Full Version: 2 years with MOI

I bought MOI 2 years ago- didn't use it a lot at first, but over time began to use it more and more, and now it's my favorite drawing program, so I thought I'd add a review for people considering the program.
I'm retired from the design world, doing technical drawings for my hobby projects- I have Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Fusion and Rhino. The only time I use Inventor is for the gear generator module- it can make accurate spiral bevel gears, but doesn't have much more to offer- I don't build large assemblies or need parametric modifications. Fusion is good- my next most used program- Rhino is such a cluttered mess that I only use it to print drawings from MOI.
The strength of MOI is how well thought out the core fundamentals work- drawing in MOI is almost effortless, the right tools/features just seem to appear when they're needed, I almost never catch myself wondering how to do something- the program just works. By comparison, I spend most of my time in other programs just trying to find the right command, searching through dropdown menus, looking for a YouTube video that explains how to do something that MOI makes easy. At first the simple interface had me thinking the program wasn't 'powerful', but the more I used I found that I could work faster, and more importantly, with less frustration, in MOI- I got more done and didn't feel stressed out after fighting with clumsily written cad programs. Now I dread when I need to launch one of the other programs to do something MOI can't do- I'm in and out of other programs as fast as possible.
There are things that I wish were easier, but they're mostly trivial- saving keystrokes, etc- I probably need to learn scripting.
But, bottom line, I used Autodesk programs daily for decades and it didn't take long for me to become more productive using MOI. One of the strengths of Autodesk Fusion is their YouTube channel- lots of really good videos that get to the point, are well presented, easy to understand- MOI would benefit from something similar.
I didn't appreciate how much of my drawing time was wasted in other programs until I started using MOI- well built simple tools are better than complicated/hard to use tools, I get the drawings done much faster and I don't feel like I've been in a cage fight when I'm done.
Rick

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Are there any additional drawing tools you'd like to see in MOI? Just curious your take on this.

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I want to get vector line art from drawings, so my biggest waste of time is cleaning up the AI and PDF files generated by MOI or Rhino- lots of lines that need to be trimmed, extended, duplicates, crazy number of points, etc.

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That's very interesting. I was thinking more about specific drawing tools, alignment options etc. I do the majority of my drawing using Adobe Illustartor, but I love the snapping and precision of MOI.

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Hi raytownmike.

Based on my experience I can say that Moi is also, for example, a very powerful tool for designing icons and mockup ui.
I use it often coupled with Affinity Designer.

A great duo!

Regards.

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Hi Rick, thanks very much for the kind review! That means a lot to me since I rely almost entirely on word of mouth for people to find out about MoI.

I'm glad that it has grown on you over time, all the stuff you mention about the "core fundamentals" (like drawing, snapping, selecting) has been a major focus area for MoI. It has made for some complications with marketing though, just like you mention it's easy for people to jump to conclusions that something is a "toy" when they see an uncluttered or simple interface. It kind of takes a user that's more independent, self motivated and open to trying things to see beyond that. I think that has actually worked out ok though, because I find that it's more fun for me to interact with these types of users as well!

And yes, that feeling that you're having fun and able to do things quickly has been a big goal as well, I've tried to avoid things that give you the feeling that you have to fight against the software to get stuff done.

Much of these things are difficult to quantify though and so I really appreciate you mentioning all of that! Sorry that you're not as happy when using other programs now. :)

Thanks,
- Michael

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Michael- I'm looking forward to seeing what you consider to be improvements to MOI.
raytownmike- I've struggled with Illustrator for years and never got comfortable with it. My wife was an artist for a publishing company- used Illustrator daily, so I had a good coach, but I always felt clumsy and awkward using it. I've settled on exporting a pdf of a view that I like from MOI, then opening the pdf in MOI to cleanup the linework. The trimming, extending and general editing functions in MOI are much easier for me to use- once I've edited the drawing I export it again and both pdf and dxf files are pretty good. I tried and didn't like Affinity Designer- Inkscape is good- has a really good 'simplify' function that eliminates lots of unneeded points, currently getting better with Autodesk Graphic, but I haven't found a 2D program that I like as well as MOI.
Rick

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Hey rick,

""""A good youtube channel. Pointed and precise help"""

That can be this forum. Following along or askingnyour particular question, can get answered in not much time.

One of the great things aboit a Q and A, is you can get MULTIPLE answers. Learning from multiple approaches can really enhance how get around...

2 cents...

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Michael (wrote this part)_ It has made for some complications with marketing though, just like you mention it's easy for people to jump to conclusions that something is a "toy" when they see an uncluttered or simple interface. It kind of takes a user that's more independent, self motivated and open to trying things to see beyond that. I think that has actually worked out ok though, because I find that it's more fun for me to interact with these types of users as well!

Hi Michael,

I recently wrote a piece supporting MOI 3D in this Strata thread: http://www.stratacafe.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15701
I believe in all of your efforts with MOI. Keep up the great work.

BTW this message centered around a new relationship between Strata and Cobalt.

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Thanks Mike!

- Michael

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I chimed in on that Strata thread, too. We MoI boosters are everywhere.

Unfortunately, Strata's online community has pretty much died on the vine; much like the program seems to have...

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