Smoothing and Straightening may only be performed in a single surface; it may not be performed over two or more surfaces.

Note

The Straighten Controls and Smooth Controls commands only work for control points that belong to the same surface.

The Smooth and Straighten commands in Maxsurf can also be applied to a patch of control points that spans more than a single row or column.

A patch is a rectangular grid of control points that can be as small as one row or column, or as large as the entire surface. Not all the points to be smoothed need to be selected as Maxsurf will determine the size of the patch from the points that are selected.

For example, in the diagram above, if only points A and B had been selected (instead of using the selection box) Maxsurf would have smoothed exactly the same group of control points, since points A and B define the limits of the patch.

To smooth or straighten a patch of control points, select them and choose Smooth Controls or Straighten Controls from the Controls Menu. An example of a smoothed patch is shown above. If straighten had been applied in the previous example, the control point rows and columns in the selected patch would lie on straight lines.

 View a video that demonstrates the use of the Smooth Controls command to smoothen out the hull surface of a trawler.