Hello,

Depending on color to tell the story is not a great idea, since it is not universal in nature. I do think the icons designed by the developer of Moi do have better contrast and for the most part portray the command effectively. Given that most of the computing population is used to certain icons portraying certain commands (ex. undo/redo) there is no need to reinvent the wheel. That being said it might be good to create the rest of the icons in question to mimic the overall style of the application, since the difference in style can be seen. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using text to describe a function if an icon will not be effective. Personally I think Moi is on the right track in this regard.

On an entirely different note I am holding off purchasing Moi until the official 2.0 release. Is there any way to preorder for the full 2.0 price, and is it expected to be released this month? Thanks.

Hi OSTexo,

> Is there any way to preorder for the full 2.0 price,

Sorry, no there isn't any way that I have set up to pre-order it.


> and is it expected to be released this month?

No, I don't think it is going to be all wrapped up by the end of this month. It is hard to say exactly when it will be ready but probably by the end of next month I will pretty much be cutting things off if they are not ready by then.

- Michael

No need to hold off OSTExo. Order V1, download and use V2 beta (much better than v1), then when V2 is ready, purchase with the difference price! (no extra cost or savings by waiting). Unless your waiting to save up the funds to buy it, then disregard my comments.

Hello,

Sounds good, just ordered a copy and downloaded it. I tried it out some months ago and have been occasionally watching the forum. I'll end up using it for translation of models to technical drawings for manuals, but I'm sure I'll use it for other things as well. Thanks for the info.

Hi OSTexo, thanks very much for your order!

You can also download the current v2 beta from here: http://moi3d.com/beta.htm

There is a collection of all the notes on new stuff in v2 here:
http://kyticka.webzdarma.cz/3d/moi/doc/V2releasenotes.html

For conversion type tasks, the most notable new things for v2 are some new file format support - Import/Export of STEP and SAT CAD formats, and also export to FBX and SketchUp formats.

Also there is a significant speed increase for saving to a mesh format in v2, it will now make use of multiple CPU cores for that task.

- Michael

I felt that some Icons did not fit MoI's ethos. So I made some to match the overall style. Also note almost all of them done with MoI, + Photoshop.
You more than welcome to use if you like...

That's more like it, nice job! and thanks

as OSTexo suggested. text Only version. I have to admit it looks more PRO.

Hi yannada, those look nice!

They are kind of emphasizing visual style at the expense of practicality though.

For example, the Save icon is much more universally represented with the kind of disk that MoI currently uses. I can understand the reasoning that you don't use floppies anymore so that is kind of a clever idea to use a hard disk instead. However, a lot of people also have never seen what a hard disk looks like also, so that is just not that practical...

It just tends to help to stick with the standard for functions that are in wide use in other software. Just one of those things that helps to keep something feel more familiar and not make it harder to use just in the name of style.

Also I would probably associate your Delete icon as possibly a "Cancel" type function instead.

But it is cool that you are able to adjust your UI to suit your own preferences like this!

- Michael

> I have to admit it looks more PRO. \

Not as far as I can tell... ;)

It certainly does seem more drab, I'm not sure why you would associate that with "Pro" ?

Icons have some benefit to them, since they tend to give more differentiation to the button than text alone.

But icons all by themselves can have other difficulties in expressing the function, text is good at that.

By having both Icons and Text where possible it tends to combine the good functions of both of them.

But the cool thing is that if you like your own particular design better, then it is possible for you set up MoI to use it, you don't have to stick with the stock design that is meant to target a wider audience.

- Michael

Your thinking Michael behind the icons and UI is very engineer like, do you have an engineering degree?:=)

>>>For example, the Save icon is much more universally represented with the kind of disk that MoI currently uses. I can understand the reasoning that you don't use floppies anymore so that is kind of a clever idea to use a hard disk instead. However, a lot of people also have never seen what a hard disk looks like also, so that is just not that practical...

Well all I can say to people that are in cad biz and haven't seen a hard drive is, There is always gardening, is never late. LOL.
You are wright about the delete icon.

>>>But it is cool that you are able to adjust your UI to suit your own preferences like this!

for sure but a bit long to do that with every beta etc. I just hope you Keep a unified style or "Michael style" on future releases. Your icon design is way better than the ones you licensed, (that is what my Icons trying to say).

Hi olio, I almost have a degree in computer science but did not quite finish it up.

I do actually generally prefer "text only" instead of "icons only" if I had to choose between only one or the other.

But I tried to set things up to not have to make that choice and to try to have both when possible.

That also kind of helps to combine functions of a "toolbar" (traditionally icons only) and a "menu" (traditionally text only) into just one mechanism.

The other part is the icons helps to make the buttons bigger than they would otherwise be with text only, and just being bigger helps make them easier to acquire.

Text alone can be made bigger by adding padding of course, but too large of an amount of padding starts to look weird.

- Michael

Lets take a moment to remember "ASH". Who used to make "Custom UI's" and let people have them. He had to pause though as trying to customize a Beta is hard. When it's all said and done, There will be an endless supply of possibilities. You wont even have to do the work. Many will just do it and post it. Michaels GUI is "completly changeable".

So I think we are chasing our tails.

Think of all the hundreds of wet tissues because I don't have "Brians UI"!

Brian

Bugger! Two more wringingwet ones into the rubbish file.

Hello,

I guess my point was that if you can't accurately represent the action visually you are better off using text. I have to agree that the text toolbar could be useful since those commands are not used nearly as much as the modeling commands in the application, so there isn't too much emphasis on training users to visually identify a command with an icon.

I have to agree with Michael on a few points about the grey icon set. The vast majority of PC users have been conditioned by Microsoft to recognize certain icons as doing certain things, and there is no reason not to use that. I realize that not many people use 3.5" floppies to save anything anymore, but so many users have been conditioned to make that picture synonymous with save, why change it? By changing it you end up confusing people. Let the heavyweights be the first movers for the everyday icons.

Personally I think Michael's icons work well for the most part because they are high contrast, they contribute visually to the action, scale well and they stay simple. Sometimes it's better to take small steps on visual elements to kind of ease users into newer sets instead of hammering them with completely new icons. For example, the "Extend" icon in my opinion could use some minor action element to indicate the line extension. It's really nitpicking since the icon supports the text enough for me to realize the action, but rather than ripping the icon out, an incremental improvement could be done so that the original users aren't alienated and the new users still get the point of the action.

all that is visual ergonomics :)

If you look at SpaceClaim, SolidWorks, Solid Edge, AutoCAD, Inventor etc. look at the technologies they use, there are common components, many use Parasolid, Spatial etc. to provide their features and functions. If UI design is also standardized, where can the vendors find the room for innovation, for differentiation and how can they truly support the 3D-based design workflow? I guess the answer is that the Devil is truly in the details.
MoI's UI is Cool and thanks to Michael is not Ribbon'ed up. Also one of the most impressive UI designs I've seen is the forthcoming Siemens NX 6. de-cluttered and minimized.

HI all how about more color make easy to the brain and the eye flower pot

Maybe not : True Space has these numerous color icons !
Colors disturb regard and don't help many more than a quiet uniform peacefull UI ;)
There is fight between colors and drawing itself of the icon ;)
It's like a patchwork!

Despite of that cool filling colors :)