To familiarise yourself with the basic functions of Maxsurf you should now open an existing design.

·   Select the Profile window from the Windows menu.

·   Click in the zoom box in the upper right hand corner of the windows, or drag the bottom right hand corner of the window to expand the window to full screen size.

·   Select Open from the File menu.

·   Select the design called Maxsurf Sample_Trawler from the Program Files\Maxsurf\Sample Designs directory.

The design will be displayed by the outline of its surface edges, represented as solid lines. The first thing to do is unlock the model;

·   Go to Locking in the Surfaces menu.

·   Either click on the surface name, or use the “Unlock All” button to unlock all surfaces.

·   Click OK

The profile view of your model should now look like this:

Together with the surface edges you will also see some squares joined by light blue lines. These squares are the control points that affect the surface shape. Four of the control points on each surface will be painted purple indicating that they are surface corner points. Across the window is a yellow line, this is the Datum Waterline (DWL).

At the bottom of the Profile window there are four position indicators, which give the on screen position of the cursor in real world coordinates. The first two indicators show the longitudinal and vertical location of the cursor, and the second pair of indicators show the angle and distance of the cursor from the last point clicked. The indicators are updated as you move the cursor. The position indicators are also present in the Body Plan and Plan windows.