Full Version: V5 Wish List

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Hi Rich, re: #2 import groups, I'm not sure if that will be feasible because Rhino's grouping mechanism is kind of limited. The way it works is group membership is more like a tag on an object and there isn't any parent/child relationship set up between groups. It's fairly different from how groups normally work in 2D vector type programs.

So because it's limited I'm probably not going to try and just adopt the same system in MoI, I think it's going to be important to be able to have parent/child hierarchy betwen groups. So it may be difficult for them to go back and forth between MoI and Rhino.

The same thing might apply to blocks as well, Rhino adopted the Autocad block system and it has some really weird interaction with layers. It's also probably not going to be something that would be good to just exactly replicate in MoI.


> (actually, this may be crazy, but is there a way to use the current obj importer
> to just import obj's at 0 subdivisions?)

Sorry, no it doesn't work very well to represent object in CAD/NURBS with a large number of individual planar facets. The way CAD geometry is structured there is some more overhead for each face compared to a poly modeling program because of how there can be an "underlying surface" with trim curves on it marking different areas as active or as holes. it doesn't work very well to have a high face count like you can in a poly modeling program.

There is a separate OBJ import plug-in that Max Smirnov wrote that does that though, you can find it on his file archive here, look for ImportObj:
http://moi.maxsm.net/media/files/

Generally i don't recommend trying to do that kind of import though, MoI is not designed to work with polygon models for modeling. Trying to simulate a poly model by having a large number of trimmed NURBS surfaces usually does not work very well.

- Michael

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Great thanks Michael I'll definitely check out Max's import plug...Yes realise the way groups are treated probably wouldn't work out (as I'm sure you'd develop a superior system haha) just wondering if groups could be ignored when importing to MoI, currently having to explode everything in Rhino first (meaning you inevitably get a lot of split up polysurfaces)....Is this another workflow possibly?

- Rich

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Hi Rich,

re:
> just wondering if groups could be ignored when importing to MoI,

Do you mean blocks in Rhino? Groups in Rhino should already come over with the grouping just ignored unlike blocks.


> currently having to explode everything in Rhino first (meaning you inevitably get a lot of
> split up polysurfaces)....Is this another workflow possibly?

Try using the "ExplodeBlock" command in Rhino instead of just plain "Explode". I think ExplodeBlock will only convert block instances in to regular geometry, it won't break apart polysurfaces into individual surfaces like regular Explode.

- Michael

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Hnmm yeah just doing some tests, perhaps it was nested blocks inside the groups that were giving errors - I'll wait for a test case! Usually given mega files that have been passed down through many hands so hard to work out what might be causing issues - great to know groups are just passed over...Thanks for "ExplodeBlock" also will go into the arsenal...

- Rich

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Probably a low priority:
How about a "make copy(s)" option on the Align tool?

MindSet

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I hope V5 has the function of material mapping. In addition, objects can display ground shadows

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It would be useful and presumably straightforward to provide the full filename to the clipboard.
It would also be useful to provide the recent file list to a popup.

Thanks,
Mindset

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Hi Mindset,

re:
> It would be useful and presumably straightforward to provide the full filename to the clipboard.

If you hover your mouse over the filename at the top of the side pane, it will show a tooltip with the full path.


> It would also be useful to provide the recent file list to a popup.

The file menu is a popup that uses the recent file list, so you can look at FileMenu.htm for an example of this.

- Michael

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Thank you Michael,

>The file menu is a popup that uses the recent file list, so you can look at FileMenu.htm for an example of this.
<

Great, I'll see if I can conjure up a popup from that example.
If successful, I'll post the results here to share.

Such a recent file list popup will be useful for import.

Additionally, I would be nice to have the option of importing only visible objects from a source file.
Any hints on doing that, or about how to remove hidden objects added by an import?

Separately, I'll try to get the current file-path by using the Save command as an example.

Mindset

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Sorry if it will be an unrealistic wish.

I would like to have the ability to put there some global variables which would be put together into one chart where I could change f.e. change hole size globally. This should work globally for every element and allow change parameter of that element (in some cases it is length in some cases radius or overall dimensions). This variable could be assigned same as name and colour (assigned name could be the binder of those properties). This could be limited to dimensions of a whole solids if the internal lines and circles would be too hard.



I would like also to have a dynamic copy of a whole solid body (instance), dynamic array (array of instances) and dynamic mirror (mirrored and copied instance).

This should be done in a minimalistic way with easiness of use (like rest of GUI). It could be done also very limited to work only on most used cases.

That is my dream about MoI 5 :)

Image Attachments:
global_variables.jpg 

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Hi Mindset,

re:
> Additionally, I would be nice to have the option of importing only visible objects from a source file.
> Any hints on doing that, or about how to remove hidden objects added by an import?

For removing hidden objects that were just imported earlier in the same command, try this (warning untested code):

var objs = moi.geometryDatabase.getObjects();
for ( var i = 0; i < objs.length; ++i )
{
    var obj = objs.item(i);
    if ( obj.hidden && obj.databaseRevision > moi.command.lastCommandRevisionEnd )
    {
        moi.geometryDatabase.removeObject( obj );
    }
}

> Separately, I'll try to get the current file-path by using the Save command as an example.

You can use moi.geometryDatabase.currentFileName to get the full path of the current file , and if you want to copy it to the clipboard pass it to moi.copyTextToClipboard();

- Michael

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Hi mdesign,

re:
> I would like to have the ability to put there some global variables which would be put together
> into one chart where I could change f.e. change hole size globally.

There are other programs called "parametric CAD" that are very focused on this type of work. If this is an important feature for you, i would strongly recommend using one of those programs for this work rather than MoI.

SolidWorks would be a good one to check out, I think they have a way to link a parametric variable to Excel.

The focus on MoI is on making things quick and fluid to draw. It's not focused on this kind of process control that you need.

- Michael

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Hi mDesign,

A hobbyist level CAD option might be Alibre Atom3D.
It has the parametric feature, so you might want to check it out.

Just FYI,
Mindset

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Hi Michael,

I might have missed your reply to this request, but just to be sure you didn't miss it... :)

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=10114.223

Thanks!

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Hi mdesign, maybe you could use Node-editor for some of the effects you are looking for. :-)

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Hi Metin,

re:
> I might have missed your reply to this request, but just to be sure you didn't miss it... :)
>
> http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=10114.223

Sorry I didn't know you were wanting a reply to that. One of the initial focus areas for MoI was to make it possible to use without touching a keyboard at all, so something like that very focused on typed in input is not going to be a high priority, sorry. But it's here on the list for future reference.

For the general area of keyboard input, enabling multiple shortcut keys in sequence is currently a higher priority than auto-complete for typed in command names.

- Michael

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Thanks Michael!

I understand, although I hope the auto-complete feature will be added in the near future. :)

An alternative might be a drag and drop option to easily add custom commands to the MoI UI, with automatic button and text label creation.

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Hi, I would have a request for the next version and it is the possibility of also being able to measure the radius of beziér or cubic curves, not generated by a circle, since the representation of the circles with nurbs is always an approximation, as can be done with other programs CAD where the detected dimension is dynamic and changes with curvature and also the detected center moves dynamically.

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Hi Metin,

re:
> I understand, although I hope the auto-complete feature will be added in the near future. :)
>
> An alternative might be a drag and drop option to easily add custom commands to the
> MoI UI, with automatic button and text label creation.

There is quite a lot of work involved in either of these so sorry don't expect it in the near future.

- Michael

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Hi pafurijaz,

re:
> Hi, I would have a request for the next version and it is the possibility of also being able
> to measure the radius of beziér or cubic curves, not generated by a circle, <...>

Moi's radius dimension is designed not to do that because it can be dangerous. It's too easy for someone to mistakenly think that a curve that looks similar to a circle is actually an exact circle and then put a dimension on it not knowing that the radius is not constant across the entire length of the curve.


> since the representation of the circles with nurbs is always an approximation

This is not correct, a NURBS curve can exactly represent a circle without approximation, that's why it has "weight" values as part of it's formulation. The weights (which give the "R" part of NURBS for "Rational") give NURBS curves the ability to exactly represent conic sections.


> as can be done with other programs CAD where the detected dimension is dynamic and changes with
> curvature and also the detected center moves dynamically.

Is there any CAD program other than Rhino that behaves that way? I just tested with ViaCAD for example and it does not put a radius dimension on a general spline curve.

I would think that's probably an unusual function specific to Rhino because normally a radial/diametric dimension should indicate an arc or circle curve and not a general spline curve that only happens to have the indicated value just at that point location.

- Michael

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