that's great michael. will it be possible to import rhino files with dimensions and have moi be able to display them?

also, i agree with the other comments. there are plenty of mcad programs with parametrics. it's nothing new. it's been out forever. most people that have used them don't like them. that's why they have been working towards at least adding direct modeling to them. it can be nice to add dimensions when needed and not have to remodel the whole project. but it's a difficult thing to implement well. i know you always strive for the best implementation. so i seriously doubt this is something that will come to moi, at least in a short time frame.

my two sense, following the forum a long time. there is always someone who comes on and says i use such and such (usually a poly modeler) and i want moi to act like that. it's very annoying. just use such and such. moi is great as it is. it can't be like every single program that someone happens to use. i don't know why people keep posting the same thing and expect that moi is going to magically be like some random program they use. then when they don't get what they want, they whine and bad mouth moi.

ugggh. rant over.

anthony

Hi Micheal ...
That's looking really good. I'll be thrilled when it is ready.
cheers,
eric

The dims are looking good will any linetypes be added to this - centre line dashed marking are pretty useful when exporting dxfs.

Hi anthony,

re:
> that's great michael. will it be possible to import rhino files with dimensions and have
> moi be able to display them?

Yes, MoI will be able to display dimensions that were created in Rhino but they won't necessarily look exactly the same in MoI as they do in Rhino.

They will round trip back and forth between MoI and Rhino though.

- Michael

Hi Alex,

> The dims are looking good will any linetypes be added to this - centre line dashed marking
> are pretty useful when exporting dxfs.

I'd like to work on linetypes at some point here but I won't be able to have that in the v4 time frame.

- Michael

The dimensions in MoI are set up a little different than in Rhino - I'm trying to keep things at a constant display size instead of getting things like huge arrowheads when you zoom in:



- Michael

Looking good!

There's even some filled shape action going there.

Marc

Hi Marc, yup that's true the arrowheads are actually filled shapes. But since they're just triangles it's not very exciting in that regard... ;)

But yeah it's coming together pretty well, just need some text display in there to get them in an actual usable state I think.

- Michael

this is great news. i should be able to completely transition from rhino. i should have known you would be way ahead of the curve on this. the scaling of dimensions in rhino is the first annoyance with trying to use them. also there doesn't seem to be a smart cursor type function with them. so they don't know where they are wrt the others. so they all kind of get haphazardly placed. you also can't move them after you make them. so it's just a mess. i don't think they even work off the grid snap but i could be wrong. i don't recall. i only used it because it was all i had available.

Hi Anthony, I'm not sure if you'll be able to switch completely from Rhino - if you're doing detailed production drawings Rhino has 50 or so different options for controlling the dimensions appearance which you may still need to use.

However since the dimensions will be able to go back and forth you should be able to do more work with them in MoI and then still use them in Rhino for final drawing output.

- Michael

thanks michael,

i only have a few files with dimensions and they are all very simple. i only use a handful of commands in rhino overall. wrt dimensions, i think i only use 3 or 4. i don't mind re-making them too. but just being able to see them should work for me. i don't have anything on the horizon. but i do have a lot of rhino files i want to be able to open if i need to.

Hi Anthony, yeah I would think the new dimensions in MoI should work pretty well for simple cases like that.

You shouldn't need to remake them, ones that you have made previously in Rhino will show up now in MoI.

- Michael

Hi Michael ...
Like Anthony, I hope to eventually do most, if not all, of my work in MoI.
Line types and weights are important for final architectural drawings but I think if I set up a template in Rhino and carefully draft (in MoI) within layer constraints that line types will hold when swapping back and forth. In the past that has been true sometimes but seemingly not at other times. I'll try that again in a simpler form than I used previously. I got carried away and assigned way more layers than I actually needed.
But, in any case, all through the preliminary architectural design process having basic dimensions for work in progress will be a god-send.
thanks Michael,
eric

Hi eric, yes I guess we'll see how well it works pretty soon here!

The dimension styles should go back and forth to Rhino as well so yes if you set it up in Rhino first that is supposed to carry through after that.

- Michael

Hello Michael!

Thanks for this good news!

Are your working on "Ca`ge Deformations" as well for the V4 lifecycle?

Thanks.

..."Cage Deformations" I meant :)

Hi Marco, sorry no I don't think that cage deformation is going to make it in for v4.

- Michael

...pity :(

Moi is AMAZING but it lacks too many advanced feature imho.
I can imagine that developing that stuff is a very huge effort for you, I understand.

But Moi's tools "palette" is almost the same as 4 years ago...

I can understand that if I say or if I not say this things it doesn't make a difference for you, and I still consider Moi one of THE BEST lightweight 3D Nurbs modeler so far.

But I repeat.
In 2019 it lacks too many advanced features.

My two cents.

Hi Marco, yes that's true but the focus of MoI is not on "advanced features" like that - it's on making it easy and quick to do simple models.

re: the tools palette being almost the same as 4 years ago - that's a good sign! It means that MoI is retaining its ease of use and lack of bloat.

So all of what you are describing I actually take as a good sign that things are going quite well.

If MoI does not have enough advanced features for you compared to some other software that's ok - that just means that the design goals of that other software aligns with what you need or expect better than MoI does.

- Michael

@You "So all of what you are describing I actually take as a good sign that things are going quite well."

Hmmm...really I didn't understand the meaning of this reply.

Anyway...I gave you my two cents :)

Have a nice day.