Hey Carlos,
SImlab is great and has a good 3d pdf output.

""""""""I'm using Simlab and its great, but i've to go trought Modo (nurbs > polygons, an extra step)"""""""""""""

No, just export the polys from MoI as OBJ. Don't go to Modo first. MoI has a great mesher.

Hi Carlos,

> Example A: In Moi3D i draw a 5x5 metter square, export it in AI file (the top view), open it in
> Illustrator, CadTool is at default 1:1, so this tool writes 5 meters by 5 meters.

Maybe let's focus on just this one particular example here.

How would you expect to see the result of a 5x5 meter square when opened in AI at 1:1 scale?

AI normally works on a sheet of printed paper... It's very unusual for a printer to have a printed page at 5 meters by 5 meters in size, so wouldn't this end up something like the drawn square going way way far off outside the printed page boundaries that you would normally be working with in Illustrator?

How is it that you would expect for a file in MoI with meters as the units to come into Illustrator? A 1:1 scale isn't very feasible because the object size becomes so huge in comparsion to the print area. I guess this is why you were asking about setting a scale factor...

What I was hoping was that maybe in CadTools instead of telling it the scale factor you could instead pick one line in the drawing and tell it what that line's original length was - that would be enough information for the scale factor to be calculated no matter what kind of scale was used, even if it was a scale factor that was automatically generated just to fit the drawing into the width of the page.

- Michael

hi micheal

To add to the scale output discussion. It would be good if we could choose a percentage of original size to output. Currently i work with aircraft (to scale) and then output with isodraw at say 20%. All my models are outputted at 20% and they all have the same reference cube in the same 3d space, so when it comes to piecing the linework files together I simply have to aligned the cubes from each file. But going back to earlier, it only works if i can export all the pieces at same scale. See sample, note cube in top right corner. This just my work flow but it has proved invaluable especially as larger models have to be exported a piece at a time.

matt

hi micheal

In my last post i mentioned about my workflow being able export at 20%. This of course will only work if I can save the camera position in the 3d view so its the same for every model?export session - is this currently possible?
matt

Hi matt,

> This of course will only work if I can save the camera position in the 3d view so its the
> same for every model?export session - is this currently possible?

If you save to a 3DM file, the 3d view is stored in the 3DM file and will get restored to the same position and direction when you reload the file. You would need to be careful though not to rotate the view to some different angle and then resave it again. You might want to write down the current view angles so you would be able to restore them in that case, you can get and set the angles for the current view direction under Options > View > 3D View angles.

re: scale - I'll see about doing better control of the scale.

- Michael

hi michael

I see what you mean in the settings re the view parameters. As a future development it would be nice to have a way of saving these numbers so you can say access via a pull down menu for easy access. In my work, aircraft, the models are huge and so we have to work in smaller sub assemblies, therefore i need to export many files at same viewpoint/settings. Its also nice to be able to export say a new part with the reference box and drop it straight into the master drawing with accuracy.

I can see from this thread we are up to nearly 180 messages - definitely a hot topic!! and i am sure this vector output you are currently working on will give you a wider user base. Great work as always :-)

matt

Hi matt, yeah in the future I want to add in some type of "saved view" or "named view" type mechanism where this information could be saved and restored.

I haven't quite figured out where to put that in the UI, I have some general idea that things that involve lists of saved items might be good to put in the scene browser but I haven't really had a chance to explore that yet.

- Michael

Hi Burrman,

Yes, you are correct, Moi3D mesher is amazing, and complements very well Moi3D's efficiency and simplicity with nurbs.
Usually i take that extra step to apply materiails and textures, even knowing that PDF materials and looks are quite simple/poor. But yes, you're right, will do that, thanks.

Hi Michael,

> How would you expect to see the result of a 5x5 meter square when opened in AI at 1:1 scale?

I expect a 5x5 meter square on 5779,55 x 5779,55 milimeter document (biggest AI_CC document possible).



> AI normally works on a sheet of printed paper...

Please, lets 'forget' the printing stage for a minute, and just focus on dimensioning stage on an outside application. Printing is final stage, on a small Letter desktop printer, a 5 meter large digital printer, a 3x2 meter laser cutter, and so on.
The process of this dimension tool work is - on a 1 meter line - just click the first vertice and click again on the last vertice. The tool will pop up Dimensions Lines and a small text saying '1 meter'.


> ... CadTools instead of telling it the scale factor ...

Its the user who tells/choose on what scale CadTool should work, and not the opposite. The user need to know it beforehand to dimension it accuretly.

Carlos

Hi Carlos, I'll see about making the output scale more controllable. It will probably be something where it says:

X units in MoI = Y centimeters/mm/inches/points in the AI file.

And then you'll be able to fill in X and Y and choose what units Y is in.

- Michael

hi michael

i was thinking the logical place for access to pre saved view is on the window itself . . on clicking a list would appear in top right where usual prompts appear . .

matt

Hi matt,

> i was thinking the logical place for access to pre saved view is on the window itself . . on clicking
> a list would appear in top right where usual prompts appear . .

It's a big goal with MoI to avoid "bloating" the UI up with things that are for more specialized use... So I'd probably try to avoid putting that in such a high profile area.

It is often challenging to incorporate new features for "power users" while at the same time keeping the overall light and easy-to-learn aspect of MoI.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

Thanks.

Carlos

hi michael

I fully understand. Maybe a switch in prefs where power users can switch on some extras. Of course if its too simple you run the risk of dimming down the software imo. MOI certainly has a lot to offer and when i first began using it i noted it was good but seemed a little "empty" of features - how little I knew then!!! It has most things I can think of . .
matt

"Maybe a switch in prefs where power users can switch on some extras"

In my experience, this is usually a downward spiral. Basically think of a switch as doubling the testing workload and adding to maintenance overhead. That's how you have to weigh every checkbox you add to an app. It can get deadly pretty quick.

The best idea is to design the UI so that it works for everyone. Maybe the power users aren't 100% satisfied but if they can get to an 80% happiness level with it, that's enough.

Maybe a cool solution will be a customisable UI where user can put for example all icons for it's scripts on a new dock ! ;)

thats sounds good, a kind of personal tool panel . . .
matt

I've thought before about making the empty space after the "Object Snap" button be a place where you could place your own icons to have a customized tool area.

But there is a lot of work involved in doing UI customization, right now more fundamental tools are still higher priority.

It is actually possible to customize the UI in a manual sort of way right now by editing the .htm files inside of the \ui directory inside of MoI.

- Michael

Ok, I've been working on getting a UI to control this stuff for exporting to AI and PDF formats.

This is what I'm currently going to try:



Scale can be either "Fit to page" or "Preserve units".

If you push "Line style options", then another dialog will pop up that will let you control how the different kinds of lines are written for line width, color, and if they should go on a specific layer. You can pick "From style" if you want the color or layer to come from its style assignment, or "Custom" if you want to override that with a specific color or layer instead.




Please let me know if anything important looks like it is missing.

Thanks,
- Michael

Make the dialog box "adaptative" (in horizontal dimension) for the future text translation! ;)

Hi Pilou,

> Make the dialog box "adaptative" (in horizontal dimension) for the future text translation! ;)

Yup, that is how it works already - the dialog is automatically sized to fit the content inside of it. If the translated text is longer the dialog will also get wider as well.

- Michael