I was wondering what would be the best program for desiging surfboard outlines? I remember seeing a thread where someone was using Adobe Illustrator. Would this be the best program for designing?
Thanks,
Da Cheetah
Hey there, I’ve used AutoCAD and Rhino3d but APS3000 is my favorite… it’s pretty slick in that it allows you to set some contols, say for the nose and tail widths, and design your curves around them. The beta version is also capable of importing pics. And…it’s free, thanks Miki, Jimmy and Ralph.
cheers,
Brennan
If you are on a Mac use Illustrator or Photoshop or any CAD drawing program.
I’d love to try APS3000 though, if I had a PC!
The best and most fun way: Get paper, Masonite (not the religious group guys, the hard board) Pencils, Jig saw…12 pack beer.
Sit on shop floor, look over old templates, take the best attributes of old boards, concoct new worlds best shape, the board no other surfboard could catch. Templating is probably the most fun of surfboard design, it’s that “oh my gosh this thing is going to be cool” step of the design.
-Jay
At my age it’s a bottle of Scotch…
I’m just trying to think ahead, with all the young’uns on the computer? Maybe when they get that computer printout full size they’ll realize how much detail is lost in translation and how much it looks like every other shape out there and how much fun they are missing out on by not listening to the like you and Jim the generous and…
I have played with computer programs a little to develope some designs. Some may say that I am regressive but IMHO the most effective tools for working out an outline for a fin or a board are experience, good eyes, an open mind, a light touch with a pencil, graph paper, sissors, imagination & an abundance of patience.
Good Surfin’, Rich
For outlines then, yes Illustrator is what I feel the simplest, and most accurate way to design a template outline.
Drawbacks are that it is a very expensive program, however if you know where to look you could score it for free…(ahem)…certain P2P applications that shall remain nameless…you do the research on that.
Plusses are that the learning curve for simple shit like surfboards outlines is very short.
Once you have a few outlines designed then all you have to do i sstretch some points and you have a thousand new outlines.
You can print out the full template at a decent print shop or even at kinkos.
You can import just about any type of image file…jpeg, gif, eps, tiff, whatever for reference…though i must caution that this leads you to simply copy another shapers design, and can stifle your own creativity, however importing pics is a great reference to start from.
Drew
Like Resinhead says, there is nothing better than drawing out a new planshape, standing it up and giving it the look over, dragging it back to the drawing board and tweaking the lines here and there. Unless it is the old standard that needs no changes, I workover an outline several times before I commit to sawing it out. An outline may look bitchin’ on the shaping stands, but taken outside and stood up, it takes on an entirely different look
Thanks to all for the advice. I have designed my own templates to my delight. It just get’s alittle tricky going from making a 5’10 template to a 6’5. I do agree making your own template is best but, making longer templates get’s a little difficult for me and never seems to look right. Well practice makes perfect. My favorite template is the one I made last year and a six pack worked perfect! Thanks again,
Da Cheetah
It’s still fun drawing on paper to scale. Get it how you like and supersize it to some wrapping paper. Cut it out, tape to wall, lay it on ground and stand on it, etc. Still easy and cheap at this point to make changes or toss it and start over. Once you like it, transfer to masonite or thin ply. Cut it out, smooth any warbles and use it.
Hint: it’s easier to “draw” long smooth lines with a sanding block on wood than a pencil on paper.
daddio - the APS3000 software works just fine on a mac (assuming you have OS X, which if you don’t and you have a mac, you need it!). All you need is java web start.
To create my outlines I:
A) design the outline using any of the surfboard specific cad programs out there (though I’m starting to prefer the APS software)
B) screen shot the outline (ALT(or CTRL)+PRINT SCREEN on a pc, use GRAB for OS X)
C) start a new file in illustrator with an artboard size exactly the length and width (or half width if you don’t want a full template) of your outline
D) paste (on pc) or file->place (mac) the screen shot and scale it to fit the artboard
… and you’re done! Quick and easy (sure beats having to set up all the guidelines in illustrator)
Another thing I do (between steps B and C) is bring the screenshot into photoshop and crop it so that only the outline is left. Gets rid of all the window frame and application junk also included in the screen shot.