Hi parel,

re:
> 1)From a UI perspective why is OBJ import not part of the File>Import command?

Because it's not a general purpose OBJ importer, it is only meant to import an OBJ file that is structured for sub-d smoothing. MoI itself exports .obj files that are set up only for rendering and not sub-d smoothing and so it could be confusing to have it on the regular Import command with different behavior than the Export command.

In the future I expect to add more Sub-d tools including more on the "Create" menu and then the UI won't look as odd as it does currently.


> 2) The filesizes for these imported OBJs is quite large. Looking forward to some of the other options you
> mentioned with fewer edit points with the possibility of some editability or a lighter file size.

In the next beta there will be an option to choose between Patch type "Fewer patches, more control points" (which is the current method) or "More patches, fewer control points". The second new style will make little patches around extraordinary vertices but regular areas of the mesh will have less control points. It will reduce file size a bit but not really too much.

I would not expect either of these methods to generate something suitable for NURBS control point editing. If you want to edit control points the ideal place to do it is in your sub-d modeling program before you generate the .obj file in the first place. Also the ideal way to make a lighter file is to use a lighter control cage for your sub-d object from the start as well.

In the future I want to add a new type of object into MoI for representing a sub-d control cage. Then the sub-d importer would make that type of object and you would be able to access the sub-d control cage points in MoI rather than only the converted NURBS object as it is now.

- Michael