Hi JTB, thanks for your interest in MoI!

> 1. Is there any chance of having Autodesk-compatible export options like DWG or DXF?

I don't think that I will be able to do this for the Version 1.0 release, but I would like to add it in at some point after that. Some Autodesk products have IGES support, or have plug-ins available for reading IGES files.


> 2. When will a basic manual be ready?

I'm not really sure, this is going very slowly right now. Hopefully there will be more progress during the next month.


> 3. 3dsMAX has the modifiers stack to use when we want to go
> back and change something and everythings is updated
> automatically. How is/will MOI handle this kind of correcting
> previously made geometry?

MoI has a mechanism called "Construction History", where it remembers the parameters that were used to construct an object. Later on you can edit the parameters to update the object. For version 1.0, the only parameters that you can edit are the objects that were used as inputs - for example when you do an extrude, there is a curve that is used as an input. Later on you can edit that curve (for example, turn on points for it and move them around), and the extruded object will update, this works in the beta right now.

In future versions there will be some additional UI that will let you edit other parameters (like a length or radius value, etc.) but this won't be ready for the V1 release.

There are also limitations right now where it is easy for the chain of history to get broken if you do further edits to the resulting object after it has been constructed. This is something that I want to try and improve in the future.

Overall though, history and updating type mechanisms are not the major focus for MoI right now, the primary focus is much more on making it quick and easy to just draw things initially.


> 4. I tried to make a curve and then extruded it and then changed the profile and the
> 3d solid changed too. When I moved the solid I found out that the initial profile is not
> a part of the solid, it can be moved seperately and even be deleted. If we don't
> have the profile attached to the solid, how can we add points, change cross-section,
> or modify the solid in anyway?

When you moved the solid you broke the history chain between it and the original curve.

If you wanted to move it and preserve the history, you can accomplish that by selecting only the original curve, and then moving that. Just as moving control points updates the extrude, moving the entire curve will also update it.


> 5. Can you please explain to me how and when fillet command works?

You can use the fillet command to round sharp corners.

The basic operation is that you first select the thing you want to round, then run fillet, then pick a distance for the radius of the round (this can be done by either clicking two points, the distance used will be the distance in between those two points, or you can enter a specific radius). You can experiment with different radius values, and then push "Done" (or right-click in a viewport) when you are finished.

All the uses of fillet will follow that basic pattern, but there will be different results depending on what type of objects you picked.

If you pick 2 curves (for example, 2 lines), the curves will be extended and trimmed and an arc curve segment will be placed in between them.

If you pick a single curve that has multiple segments in it (for example a polyline or rectangle), you will be able to pick different corners within the curve, and each of these will be rounded.

If you pick a solid, all the edges of the solid will be rounded.

If you pick the edges of a solid (to pick an edge, click on a solid a second time), those edges will be rounded.

If you pick the face of a solid, all edges that border that face will be rounded.


Let me know you if you have any specific questions about filleting - if you're having problems with a specific model, please post the model. I can also give you some screenshots if you have questions about any of the particular uses above.

One common problem is picking too large of a radius - the radius that you pick must fit within the size of your geometry.


> 6. When I use Offset->Shell to a sphere, I get two objects or one?

You get one object that has a wall thickness with a void cavity within it. If you want to get two objects, use Offset instead.


> 7. Is there a way to draw a profile from existing edges of a solid? (like
> picking edges instead of drawing points)

You can select the edge, then use Edit/Copy, then Edit/Paste to duplicate it as a regular stand-alone curve. Let me know if this wasn't what you were after here.


> 8. Is there any list of what features the final product will/should have?
> it would be great to see the features list of MOI 1.0 (at least as you plan it so far).

The main major areas that I plan to add are: Arrays/duplication mechanism, Some alignment tools, A couple of additional surfacing tools such as surface from curve network, Image plane backgrounds, Some construct-curve-from-object tools such as project and contour lines.

I'm not exactly sure how long some of these will take. If some things start taking too long I will probably have to postpone them until a later version, I would kind of like to wrap up new features relatively soon.

Please let me know if anything here wasn't clear or if I misunderstood any of your questions.

- Michael