http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI

BUT, if you are building a REAL boat to be manufactured , I think you need the very special marine type plugins that you can get for Rhino.

Brian

Good article! For me, a recent nurbs noob, the article was an excellent MoI and nurbs v. polygon modeler introduction.

I am looking forward to having MoI share the tool set with VectorWorks and Cinema 4D. MoI for artists is fine with me but, as an architect, I would like it to be more "technical" to grease a workflow that has to be undoubtedly accurate.

I, for one, believe watching MoI grow up will be fun.

Leonard

Hi Leonard, yeah unfortunately these terms can carry a lot of connotations along with them.

MoI is definitely focused on an accurate type of modeling toolset.

I guess I have a pretty liberal definition of "Artist" - from my perspective I think that there are plenty of people doing "artisan" type work who also need to incorporate precision and accuracy into what they are doing as well...


re: "Technical" - I guess what I'm trying to describe there is that existing solid modeling tools, stuff like SolidWorks, Pro/E, etc... are pretty focused to be used by people who have a background and training in Mechanical Engineering.

In a certain sense, I'm kind of trying to take that same basic kind of solid modeling toolset (which is a great way of making a whole broad category of man-made type shapes), but make that available to people who want to create stuff ("create stuff" = "artist") who may not have a really big background or training in what I would call a technical engineering discipline...

- Michael

Pretty nice article. Just like the author, I've never had MoI crash on me yet (which really is quite impressive!!). I agree on the layering and object naming (let me add instances and basic mapping tools to that), but all in all I feel MoI's most certainly (!) worth it's money. Outstanding service too, I think we can all agree on that.

May there be many versions more.

Hi Marc

Never built a wooden kayak before, but i really want to do that. Just a matter of having the evenings free these days.
We might want to make an Alu kayak, and that is a bit similar to wood strip-building in the way that this also requires to think in singel curved surfaces (or almost single curved).
Do you have a link to the manufacturer of your kit?
And send some photos wen your done!
I''m on the lookout for a nice wood kit too, because i have a friend who wants to build one.

Our company, which i am running with my brother Kristian, has been involved in some kayak designs in cooperation with other companies and inventors.
visit our web page: http://www.pivot.no/index.php/galleri/
Those were modeled in Rhino, and produced directly.
From now on Moi and Rhino will go hand-in hand at our place. The two programs are just a pleasure to use.
The next kayak can be a pure Moi thing, i think.
The only thing i really miss in Moi for the kayak modeling is surface matching. I guess i can sneak the model into Rhino to do that ;)

Regards,
Fredrik

http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak/software/software.htm ;)
http://www.marinerkayaks.com/
All free

That is good to hear Michael. My point stems from the situation where the app maker is interested in both user types but does not provide appropriate tools (some basic) or has some accuracy issues. When the app is huge, changes, corrections, tools do not appear even after a long period of time.

In my business, we need fundamental tools and accuracy but welcome bells and whistles that follow solid basics.

Anyway, MoI is fun and exciting to use and, of course, there will be the growing pains. It all seems to be heading in the right direction.

Borrowing the NY State motto: "Excelsior!" (Ever upward)

Leonard

Hi Leonard, certainly I can understand those kinds of frustrations where some apps seem to not ever get back to fix basic issues even after a long time.

There are many factors that can contribute to that.

It is not at all unusual for new software development to be driven primarily by marketing concerns and the desire to have a big feature checklist to make a marketing brochure look impressive. That kind of focus tends to shunt development activity towards new stuff and take resources away from working on the basic "bread & butter" type stuff.

It can also be a pretty big risk sometimes to change how some of the basic stuff in an application works. It is not unusual for people to complain a lot when things are changed, even if they are overall for the better. Some types of management just do not like to take the risks that can be involved in making those kinds of fundamental changes.

Since I don't have any marketing department and I don't have any management, it helps me to avoid some of these issues ;)


But seriously, I do actually put a very high value on nailing down the basics - that is a major guiding design principle for MoI. I think you'll see some more of that in action soon in the first v2 beta, which has improvements in some of the very basic functions like quicker and easier object scaling and rotation, and enhancements to basic snapping and drawing tools as the first round of new stuff.


I'm glad that you are having fun using MoI!

- Michael

>> It is not at all unusual for new software development to be driven primarily by marketing concerns
>> and the desire to have a big feature checklist to make a marketing brochure look impressive.

Michael ! Where did you get that impression !? Surely not at Microsoft ;-) :-D

Cheers

Thanks Pliou

Interesting stuff. You can check out Freeship too:
http://www.delftship.net/

-Fredrik

Yes I know it from a long time ;)

I have a feeling we are a bit away from topic, and that its my fault ;)
A marine design thread?
- F

where it my name for the images ?

You right!
Seems you must write to the author!
http://airdiamond.com/

Hi sergiu, sorry about that, they were supposed to put your name along with your image. Looks like they forgot to do that part.

I have contacted David to ask him to add that, sorry about that!

- Michael

Hi Fredrick, very nice prototype you have there, seems it's a more racing oriented boat.
The one I'm building is designed by Nick Schade (Guillemot kayaks), here is a picture:
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/guillemot/night_heron_profile

There is extensive information on each models, depending on your experience and needs for your project.

Like said before, sorry for being OT!

Marc

Hi Marc,

Really nice!
They look very good. Please tell me how the building went when finished.
You're right these kayaks on our website are racers/half-racers.
- You can write me a PM if you have any questions/or want some advice on epoxies and stuff.


To the best,
Fredrik