Hi Yanik, re: offset problem - I think the problem is that Offset in MoI is focused on working on a closed loop, not a branching structure like you have here.

It will try to join together segments that touch to try and make a closed loop but that is not good for your branching structure.

I don't think that MoI's offset will produce the kind of result you're looking for here, you've got not just branching but some pieces touching others in spots other than endpoints making "T" junctures. MoI's curve offset is not set up to handle those either.

Maybe a 2D CAD program that has an architectural type "wall" offset might do what you are looking for.

- Michael

Hi Yanik, you might be able to get somewhere with that with Max Smirnov's "Fatlines" script (http://moi.maxsm.net/files/), I think that script will thicken each curve individually instead of trying to join things together to make closed loops like MoI's regular offset function does.

- Michael

Funny that i adviced somewhere ;)

Seems you must trim in some parts before use Fat Lines
Don't know if there too many roads or if there are particular intersections or ...
red = trimming polylines

Hi Michael the lines are all individual lines. Each road is a polyline with multiple points. The concave points have issues when offsetting them. The FatLines script has the same issues.
Not sure what the problem is. It works fine on similar drawn polylines.

Having used FatLines script in complex senarios (recent one was a vitro window for a 3d scene) it helps to separate the project in portions. When I tried to apply it at once to all of the linework things froze up.

If I offset just 1 polyline I get the same issues. So it's not related to complexity. Try the dxf and you'll see.

Hi Yanik,

re:
> If I offset just 1 polyline I get the same issues. So it's not related to complexity. Try the dxf and you'll see.

I am seeing some issues with polylines that are at shallow angles to one another.

In general MoI is not expecting to work with polylines like that which have numerous line segments at shallow angles to one another, it's expecting for things shaped like that to be smooth curves and not polylines.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

I'm not sure I understand, shouldn't the dimension display units be independent of the model's?
Hobbit's foot are something else than 12 inches? :)

Marc

This curious thing of looping was due of an old version of Fatlines!



with the FatLines for v4 no more looping! : even with the DXF above post! ;)
Lignes Epaisses = FatLines

Here is a result I made. 3 or 4 lines are missing, but it could have been dealt with. A little more than just 1 click though.



Since you want to keep the breakpoints of the polylines, that is what kindof makes the offsetting hard.

So I joined and rebuilt the original file (Rebuild to remove all the corner points)

Then I extruded the new curves and shelled them on centerline. I could then Boolean together the shelled solids into a single solid.
(This is where I lost 4 lines. they would need to be addressed at the extrusion level to get good solids to bool)

From the single solid, I can extract the bottom edges to create the thickened curves.

I can now bring in the original file and extract the points I wanted to keep (As waypoints I guess?)

Anyway, I can make a video if this file looks like what you are after and you wanted to see more.

The curious is the FatLines works fine with only certain measures of lines...

Not sure if rendering bug or performance optimization:

Hi Andre, it's kind of both. It's a known rendering bug but it has intentionally not been fixed as of yet since the fix could cause some performance degradation for all curve drawing.

See here:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4101.2

At some point I should be able to do a careful fix but I'm not sure exactly when. Thanks for reporting it.

- Michael

HI Michael,

Really enjoying the DIMS function in MOI great for quick markups. Here is one example if possible to add a dimension style where the dimension sits outside to the side of the lines dimensioned area. In areas where mixing large scale and small scale dimensions would be good so its still legible.

Hi Alex, in the Jan-22-2020 v4 beta there is now an option for putting the arrows to the outside like you want there.

It's under Arrows > Position = "Outside" , and also when it is set some additional options for "Outside line length" and "Draw line across" will appear in the "Dim lines" section:



It does not try to place the text to the outside but (it looks like you've seen this already) you can turn on edit points for a dim with Edit > Show pts and then drag the point for the text to position it off to the side where you want it.

You can set Arrows > Position = "Outside" on an individual dimension by using the "Details..." button in the object properties that shows up for the selected object, or also set it as a preset under Options > Dimensions, then select that preset when you initially draw the dimension.

Let me know if that was not what you were looking for.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the tip with Arrow heads - with the DIM type I did that in Photoshop is that possible to achieve in MOI also?

regards
Alex.

Hi Alex, yes it's possible to do that in MoI now. You would set the arrow position to "Outside", and also turn on points for the dimension and drag the text point off to the side.

Here's a demonstration:



- Michael

WOW! that really takes the dimensioning to the level of producing easily read drawings.

Looking forward to final release with PDF and DXF export capabilities - at the moment just taking screen shots and thats good enough to them them over line.

I guess your user guide once its already will demonstrate these capabilities.

thanks

Alex.

Mi Michael,
Great work!
I see you added a lot of items into MoI since beta I've used.
I modified some stuff in moi.ini and was wondering what would happen if I overwrite my old .ini file to latest beta.

Is there any way someone can import custom settings from old .ini to the new version?
Or do I have to do a text comparison in some 3rd party tool and put together .ini file that would work?

Thanks a lot
Juraj

Hi Mr. Yuri, it's no problem to use a previous moi.ini with a new beta. The new version will automatically write out any new settings that it uses. The new settings will start out with default values.

So you don't have to do any text comparisons or merging, just have the new MoI release use your previous moi.ini file and it will get new things added to it automatically.

If there is no moi.ini found at all, a new one will be created with default values. If there is an existing one, it will get used and new values will be added to it, with previous settings remaining the same and the newly added ones having default values.

- Michael