Full Version: V4 Wish List

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"I don't see any information there about how instances are stored in a LWO file which is what I would need."

I believe LW instancing is in the scene file and not in the object itself. Instances are represented through nulls that are associated with the object clones, I believe.

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Hi Paul, unfortunately the LightWave scene file format does not seem to be documented as fully as the object format.

http://static.lightwave3d.com/sdk/2018/html/filefmts.html

I wasn't able to find any mention of clones or instancing in there.

- Michael

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Michael,

You're right. Newtek isn't great about stuff like that.

You're probably aware that Lightwave 3D is essentially two distinct programs - modeller and layout.

In Modeller you create objects and in layout you create scenes using those objects.

The instances in LW aren't cloning the point data for objects, they are taking an object as a pattern and laying out nulls in the scene that are replaced during render time with the point and surface data associated with the template object. It's essentially collapsing the scene file size and reducing the render overhead by only instantiating objects where the instance is part of the visible scene.

As a lapsed LWer (my version of LW pre-dates instancing) I wouldn't expect MOI3D to be building instances in the LW sense. Instances don't exist in the object sense, only essentially as markers in a scene for object replication at render time.

[edit: Also I'm not even sure that you can merge LW scenes, so even a template scene with the correct LW style instances may be of little use in practical terms. ]

Paul

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Hi, Michael.
I have such question, it is possible to write the script that it was possible to change places the beginning and the end at open curves, such as: lines, arcs, NURBS?
Vladimir.

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Hi Vladimir, yes you can use the Flip command in MoI to do that:
http://moi3d.com/3.0/docs/moi_command_reference10.htm#flip

- Michael

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Thanks, Michael. That's very good. There is another MoI issue that incorrectly exports the file to the DXF format of the arc and circle.
For comparison, I attach another pdf file.

Vladimir.

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Hi Vladimir, could you please describe the DXF bug in more detail?

When I open your DXF file in MoI v4 over here it looks like this:


When I open your PDF file in MoI v4 it looks like this:


DXF in Rhino v5:


DXF in Autodesk online viewer:


- Michael

Image Attachments:
vladimir_dxf_autodesk_online_viewer.jpg  vladimir_dxf_moi.jpg  vladimir_dxf_rhino.jpg  vladimir_pdf_moi.jpg 

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Hi, Michael.
The screenshots show how the CAM program handles vectors from PDF and DXF files.
Vladimir.

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Hi Vladimir, sorry I didn't know it was the direction of the arcs and circles in the DXF that you were referring to about the bug. I've seen some programs miscalculate the actual geometry for arcs in cases where they have a plane normal pointing downwards in Z, I thought that might be what you were seeing.

It does look like MoI is not preserving the arc direction for its DXF output, I'll see about tuning that up.

Thanks for reporting the bug!

- Michael

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Hi Michael
I am looking forward to the next version to be able to add "Match", "rebuildcrf" and "umwrapcrf" similar to "Rhino" software. These are useful for surface modeling. Thank you!
-Yuan

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Hi Yuan, I would like to add those functions at some point in the future but I'm sorry it is not likely to be for the next version. For now you should plan to still use Rhino for those kinds of surface modeling functions.

- Michael

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Hi Michael,

I work solely on a laptop and I would imagine that, in this, I am part of a vast and fast growing constituency. Moi3d's pared back UI is more suited than most CAD softs when working with such limited scene real estate; however it would be IMHO great if it was possible to collapse the side bar menu in and out of the scene edge.

The cross & 3 line symbols have become web standards for this and so would be immediately legible to new users.

Also it would be useful to be able to switch between tools menu and scene browser.

I am excited by prospect of the upcoming V4. If you can see some benefit in these suggestions, I wonder if they may be included....at least as an option.

Thanks for all your great work
James

Image Attachments:
UI_sansMenu.png 

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Hi James, one thing that's related to that which you can do now is the option under Options > General > Side pane position: "Inside".

That will remove the Scene Browser as a separate panel and instead make it show up as a palette at the bottom of the other tools.

Also another thing you can use currently is to set up a keyboard shortcut that will toggle the side pane visibility. To do that set up a shortcut key under Options > Shortcut keys with this as the command part:

script: /* Toggle Side pane visibility */ var style = moi.ui.sidepane.document.body.style; style.display = (style.display ? '' : 'none' );


- Michael

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Hi Michael,

>> you can do now is the option under Options > General > Side pane position: "Inside". <<

Yes, this is the option I currently use and generally it works well for me. I just feel if I could simply switch between palettes, scrolling the side bar would usually be unnecessary (excepting projects with many named objects etc).

.>> you can.....set up a keyboard shortcut that will toggle the side pane visibility. <<

Thank you, this a great tip. I will do this immediately. I might see if I can link it to a custom icon

Thanks again
James

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Hi James, here's another script you can try. This one expects the browser pane to be in either "adjacent" or "opposite" mode (not "inside" mode) and it will go in 3 steps, showing side pane only, then browser pane only, then hiding both:

script: /* Toggle Side pane and Browser pane visibility 3 steps*/ var sp = moi.ui.sidepane.document.body.style; var bp = moi.ui.getUIPanel( 'moi://ui/BrowserPane.htm' ).document.body.style; var spon = (sp.display != 'none'); var bpon = (bp.display != 'none'); if ( spon && !bpon ) { sp.display = 'none'; bp.display = ''; } else if ( !spon && bpon ) { sp.display = 'none'; bp.display = 'none'; } else { sp.display = ''; bp.display = 'none'; }

- Michael

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Hi Michael,

Now you're talking.....Great stuff
This has become my go-to setup!

Thanks James

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@Michael Gibson I hate to say it but I really don't like the idea of new version's preferences being saved undr Windows user profile folder alongside Obj Library addon files. I have just lost a handfull of data thanks to these new settings. When you have such a brilliant software with everything basically running from one folder by default why to go into another direction to support Windows way of thinking as Microsoft does everything wrong anyhow.

Appreciate it!

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Hi agonyii, your comments are kind of confusing because there hasn't been any changes in the new version for where the moi.ini file is located by default, it's the same behavior as in all previous versions.

By default Windows (since Vista) will prevent programs from modifying files in the Program Files directory, so it won't work to store a preferences file there for most people. That's why the default location for moi.ini is in your user data folder instead of alongside MoI.exe .

You can change this if you want though, if you move the moi.ini file so that it is in the same folder as MoI.exe, MoI will find it and use that one. If it's inside the Program Files folder though it won't be able to save any changes unless you have run MoI with elevated privileges or if you have turned UAC off.

It's also possible to put moi.ini in whatever folder you want and then tell MoI where it is by passing in the path as a command line parameter to MoI.exe , make sure to put " " quote characters around the path if it has any spaces in it.

- Michael

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I get it now! Please understand my frustration, apparently I did not know enough about it.

I have a question in terms of 'Obj library', would that 3d party addon still reside in the different folder even if my moi.ini is inside apps main folder? If that's not the case it would be awesome if 3d party addons folder would somehow be relevant to the placement of moi.ini file. Just trying to make my moi portable installation bulletproof from now on so nothing gets lost if I backup this one folder.

Really appreciate your help in any case!

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Hi agonyii,

> I have a question in terms of 'Obj library', would that 3d party addon still reside
> in the different folder even if my moi.ini is inside apps main folder?

There is no automatic connection between where your moi.ini file is located and how the Obj library addon works. If I remember right the newest version of Max's CustomUI is designed to go in the app data folder so it won't need to be reinstalled on every new beta release. But older versions went into the main app program files folder so you might try using an older version. It's probably possible to edit it so it goes wherever you want.

But it's likely that in the future more and more stuff will go into the appdata folder like script downloads and stuff like that, both to support the default Windows configuration with UAC enabled where Program Files is read only and also so that added resources are stored in a central location so that it isn't necessary to copy things around for every new release.

I guess I should make it so you can customize the appdata folder location though. Then you could set that so everything is under one single folder.

- Michael

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