finFoil v0.4 released, Now you can edit the the vertical thickness profile!
finFoil v0.4 released, Now you can edit the the vertical thickness profile!
Hi guys,
I'm proud to announce that I just released finFoil version 0.4! The application to help the backyard fin builders foil there fins hydrodynamically.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/
With this release you can finally edit the vertical thickness profile using a single parameter in an exponential function. See the example below:
The file "exponentialProfiles.pdf" that you can find here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/files/ , shows different profiles for differen constants. If you uncheck the "Use exponential thickness profile" checkbox, the quadratic profile of versions <=0.3 is used.
Version 0.4 can be installed in parallel with version 0.3, but feel free to uninstall v0.3 since all it's functionality is still included in v0.4 .
I hope you'll enjoy it,
Hans
The following text describes finFoil v0.3 (still valid for v0.4):
You can download the windows installer here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/files/Windows%20Installer/
(It should run on every windows version newer than Windows 95)
As you can see in the screenshot, it is now possible to load in an SVG file, for easier editing of the fin! How to do this is described below.
How to use finFoil with an SVG file
- Install an SVG editor, for this tutorial Inkscape is used (free software)
http://inkscape.org/ - Download the example SVG file test.svg from:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/files/ - Open test.svg with inkscape
- Edit the fin using the path edit tool (red arrow). Use your mouse and the tools indicated by the green rectangles:
- Make sure the ID of the path is "fin", otherwise finFoil won't know which path to parse. Now you have only one path, but there could be several in an svg file.
(this should be OK in the test.svg file)
Right click the fin and select "Object Properties":
- Save the file and import it in the finfoil program:
How to trace a fin From an image
- Use the import function from inkscape to import an image:
- Browse for the image on your filesystem
- Choose to link the image. This way the SVG file will stay small, since only a link to the image is inserted. finFoil will also work with embed.
- Scale the image while pressing the Ctrl button. This way, the aspect ratio of the image will stay equal.
- The image will sit on top of the fin path, use "Lower to bottom" to send it to te bottom. And use the transformation tools if needed:
- Edit the fin to fit the image:
I hope you enjoy this release, and I hope to see people using this application to foil their plywood (or ...) fins.
____________________________
my free fin building software:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v04-released-now-you-can-edit-v...
finFoil v1.0 preview: http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v10-pre-alpha-release
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
I have been playing with this for a day now and I find it hard to use. Maybe just need to keep playing with it.
If you can build it. Stoke will come
www.ARCsurfboards.com
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
What are the difficulties you are having? Maybe I can make the tutorial clearer, I tried to make it as clear as possible, but input from you would be very helpfull.
The manual input should be easy to use. When you get the hang of how inkscape works, the SVG input should work very fast. But it is indeed harder than it should be.
I don't have time to implement an easy to use editor. I made this inkscape workaround because I found out that the manual input wasn't ideal. The combination with inkscape allows to design very accurate, but there is indeed a learning curve.
thanks for trying!
Hans
____________________________
my free fin building software:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v04-released-now-you-can-edit-v...
finFoil v1.0 preview: http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v10-pre-alpha-release
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
Hi hans
Thanks for taking the time to write the CODE.....haha!
I was playing around with both finFoil and inkscape last night.
My issue was that once I drew the fin plainshape in inscape, designated the figure as "fin" and saved it as SVG file I could not import it into finFoil.
I'd hit "Browse", find the correct file, but when i hit "Generate" nothing happens. The manual input works though.
It said there was some error, and to check the log, but I could not find the log.
Im probably doing something wron in inscape.
Gentelmen!!...This is the War Room! You can't fight in here!
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
Hans,
Thanks for this.
I assume that the surface colours relate to thickness? How difficult is it to generate this output as, say, a dxf file?
Red
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
pardon my complete computer ignorance please hans ,
but
I don't think I get it ....
IS the idea of all this ....that you punch in all this information to the fin shaping / foiling equivalent of a board shaping ?computer? / machine ?
cheers !
ben
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"" just celebrate that feeling of paddling around in the ocean and enjoying the feel of the energy surge under my feet when on a wave." ['Digger' , after SIX MONTHS out of the water]
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
@ retrothis
Have you tried importing the "test.svg" file here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/files/ ?
This file should work, afterwards you can edit this path to your fin design.
The problem is that not every SVG feature is supported by my code and that I haven't implemented logging or errorhandling. As long as you use smooth curves, the code should work.
@ chippy61
No, that is not the idea.
The idea is to make a tool that suggests a good hydrodynamic profile for the fin you want to make. So that the backyarder has an idea how the fin needs to be foiled.
Suppose you have a fin blank with layers of a fixed thickness (like plywood), the different colors will be the different layers of the fin panel.
My idea is that the fin foiling is still done by hand.
In the distant future some export formats will be supported, but that's not my main goal. (this also answers red_boards)
The reason I wrote this code, is for my own use and because I've seen some badly foiled fins here on swaylocks (read: fins with a little bit sanding on the trailing and leading edge. Luckily most guys here do a pretty good job). This code generates the NACA 4digit profile, which has proven to be well suited for surfboard fins. And I hope that this code will help a lot of backyard fin builders to foil their fins.
____________________________
my free fin building software:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v04-released-now-you-can-edit-v...
finFoil v1.0 preview: http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v10-pre-alpha-release
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
Yep, I tried the test.svg. That works well!
Ok, Ill just try editing that file instead of making a new one.
Thanks again for your help.
Gentelmen!!...This is the War Room! You can't fight in here!
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
not enough rake.
too short.
...ambrose...
my file
is made of steel.
ambrose m.curry III
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
Fin Foil Printouts
i tried out your program. it was pretty cool. i started off with a simple spitfire fin profile that i had a pic of from solo. it looked so good and simple that i gave it the hardest thing i could come up with-- one of robin mair's hammer quad outlines that knowaloha posted here on a lime green coil. i wasn't copying, but roughly drew the outline off a fuzzy pic because i had such respect for the quality of the fins hanalei put out and how advanced and challenging to manufacture that the design seems to be. the finfoil output was a little funky, and carried very little thickness up into the head of the fin, but it was all an experiment so i kept pretty true to the program's suggestion. i printed it actual size, and stuck the printouts to folder stock, then cut them out. i did fix a bit of weirdness in the upper neck area by just cutting the fair line through the contour wobbles. it was very minor.
TemplatesTracedOntoCorecork
CorkTemplatesStuckToFiberglass
i took these templates and traced them on some corecork scraps. i'm not sure whether it was 2mm or thinner. i'll have to go back and check. i cut these layers out, spray 77'd them to 2 oz e-glass, and razored them out again. i then took the cutouts and stacked them on a sheet of waxed plate glass with black pigged RR epoxy on all faces. i cut some ball-end stick pins to the precise thickness/depth to serve as registration pins and vacuum bagged it flat overnight at about 16 inches of mercury. the next day i knocked the fins off the glass and have yet to trim the flash and fair the contour layers, but they look quite good and are amazingly light. i'll shape them out, trim and thin the base, and give them another outside glassing when i get the time staked out and the weather improves for glass work.
StackedCorecorkFinTemplates
this thread's been asleep a litle while, but it's not dead. i'll come up with more when i'm caught up.
-cbg
FinTemplatesBaggedDownFlat
Re: [hans] finFoil v0.3 released, Now you can trace images!
Hi cbg,
Thanks for taking your time to try it out and document it!
The thickness profile results in a thin fintip, indeed. I'm working on a in-program graphical editor, when that is finished you will also be able to design this profile.
However, it is not that much work to make it possible to choose from multiple thickness profiles. I'll try to do that asap and release the code.
You're fin looks nice BTW! keep up te good work!
Hans
____________________________
my free fin building software:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/finfoil/
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v04-released-now-you-can-edit-v...
finFoil v1.0 preview: http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v10-pre-alpha-release