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Using computer technology to shape surfboards is yet another step in the
evolution of surfboard design and shaping. What does CNC shaping bring to the
design and shaping process? The goal of surfboard design software such
as
Aku Shaper
and
Shape3D
and the CNC machines is to develop tools for shapers that will allow them
to perform a variety of important tasks. These tasks include creating new
custom designs, accurately and consistently reproducing magic designs,
modifying existing designs based on intuitive ideas about surfboard design or
deductive ideas based on the performance of a design, and adjust existing
designs to accommodate variations in any surfer's physical size, technique, and
skills.
The surfer shaper relationship is one of the fundamentals of the evolution
of surfboard design. The ability to reproduce the same design or to hold
important variables constant and adjust other variables in an effort to improve
designs tested by surfers, shapers, and designers offers notable progression in
design.
With computers and software we can digitize and inventory all our shapes in
a database. We can produce our magic shapes repeatedly without deviation in
design from the original master shape. We can adjust any of variables in a
design while holding other variables constant. We can adjust designs to
accommodate any surfer and the conditions they surf. Every time we design a
magic surfboard surfboard it can be added to the database. The computer and
machine accurately and consistently produce a specific design without
variation.
We can design surfboards from any location and send the digital design
files directly to the machine or cutting center by email. The cutting center
machines our blanks and delivers them to us fine tune and finish the shape.
We design our boards with Aku Shaper Design Software. The Aku design
software offers great features well suited to design custom surfboards. The Aku
design software has a mode in it's interface for each design variable. It
facilitates the development of a database of individual designs, as well as a
collection of outlines, profiles, and slices that can be saved in a library. We
can create new designs using the active tool, the Pen Tool or Bezier Tool, to
draw outlines, bottom and deck rockers and profiles, rails, and bottom
contours. We can modify existing custom designs creating new designs by editing
the curves in any of the designs modes. Additionally we can export outlines,
profiles, and slices from existing designs into a library in our database and
import them into new designs.
Aku design software provides valuable data regarding volume, center of
mass, fin placement, and an information panel where we can include observations
about surfer, performance, and the continuing evolution of a design. The
software preferences can be set to a variety of units of measure - feet,
centimeters, millimeters, or a combination of those units of measurement. It
has a feature to view, while designing and editing, the original board, a ghost
board which is another board layered in the interface, or an image board which
is a photo image of a surfboard imported into the database.
The software is streamlined, versatile, and easy to master. Aku design
software is a Java Webstart Application. It will run on any operating system:
Mac, Windows, Unix, Open Source, or your own operating system if you have the
skill to author one.
We've been using the Aku design software since 2005. We have produced
thousands of functional, relevant, and magic surfboards in the brief time we've
been using the system. The system allows us to provide greater service than
ever for our surfer clients. It is an excellent tool in the evolution of
surfboard design and production.
Shape3d Design Software uses the same active tools and format as Aku design
software. It has a few additional design tools not available in the Aku
software. The most powerful of those features is entering design dimensions to
create a new board file.
From 2005 to 2017 we used an APS 3000 machine running Aku machine software
to cut our board files. In 2017 we started to use a
Precision Shaper
machine running Shape3d machine software. The Precision Shaper machine
generates a machined blank with a full rail cut. The APS 3000 machine with Aku
software generates a cut with a full rail cut on the deck and a partial rail
cut on the bottom of the rail. We continue to use both machines - each when
most appropriate for the design being machined. |
