Hi Danny,

For exports to formats that have a type of layer system where it is not allowed to have sub-objects (edges or faces) on different layers than the parent solid, my current plan is to just use the style of the parent solid as the layer assignment.

There isn't really much other choice if the target format does not have any way to assign different layers to sub-objects.

This will apply to 3DM, IGES, and STEP exporting (for 3DM to programs other than MoI).


> If I was to export a cube that that was modelled in red and I
> applied fillets in blue, would the fillets export to one layer and
> the rest of the faces of the cube, another ?

Not to these 3 formats - you would end up with the whole thing in the red layer, since I believe those formats do not natively have the ability to have one sub-piece of a solid on a different layer than other pieces of the same solid.


> I've actually been using object name as the layers, so I have
> 'construction' named under objects where I can have a number
> of different styled construction curves under that name and so
> on with other objects, that way I can isolate 'construction' and
> then manage that area with the style section of the browser,

Yup, that's why there is more than one system available, so you can use them in combination like this if you want.


> so it makes more sense to me that the object name section
> of the browser = layers.

Well, most of the time in other programs the layer is not just a name, it also controls the color of the objects that are on the layer.

That's why it seems that styles are a good mapping to layers, since they also control the color of objects.


The mis-match is that MoI allows for more flexibility than some export formats can hold, with the possibility of having different parts of a solid assigned to different styles instead of a solid being one atomic colored thing.

If you export to a format that does not support that level of flexibility then some of those assignments will be lost.

I've been thinking that maybe I should include a switch that you could set to optionally turn off this extra level of flexibility in MoI, which could help you more easily work within those confines if that is a main goal for you. Of course then you will also lose some of the capabilities that I mentioned earlier, like being able to set up styles on an individual object like a knob and having it then persist through many operations including when it is booleaned on to another piece.


> I also have a request if it's possible, to create an object
> name or a new style without having a selected object or
> any object at all.

Yeah for Styles I've been planning on having Add and Edit buttons that show up inside of the browser.

But for object name that isn't really possible - the object name is a property of an object, that's kind of like saying that you want to edit the width of something without there being a selection.

But if I understand what you want, I think that the Groups section will behave more like that - groups will be like a container of objects, and you will be able to make a group with no selection, it will be an empty group that you could then fill up with objects.

- Michael