Hi Frederick, thanks for explaining. I want to have an additional organization method called "folders" that I think will more closely map to what you want to do than groups.

- Michael

Could we use ctrl+alt+click for group drilldown? It's a little bit more complicated, but if it's a less-common action, a combo like that seems fine. Assuming we're already set up for using multiple modifiers on a click, this should be easy, and then folks can customize the keybindings if they care.

Hi Cuboctahedron,

re:
> Could we use ctrl+alt+click for group drilldown?

For the next v5 beta, ctrl+click on an unselected item in a group will do a full drill-in to target just that object and not any intermediate groups.

- Michael

Hi Michael,
Just a note to let you know that two colors in my MoI4 went grey again, all by themselves.
Background color went to 77,77,77, which is the same as my MoI5beta background color.

Locked Alt color went to 171, 171, 171, (I think from MoI5beta(?), as far as I can tell).

I did not do much in MoI4. Did make an Object Library (Max's customUI) trombone bell.

- Brian

Hi Brian, re: color changes - what do you have set in MoI v5 here under Options > View > Colors, are they set to "From theme" or "Custom"? :


If you have it set to "Custom", then that's basically like "v4 compatibility mode" where those colors will come from a global setting just like they did in v4 and they will use the same setting in moi.ini as v4 to store the custom colors.

So if you set the color mode to "Custom" in v5 that is normal that any change to the color value will show up in v4 as well.

It is possible to make v5 have separate settings from v5 instead of using the same setting. The main way to do that is to set the color to "From theme" instead of "Custom" and then edit the color in a customized theme instead of as a v4-like global value. Any colors set in the theme will not be seen by v4.

Or if you are disturbed by having settings shared between v4 and v5 it is possible to set it up so that each one will use a separate moi.ini file. You can do that by modifying the shortcut you use to launch MoI.exe and giving it a command line parameter with a path to a moi.ini file to use. If there are any spaces in the path put double quotes " " around the path.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

The setting that is being used is "From Theme".

I'll delete the April 10 beta, and leave the May 22 beta, in case that is the cause.

Not sure what permutation causes the color change.
(reboot, power failure, MoI4 open/closed, MoI5beta open/closed, Windows 11?.

I'll call it just a very minor characteristic...:-)

- Brian

Hi Brian, hmmm I was thinking that if you had it set to "Custom" then that would have explained it.

I'll dig around a little more to see if I can identify a bug in that area.

- Michael

Thank you Michael.

To clarify, in MoI5MayBeta, I am using a theme BDark, which is the Dark theme, with Red, Blue, and Green axi.
(Do not want to waste your valuable time :-)

- Brian

Hi Michael,

After a lot of trial and error, I was finally able to cause MoI5BetaMay, Dark Theme to change the default "light blue" background color of MoI4 to Dark background color.

Have MoI4 closed, with its default light blue background color.
Open MoI5 in Dark Theme. Load a .3dm object, and press Snapshot in customUI.
Close MoI5.
Open MoI4, which now has Dark background color.

(The opposite color change in MoI4 also occurs. If MoI4 has the Dark background color, and is closed, press Snapshot for an object, with MoI5 in default "light blue" background color, then close MoI5.
Open MoI4. It now has the light blue background color.

- Brian

I think that Snapshot is saving MoI5 background color, and restoring it, when MoI5 is closed, and is also transferring the MoI5 color to the closed MoI4... (or something like that...MoI5 mediated?)

There are about 6 permutations of how Snapshot takes the picture. See CustomUI post #1. I have not tested all of the permutations. Grid might be affected also?
I do not think that the resolution of the snapshot would have any relevance to the color change(s).

Per Max:
Snapshot
-------------
With this addon you can make a snapshot of last clicked viewport.
Resolution is fixed: 1600x1200
Left click - grid is visible
Right click - grid is hidden
Shift + click = resolution x 2
Ctrl + Shift + click = resolution x 3
Snapshots will be saved to "snapshots" directory.

- Brian

Snapshot in MoI4 does not seem to change background color of MoI5 (?)

https://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=6507.463

Hi Brian, thanks for figuring it out. Yes the snapshot script adds some complexity to things since it was written before themes. So to support the snapshot scripts when the script sets the background color MoI will also automatically sets the mode to "Custom" and sets the color value used by "Custom" which is the same as v4.

Then when the snapshot script restores the old background color value, MoI also automatically sets the mode back to "From theme" if the color being set is the same as the current theme background color. But the v4 background color will get changed as a side effect.

I think an easy way to fix this would be to not write out the v4 color value (also used by v5 in "custom" mode) when Moi v5 exits if mode is "From theme".

Can you please post or e-mail to me (moi@moi3d.com) the snapshot script you have so I can double check to see what other properties might be affected as well.

Thanks, - Michael

The snapshot script is from the original most recent Windows customUI of Max.
...AppData\Roaming\startup\82 Snapshot.js
- Brian

var title = "Snapshot";
var command = "snapshot(1600,1200, event.button, event.shiftKey, event.ctrlKey)";
var icon = "data:image/png;base64,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";

function snapshot(w, h, button, shiftkey, ctrlkey)
{
function ftime()
{
var d = new Date(), a=d.getDate(), o=d.getMonth()+1, y=d.getYear(), h=d.getHours(), m=d.getMinutes(), s=d.getSeconds();
a=(a>9)?a:'0'+a; o=(o>9)?o:'0'+o; y=(y>999)?y:1900+y; h=(h>9)?h:'0'+h; m=(m>9)?m:'0'+m; s=(s>9)?s:'0'+s;
return y+'.'+o+'.'+a+'-'+h+'.'+m+'.'+s;
}
var getDir = moi.filesystem.getAppDataDir;
var st = [], settings = ["view.meshAngle", "view.viewportBackgroundColor", "view.lineWidth", "grid.display", "grid.accentedLineColor", "grid.lineColor", "grid.showXYAxes", "view.showAxisIcon", "view.showViewTitles"];
var time = ftime();
var vp = moi.ui.getLastClickedViewport();
if (!vp) { vp = moi.ui.mainWindow.viewpanel.getViewport('3D'); }
for (var sv in settings) { st.push(moi[settings[sv].split('.')[0]][settings[sv].split('.')[1]] ); }
moi.view.showViewTitles = false;
moi.view.showAxisIcon = false;
moi.grid.showXYAxes = false;
moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor = 0xEEEEEE;
if ( moi.view.meshAngle > 10 ) { moi.view.meshAngle = 10; }
moi.grid.display = (button === 2 )?false:true;
var m = (ctrlkey)?1.5:1;
if ( !shiftkey ) { moi.grid.accentedLineColor = 0xBBBBBB; moi.view.lineWidth = 1; } else { w = w*m*2; h = h*m*2; moi.grid.accentedLineColor = 0x999999; moi.view.lineWidth = 2; }

moi.grid.lineColor = moi.grid.accentedLineColor;
vp.render(w, h).save(getDir()+"snapshots\\"+time+"-["+vp.name+"].png");
for (var sv in settings) { moi[settings[sv].split('.')[0]][settings[sv].split('.')[1]] = st.shift(); }
}

var script, doc = moi.ui.getUIPanel("moi://ui/CommandBar.htm").document;
var head = doc.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];

for (var i in this) if (this.hasOwnProperty(i) && this[i] instanceof Function )
{
script = doc.createElement('script');
script.type = 'text/javascript';
script.innerHTML = this[i].toString();
head.appendChild(script);
}

moi.ui.commandBar.CommandBarCustomUI.insertAdjacentHTML( "beforeEnd", '<moi:Spacer><moi:Spacer><moi:CommandButton icon="'+icon+'" onbuttonclick="'+command+'">'+title+'</moi:CommandButton>');

Should be from CustomUI.2.0.beta2. (???) 2/11/2018

I think I should have used

  ,  

in my prior post.
Messed up the forum post... Now I cannot edit it...
Maybe you can fix my post... Or just delete it...

- Brian

Second try:

  var title = "Snapshot";
var command = "snapshot(1600,1200, event.button, event.shiftKey, event.ctrlKey)";
var icon = "data:image/png;base64,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";

function snapshot(w, h, button, shiftkey,  ctrlkey)
{
	function ftime()
	{
		var d = new Date(), a=d.getDate(), o=d.getMonth()+1, y=d.getYear(), h=d.getHours(), m=d.getMinutes(), s=d.getSeconds();
		a=(a>9)?a:'0'+a; o=(o>9)?o:'0'+o; y=(y>999)?y:1900+y; h=(h>9)?h:'0'+h; m=(m>9)?m:'0'+m; s=(s>9)?s:'0'+s;
		return y+'.'+o+'.'+a+'-'+h+'.'+m+'.'+s;
	}
	var getDir = moi.filesystem.getAppDataDir;
	var st = [], settings  = ["view.meshAngle", "view.viewportBackgroundColor", "view.lineWidth", "grid.display", "grid.accentedLineColor", "grid.lineColor", "grid.showXYAxes", "view.showAxisIcon",  "view.showViewTitles"];
	var time = ftime();
	var vp = moi.ui.getLastClickedViewport();
	if (!vp) { vp = moi.ui.mainWindow.viewpanel.getViewport('3D'); }
	for (var sv in settings) { st.push(moi[settings[sv].split('.')[0]][settings[sv].split('.')[1]] ); } 
	moi.view.showViewTitles = false;
	moi.view.showAxisIcon = false;
	moi.grid.showXYAxes = false;
	moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor = 0xEEEEEE;
	if ( moi.view.meshAngle > 10 )  { moi.view.meshAngle = 10; }
	moi.grid.display = (button === 2 )?false:true;
	var m = (ctrlkey)?1.5:1;
	if ( !shiftkey ) { moi.grid.accentedLineColor = 0xBBBBBB;  moi.view.lineWidth = 1;  }  else {  w = w*m*2; h = h*m*2; moi.grid.accentedLineColor = 0x999999; moi.view.lineWidth = 2; }
	
	moi.grid.lineColor = moi.grid.accentedLineColor;
	vp.render(w, h).save(getDir()+"snapshots\\"+time+"-["+vp.name+"].png");
	for (var sv in settings) { moi[settings[sv].split('.')[0]][settings[sv].split('.')[1]] = st.shift(); }
}

var script, doc = moi.ui.getUIPanel("moi://ui/CommandBar.htm").document;
var head = doc.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];

for (var i in this) if (this.hasOwnProperty(i) && this[i] instanceof Function )
{
	script = doc.createElement('script');
	script.type = 'text/javascript';
	script.innerHTML = this[i].toString();
	head.appendChild(script);
}

moi.ui.commandBar.CommandBarCustomUI.insertAdjacentHTML( "beforeEnd", '<moi:Spacer/><moi:Spacer/><moi:CommandButton icon="'+icon+'" onbuttonclick="'+command+'">'+title+'</moi:CommandButton>');   

Hi Brian, that's fine I can see the stuff I need in there thanks!

So I think the easiest fix will be that for these colors that can be set to "Custom" or "From theme", MoI won't write out the custom color value to moi.ini at program exit if the mode is set to "From theme".

I'll set it up for the next v5 beta like that.

Thanks for reporting the problem and figuring out what was the cause!

- Michael

Seems like a cool solution.
So it was to do with Custom colors after all... :-)
- Brian

Hi Brian,

re:
> So it was to do with Custom colors after all... :-)

Yup, just kind of behind the scenes from the snapshot script setting the colors.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

I'm noticing that the Distribute script is not working properly with groups. I have several groups that I'm seeking to distribute, but Distribute seems to explode the groups into their component parts and then distribute them which makes a bit of a mess. Is it that scripts like Distribute are going to need some additional tweaking to properly work with groups, or is it exposing something with the grouping mechanism itself?

I've manually solved my problem but I've attached it as an example. There are 7 Post-Truss groups that need to be distributed on the Y axis. I realized I messed up and needed to add another post/truss, so I copied one of the existing and the used Distribute to achieve the correct result.

btw, the groups are just a delight to work with for things like this because it makes selecting a bunch of components so convenient.

Also, this is a fairly simple model that I created with v5 beta...not sure what's causing it to be 12.7M, thus the compression.

--Larry

Hi Larry, thanks for the bug report and example file.

re:
> Is it that scripts like Distribute are going to need some additional tweaking to properly work
> with groups, or is it exposing something with the grouping mechanism itself?

Some scripts may need slight tweaks to work well with groups, particularly scripts involving object transforms may need a slight adjustment.

So the deal is that to maximize compatibility with existing scripts that predate groups, the routines that return the selected objects now return not only the selected groups but also the child objects of the groups in the same list.

That makes functions like Extrude for example that are looking for profile curves automatically find curves inside of groups without needing to be modified to look through groups.

However it's not good for things that do transforms, those will generally want to transform the group itself only and not try to deal with the group children individually.

There is a new helper function that will screen out the children of a group if the parent group itself is also in an object list, and some scripts that do transforms may need to call that now.

I've updated the Distribute plug-in to do that and so if you get the updated one from here it should work ok on groups now:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=8503.13


> Also, this is a fairly simple model that I created with v5 beta...not sure what's causing
> it to be 12.7M, thus the compression.

There are 2051 hidden objects in the file, I think that's where most of the size is coming from.


Thanks, - Michael

Hi Michael,

The updated Distribute script works well with v5 beta to distribute these truss groups, thanks!

With v4 on the same model it behaves as one would expect due to not seeing the groups: just distributes all the components individually. The outer conditional is a neat way to check for a method:

 	if ( objects.excludeGroupChildrenInPlace )
 		objects.excludeGroupChildrenInPlace();

--Larry

Hi Michael,

Since you've just been working on Distribute, I wonder you could have it distribute along CPlane axes if a CPlane has been set? As it is, when I set a CPlane and then Distribute, the objects look like they're being distributed on world axes.

I know, talk about looking a "gift horse" in the mouth... ;-}

--Larry