Vorlax execution freezes VSP

[Nelson]

I'm trying to use the Vorview -> Edit menu as demonstrated in tutorial
video #6 (http://youtu.be/6_SsoB0XLwg).

Clicking "Calc Surface Cp" doesn't seem to do anything. Clicking "Run
VORLAX" starts a green progress bar, opens a Vorlax Output window, but
then apparently freezes. Clicking on either window shows "Not
Responding".

I'm using Win7 64bit and vsp.exe downloaded from openvsp.org.

I've been looking for info in the wiki, manual, and here in the
discussions. Am I missing some essential step? What am I doing
wrong?

Thanks,
Nelson

[Rob McDonald]

Nelson,

Unfortunately, at this time Vorlax itself is not distributed with VSP.
If you already have Vorlax, you should be able to set it up so VSP
can run it through the Vorview interface.

At this time, we don't have any error checking to see if you have Vorlax or not.

Rob

[Nelson]

Thanks!

I got Vorlax and it runs when called by Vorview in openVSP.

I hope Vorlax can be distributed with openVSP in the future.

Nelson

[Rob McDonald]

I hope so too. When we went through the process to get VSP released
by NASA, it wasn't worth adding in the complication of Vorlax.

There is a place on the internet where the Fortran source to a version
of Vorlax can be downloaded. I am not sure if there are significant
differences between that version and the version which has been
integrated with VSP.

Rob

[James Ahern]

Hi guys,

Is there any update on the possibility of VORLAX being released or it being available?

[Mark Moore]

I've heard that the NASA IP attorney is considering it.  Some progress has been achieved and there is no reason why it shouldn't be released as far as I am aware - but she is exercising an abundance of caution.  Perhaps the only thing that will work is an endless stream of letters requesting for action and explanation of why it is not releasable.

Mark

[James Ahern]

That sounds promising. Just seems like openVSP needs it to be a more
complete program.

James

[Mark Moore]

The intent of VSP is only to do the front end geometry for conceptual aircraft design, but provide meta geometries to all the different disciplinary analyses.  So it's not our intent to replicate Roskam's AAA or Raymer RDS simplified analysis suites.  Those are available, you can buy those.  Our intent is to provide a foundational high quality parametric geometry that can go anywhere, but maintain the ease of use that promotes the creative designer to be empowered - and not encumbered by his tools.  If you like CAD - use it - but I find is a waste of time for conceptual design needs.  Conceptual design works with parameters, not points - with the need to optimize many parameters that simplify the analysis problem into a manageable solution. 

The fact is, most places have their own favorite aerodynamics methods (which are typically proprietary).  Great, use that - because VSP has all the required geometry information to do a physics-based analysis.  In the future we may also release some of our analysis tools, the fact is FLOPS will provide most of the analysis that people want.  But it is a monolithic black box and no one will know what they ar really getting - so it really doesn't help the universities or even companies to do a good job with design.

Mark