hi michael,

"Do you mean a method to make a sketch representation of an ellipse in real life just using a pencil and paper?" yes that's what i mean

"Some kinds of pencil and paper sketch methods can translate well into MoI when they involve stuff like drawing some auxilary shapes and finding intersections between them for where to start new lines at and stuff like that." yes this is what i'm trying to do at the moment

i have been able to add points and run a spline through them. i wasn't too fond of that method however. when you make a solid, using this method, it comes out all lumpy.

as i mentioned, moi is working fine. the ellipse tools you have are great. brian already made a script to solve the main problem, using the moi conic tool. i'm just curious about trying to see if there is a simple way to define and draw an ellipse in real life and with moi. and yes by real life i mean make an approximate sketch with paper and some sort of drafting tools. what i'm really curious about is how a draftsmen would have went about this in the 1950's and if that method would work in moi. again, only out of curiosity, not to implement for daily use in moi.

i have found several sketching methods for real life, and of course many equations to calculate points. i'm most curious if you can use lines and arcs to approximate an ellipse, possibly the five center method.

please don't spend any more time on this. i know you have more important things to do. i will figure it out eventually. you helped me find the center of an ellipse created with the moi conic section tool. brian helped me create the whole ellipse using the conic section tool and mirror/rotate. with that added information, i could confirm the ellipse created with the conic section tool to that of one created with the ellipse tool. now i'm just learning.