v1 beta - axis snap + IGES (old thread)

 From:  Michael Gibson
1013.1 
EDIT: (Oct 21 2008) Note - this is an older message and the patch mentioned here is for a v1 beta release in Sep-2007. The stuff here has already been incorporated into the released MoI v1 and all v2 betas.

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Ok, there is a new patch available here: http://moi3d.com/beta/Sep4_patch2.zip .

To install it unzip it and copy the moi_lib.dll file over top of the old version in C:\Program Files\MoI beta Sep-4-2007\ .

There are a couple of new things.

First is a new snap - Axis snap. This snaps on to the major axis lines of the grid in any viewport, just as if there was a permanent construction line there.

I have been noticing that I tend to create a lot of axis-aligned construction lines for building many kinds of simple shapes. So I figured it would be a good idea to just build those in so they are always available to snap on to without doing any extra action.

I could use some feedback on this whether it seems like a good idea or whether it gets in the way, please let me know what you think.

At the moment there isn't any UI to turn them off, but you can set up this keyboard shortcut to do it:
code:
script:moi.drawingAids.objectSnapAxis = !moi.drawingAids.objectSnapAxis;



The other major thing is an update to IGES import - now when you import an IGES file that has individual surfaces in it, those surfaces will be automatically joined into a solid. A lot of people are using MoI as a converter from IGES to OBJ, and to get the best quality output with no cracks between surfaces, the surfaces should be joined so there are common shared edges. This now makes that happen automatically instead of as an extra step. The auto joining can be turned off in moi.ini under this section:

[IGES]
JoinOnImport=n


Also you can now pass moi.exe the name of a script file (enclosed in quotes if there are any spaces in the file name or path) and it will run that script on startup. This allows MoI to be used for automatic batch processing type operations.

There are also a few assorted minor bug fixes.

Please let me know if you have any problems with these new functions.

- Michael

EDITED: 21 Oct 2008 by MICHAEL GIBSON