X-SailcutCAD

Sailing is an intensive, rewarding hobby / sport that requires dedication and time to master, yet given how dangerous it can be, any tool that can help you research and understand how your boat will operate is essential. X-SailcutCAD helps you design perfect sails for your boat, individually calculating the correct dimensions based on the exact measurements of your vessel.

The application is surprisingly easy to use, to design a sail, users are taken to a specific window that allows them to enter all the details about their boat. This method doesn't rely on various templates, but instead offers unique information that is customized to each specific boat.

The Mould window can adjust the shape of their sail, to change the luff, leech and depth profile of a particular sail to simulate different winds. The sails will appear in 3D, with both a shaded and wireframe image, that lets users examine it from multiple angles.

While X-SailcutCAD can generate an accurate 3D model of a particular sail, the screen to view it is unintuitive to use. The display window lacks proper mouse support, users are unable to click and drag to move the camera, or rotate the image via the mouse. Clicking on the 3D image moves the camera in the direction of the nearest edge closest to the click point, it feels awkward and is easy to lose sight of the image.

To rotate and position the image, there are vertical and horizontal rotation sliders that enable proper camera control. The slider system is outdated and lacks the control that a properly integrated mouse can have, and, unfortunate, set back to an otherwise competent interface.

X-SailcutCAD is not a bad program by any means, but it is starting to show its age. The tailored approach to sail generation keeps X-SailcutCAD current, regardless of how boats advance in size and shape. Still, the 3D image generation could be better and the way users examine it definitely needs to be improved.