I am an illustrator/2d guy myself, that's why I said I totally get it. :) Trust me that it get's a lot better with persistence. I would not try to memorize the manual per se, just make a pass of each tool testing it on a very simple dummy project.
Pilou, shortcuts are not only to save time, I think. I feel it's a way to protect concentration and flow when one is concepting on such an intuitive tool as MoI. I highly recommend setting up shortcuts after you get some basic understanding, so that you start developing muscle memory to the point that you think "chamfer" and the edge is chamfered before you realize it. :))
I've found that I have to be very careful with fillets and chamfers as if I want to edit object itself after 3D printing it (to make adjustments for the part needed) it's really painful if it has filleted edges.
This is biggest downside of moi comparing to DSM that edits of finished models are more time consuming.
Also the fillets and chamfers have different math or whatever that MOI cannot handle them as good as DSM.
Aside those two above MOI is better on all levels I think.
Bad news for me that those two things are ones I use most often.
I know you used chamfers just as an example, but it reminded me of this :/
Hi Mr. Yuri, well when you get stuck or confused about something in MoI, don't hesitate to post your question here on the forum. That's how you will learn and improve. For example with this discussion right here now you know what causes a boolean to have missing pieces of the cutting object.
Doing complex models just inherently takes a higher degree of skill and so it will take time for you to develop that. Keep at it and it will pay off.
For chamfers and fillets it sounds like a good solution for you would be to use DSM and MoI in combination with each other, doing the fillets and chamfers in DSM. I'm not sure if DSM has the import capabilities that you would need for that, it is a stripped down version of SpaceClaim. It would probably work better to use the full SpaceClaim software but it's pretty expensive. It could be a pretty significant boost to your productivity though.
I also have some ideas to improve MoI that will help more too later this year.
Planning your modeling strategy ahead of time given the MoI3D core set of commands is helpful. Before getting far in actual modeling it's helpful to learn the fundamental commands and then take some time to think about different ways you can use those commands to create the model. Generally speaking it's not a great idea to cobble together little pieces into a model, sooner or later the model falls apart. Rather, make use of alignment tools, keep lines and surfaces lightweight enough to accomplish your objectives and if your strategy begins to fail don't be afraid to rewind to a safe point and try another path.
