Thanks Michael, I did as you suggested and it worked great. Many thanks...

[quote]
But while you are in the View > Image command you can drag on an image inside the viewport to relocate it and you can do that to an image that is being viewed edge-on.
[/quote]

I am having a difficult time having all images at the same scale in MOI.

In Photoshop I have all 4 images loaded as layers in a single PSD file. And I arrange them so they line up and are the same scale. The PSD is 1552x960.

I then export each layer as a separate png.

The Top and Side reference images have a dimension of 1552X960

The Front and rear are 858X960.

in Blender I import all 4 png files as "Image Planes" (not as reference or background images) at the intersection of the X Y Z axis.

Since they all have same height of 960, they maintain scale. All I need to do is rotate them into position.

in MOI there is no option to import the reference images at the X Y Z axis. And I have to manually scale them by guess, which I find very tedious and difficult.

I was hoping in the Images properties button it would have allowed the entering of the actual images dimensions. That way all would have same height and no need to scale.

However under the properties button I see the file path to the reference images.

Is there a way to import reference images into MOI so they maintain their scale?

Hi Ken,

re:
> I was hoping in the Images properties button it would have allowed the entering
> of the actual images dimensions. That way all would have same height and no
> need to scale.

This is available in the v5 beta, it has new options in image properties allowing setting specific width and height for images, you can get it at https://moi3d.com/beta.htm.

In v5 image properties looks like this:



- Michael

Thanks Michael. That's seems to resolve my issue.

Many thanks...

The properties tab certainly helps. However I am having no luck being able to place the middle of the images at the zero co-ordinates for the X, Y, Z axis, like I can do in blender.

Too bad those were not also included in the properties tab.

Is there a simple way of placing the center of each image at those co-ordinates? It would make it much easier to align?

Also IMHO it would be better to select the center of the image, place it and then stretch it out, rather then selecting the ends of the image.

Something you can do
Say your image is 677 pix x 491pix
So draw a Rectangle by Center 67,7 x 49,1 unity (Center on the Origin)
Add Image snaping the existing rectangle
You will obtain an image centered on the origine by its middles! :)
Free to you to resize it by "Center" for any reason...
Kill or Hide the rectangle for any reason

You can do that for any image in any view!

Thanks. That helps but getting the images all properly aligned is very difficult. And finding good video tutorials on car modeling is even more frustrating. However it is not an issue for Rhino, Fusion 360, Sketchup, Plasticity or other similar apps. Even polygonal apps like Blender have tons of car modeling tutorials

Some recommend using photogrammetry and photo scan a car model and import the mesh into the 3D app as a reference. I have 3DF Zephyr and several DSL camera. but the models are too dense to be imported into MOI

The guys who model cars and car parts for 3D printing for 1/24 and 1/25 scale plastic models recommend apps like Rhino, Fusion, Sketchup. Yet none use MOI3D. Now I think I know why...

I always found MOI3D very easy to use however this car modeling and aligning reference images has me stumped. Never had this alignment issue in Blender. But apparently polygonal apps lack precision for accurate scale model cars.

I am very disappointed.

Hi Ken,

re:
> Is there a simple way of placing the center of each image at those co-ordinates?
> It would make it much easier to align?

Yes there is a simple way to do that. When you are in the View > Image command you can drag on images to reposition them and if you grab near the center you'll see a "Cen" label that indicates that you grabbed that.

It looks like this while inside the View > Image command:



I can also cook up a script for you that will center all images when you push a shortcut key.

- Michael

Hi Ken,

re:
> I am very disappointed

I'm sorry you're disappointed in MOI. Car modeling is a quite difficult type of model to create, it isn't really a focus area for MoI.

You may have better luck using one of the other programs you mention if you need more assistance with tutorials to follow.

- Michael

Your video is maybe a little more easy that my little trick above! :)

Hi Ken, here is a script that you can put in the "command" field of a shortcut key (Options > Shortcut keys) that will place the center of all background images at 0,0,0 .

script: /* Center background images */ var images = moi.view.getBackgroundImages(); for ( var i = 0; i < images.length; ++i ) { var img = images.item(i); var frame = img.frame; frame.origin.set(0,0,0); frame.origin = frame.evaluate(-img.width/2, -img.height/2); img.frame = frame; }

- Michael

> I'm sorry you're disappointed in MOI. Car modeling is a quite difficult type of model to create, it isn't really a focus area for MoI.

>You may have better luck using one of the other programs you mention if you need more assistance with tutorials to follow.

>- Michael

I was under the impression that any modeling app that was similar to Rhino, Plasticity or Fusion 360, etc with similar toolsets was capable of car modeling. However not many in that hobby are aware of MOI3D.

So are you saying MOI3D is not capable? Or few users of MOI3D model cars? You comment has me quite confused.



Cheers

Ken

Hi Ken, I'm saying that car modeling is a difficult area of modeling in any program.

- Michael

And if you require resources like tutorials specifically for car modeling and you are not finding them for MoI but you do have them for other programs then it sounds like the other programs are a better fit for what you're trying to do than MoI is currently.

Car modeling is definitely possible in MoI, you can find many examples in the gallery: http://moi3d.com/gallery/ but it's an advanced area of modeling.

It is kind of on the border between organic shaping and mechanical shaping.

Overall if you don't have a lot of experience it is probably easier to do with poly modeling.

- Michael

I 've modeled some cars in Hexagon, Silo and Blender. But I've been told for accuracy to use a NURBS modeling app. Apparently NURBS models work best with 3D printers, lathes, etc.
I do not have a 3D printer, but I would like to purchase one to fabricate custom car parts for 1/24 & 1/25 car model kits as well as bodies for cars not available in kits. These would be for my use only.

I've watched youtube tutorials on NURBS / Curve modeling. Most are using Fusion 360, Rhino and Plasticity. I am trying to use some of the techniques in MOI3D.

Blender also hasNURBS & Curves but not the rich toolset of MOI3D.

Kuechmeister Swagger has youtube tutorials modeling cars in MOI3D and Plasticity. He is a very gifted modeler, BUT I find his videos too difficult to follow without audio narration. Not sure why someone would produce a tutorial with no narration. Ed Ferguson has a great tutorial on modeling a customized 1950s truck however it is a bit short on some of detail on the modeling techniques.

I marvel at some of the awesome car models some artists create in Sketchup. IMHO if it can be done in Sketchup or Plasticity, then it should be doable in MOI3D. Not sure why more are not.

I love MOI3D. just annoyed at how difficult it is to align blueprints/reference images and the lack of car modeling tutorials. Sorry, but I really see no good excuse for either.

Cheers

Ken

Hi Ken,

re:
> But I've been told for accuracy to use a NURBS modeling app. Apparently NURBS
> models work best with 3D printers, lathes, etc.

That seems like an oversimplification to me.

It really depends on the specifics of what you're going to be doing with the models.

If your model is a car body with no exact circular holes in it, there isn't really any accuracy issue in play there.

If your model is a mechanical part that needs to match up with other separate parts, then accuracy is a big concern.

It's also possible to use a hybrid approach - use poly modeling with sub-d smoothing for smooth organic shaped areas, then convert sub-d to NURBS using MoI's converter and then apply booleans or trimming in NURBS. This is getting to be a more common approach because it's easier to get smooth-all-over organic shapes in sub-d but easier to make precise things like exact circular holes in NURBS. So the hybrid approach kind of leverages the strongest areas of each system.

- Michael

Hi Ken,

re:
> I love MOI3D. just annoyed at how difficult it is to align blueprints/reference images and
> the lack of car modeling tutorials. Sorry, but I really see no good excuse for either.

The "excuse" is that both car modeling itself and producing tutorials are both difficult and time consuming areas of work.

- Michael

If you want some cars modelized in SketchUp take a look to 600v ;)
56 pages! https://www.deviantart.com/600v/gallery
an old interface of 600v



Not sure that the technic for SketchUp (+plugins Artisan or SubD) is completely adaptable to Moi but...
Native SubD inside Moi...


else you have also this! ;) (Free Vizcom ! ) (next version will have 3D! )
https://mailchi.mp/171557ac14e6/new-vizcom-10-release-check-out-the-updates-8377049

French one :)
https://moiscript.weebly.com/images-darriegravere-plan.html