Hi Michael,

>Hi 3dvisuals dude, I'm glad that MoI has worked to increase your productivity!
>I'm glad that you're able to just "flow" with it and let your creativity take you in different directions quickly. That's definitely >the idea behind it!
>

Well now I'm not only happy I'm happy that you're happy! ;^)

I often wonder if other folks have the same experience with M.O.I. that I do in this regard. From the very first time I used M.O.I. back in the Fall of last year I have nearly always had this same experience... I stare for a second at the blank M.O.I. workspace, reach for a Primitive Tool or a Line Tool, draw a few objects in random 3D space or draw a random freeform sketch line somewhere in 3D space, and then examine the result for a few seconds rotating around in the 3D viewport until something "emerges" in my mind's eye from whatever is there... it's really a liberating experience for my imagination.

Here I am with perhaps 300 3DM files created in M.O.I. over the last few months, and only 5 of those were actually the outcome of a pre-conceived model I had in mind before opening up M.O.I.! It's quite amazing when you consider that I have been 3D Modeling constantly since the very early ' 90's and have never in all that time and in spite of using hundreds of other 3D programs been able to create such freeflowing imaginative works from scratch as I always do with M.O.I.! There is just no other 3D program like it in my book at all, the "minimalist approach" to the interface design is probably the key, having a completely uncluttered workspace and stylus-friendly intuitive toolsets just frees one's creativity in unprecedented ways!

Thanks for keeping M.O.I. "minimalist" in this way, it's a brilliant approach and profoundly appreciated by me every day!

>Re: reading OBJ files - I was thinking that one first step for this would be to bring the polygon mesh object into MoI just as a >wireframe, with the edges of each polygon being a regular line object in MoI. Do you think that would be useful?
>
>That would be a lot less difficult for me because it wouldn't introduce a new "polygon mesh object type" inside of MoI that >would not interact well with the existing set of NURBS-focused tools.
>
>I was thinking that at first I would probably create a stand-alone utility, like Obj23dmWireframe.exe, that could read an OBJ >file and translate it into a wireframe .3dm file... If this sounds like it would be useful, I can give that a try in a little while after >I get the documentation rolling along a bit.
>
>- Michael
>

WOW!!!! This would be absolutely GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure, since the imported OBJ model is only being used as a 3D Reference Model for subsequent NURBS additions it wouldn't matter at all that the model was wireframe-only just as long as we would all be able to bring our OBJ models into M.O.I. without a lot of related fuss!

Granted, we can now bring models into M.O.I. via IGES but my experience with that import format in M.O.I. so far has been a nightmare (ie: hundreds of redundant duplicate lines, inability to properly convert models to IGES prior to M.O.I. import, etcetera) and just the added time of trying to use other programs to properly convert polygonal models to IGES itself is a hindrance I tend to avoid at all costs!

Being able to bring OBJ models into M.O.I. as wireframes would definitely be a huge workflow blessing for me and probably everybody else here too! I must have at least 6000 OBJ format models I've made over the years and being able to play with those in any fashion within M.O.I. would open up huge time-saving capabilities for me on new projects!!!

I really did mean what I said earlier too about how Poser folks at the Usenet's "alt.binaries.3d.poser" would love this too, and I promise you this, if you make this possible for us all I'll post some awesome (non-spam) threads there showing those folks directly what M.O.I. could do to make their Poser Pipeline a genuine delight!

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

Just when I think you've already made my week you go and do it again Michael!!! When you do officially launch Version 1 be sure to send us all a "snail mail address" first, because I suspect there's a few other folks here besides me who'd like to send you a bottle of champagne when that day finally comes! You've most certainly earned it! ;^)

Thank you!

- 3dvisuals dude