By the way re: this part:

> Also, any intention to add a 'rotate view around selection' option
> (edges, faces, object etc.)?

You can already center the view on the current selection by using the Reset button that's on the toolbar at the bottom of a viewport. If you have a selection and you push that button the view will zoom to fit that selected object (whether it is an edge, face, or a whole object) and the center of rotation will also get set to the center of the object's bounding box so any rotation after that will pivot around the object.

So you can use that button now if you want to focus on a particular object and pivot around it.

If you want to pivot around one point in particular like for example the corner of a box, use the "Area" (short for Zoom Area) button on that same toolbar - that will let you pick a point and a zoom rectangle and the view will get centered on the point that you pick and the rotation pivot will be placed there as well.

- Michael

Hi Clay,

Just to reinforce what Michael mentioned. I use the metallic lighting option and it does help find malformed surfaces. I also rotate around objects by using the area feature. You just select the item you want and place the rectangular window around it. You can then rotate about that point in space. I have found that if something is not displaying right in MoI then it is also created poorly. So in my experience if it looks good with metallic lighting then it is good. Also, I used to have the Zebra option in Autodesk Inventor and really found it nothing more than an interesting toy. It really didn't help me in any way. But maybe that is just me.

Lastly, if you do find a surface/solid was not created right, you can delete it and rebuild the lines/curves/arcs used to create them. Trying different combinations of points fixes the problem for me. I am now by default rebuilding all arcs with 9 points and that seems to fix all issues I have had in the past, when not rebuilding objects. Sometimes rebuilding circles with 36 points helps me out. Adding points to curves can help too.

Anthony

Aha nice to see my old thread getting a revival :)
It's possible to do even in 3ds Max, I wrote a small tutorial for it @ http://zdepth.ch/tutorial/improving-3ds-max-viewport-quality/

Hope it will make it into MoI someday... It's not "just" for checking curvature, it's also perfect for showing the model to a client !

"Yeah but actually being able to make the model you want is even more important than just checking it. MoI still needs attention in several surface construction areas like some tools for editing surfaces to have G2 continuity with each other."

Of course Michael. Those modeling tools are a priority.

Re: materials/render: The existing materials/lighting are very useful. But having control of photoreal materials/lighting can be extremely useful for numerous reasons. I'm sure that you are a very busy man Michael, and you're doing great, so I hope that this doesn't come across otherwise. I just think it would tie in very well with a modeler that's primarily used for aesthetical design and visualisation.

@DesuDeus that auspecker material is great. That would be a perfect visualisation tool for MoI. I take it that it's not possible to use with MoI? Ps. Nice looking work on your site.

Btw, I'll have to play around with the Area tool more.