Hi motorsep - SketchUp is more oriented towards architectural kind of boxy-form modeling. If that's the kind of thing you need to build then it could be a good fit for you.

If the models you want to build have some more curved shapes to them, then MoI is usually a better fit for that since the method that MoI uses (called NURBS modeling) can make true curves instead of only line segments and polygon facets.

I would encourage you to spend at least some time experimenting with both yourself though.

- Michael

Both are really fun! The common point is the learning curve and facility!

And with Artisan for Sketchup! http://artisan4sketchup.com/ ( 39 $ it works with the free version of Sketchup! )
You can profit of the ergonomy of Sketchup + the perversion of the Subdivision! :)
And if you want Boolean for free Sketchup: http://www.smustard.com/script/BoolTools 10 $ by the same author! ;)

So with Sketchup + Moi you have the best of two worlds for a minimum of efforts and headaches :)

From the manual of Artisan (French by me :D (No Moi here! ;)

Well, I am certainly going to have more sci-fi forms with my upcoming project than crude architectural forms. Weapons, armor, mechas, some small space ships, etc. I would certainly like to use MoI in architectural modeling for certain elements that will be incorporated into the game levels. I know I can do it all in Blender, but I am certain that MoI should have faster and more natural workflow when it comes to industrial design so to speak. I recall reading an article where NURBS were suggested as a proper tool when it comes to non-organic tech objects modeling.

I will definitely play around for trial version of MoI. One thing I am wondering about if I can get model out of MoI into OBJ file so I could retopo it in either Blender or Topogun and bake normal/AO maps in xNormal afterward ?

I guess I saw quite a few vids of people making some cool stuff in Sketchup and I haven't really seen videos of people doing the same in MoI. Therefore I am wondering about its workflow.

Oh, and I am wondering if MoI comes in 64bit flavor for Windows and if Linux version will be coming any time soon? Thanks.

Hi motorsep,

> One thing I am wondering about if I can get model out of MoI into OBJ file <....>

Yup, MoI supports writing to OBJ format, you just do a "Save As" and pick OBJ format.


> I guess I saw quite a few vids of people making some cool stuff in Sketchup and I
> haven't really seen videos of people doing the same in MoI. Therefore I am wondering
> about its workflow.

There are links to some videos collected here:
http://moi3d.com/wiki/Resources#Tutorials

To get an overview of the general workflow I would recommend watching the tutorials that are part of the regular documentation, you can find them here:
http://moi3d.com/2.0/docs/tutorials.htm

The basic workflow is that you start out by drawing curves, then form solids from those curves by using some to construct objects (like extruding, lofting, revolving, sweeping), and use some curves as cutting objects to cut out holes or slice away portions and combine pieces together using boolean operations and use filleting to round off sharp corners.

It's a much different workflow from polygon modeling, it's much more a "drawing and construction" type workflow where more of your model is controlled by 2D curves. So it tends to fit very well with mechanical parts that are well defined by 2D profile curves for different features and holes and such.


> Oh, and I am wondering if MoI comes in 64bit flavor for Windows and if Linux version will be coming any time soon? Thanks.

There is only a 32-bit version of MoI. I do not currently plan on having a Linux only version anytime soon, but the Windows v3 release will run on Linux using Wine as long as you have a good and stable enough video driver.

Thanks,
- Michael