Thanks for all the explanation and videos. My offset challenge is maybe little more simple and it mainly because my Sketchup habits". Here is what I mean with problem to offset the construction line outside of the geometry. In this case (video) it still works fairly ok but if there is more geometry around it has been difficult to define which is the direction that the construction line offset will be created. Naturally it would be great to be able to press for example "arrow up" so that the construction line offset direction would be locked to Z-direction, "arrow left to lock it to X-direction", etc. I am sure that I will get used to this and make it work once I get more experience with MoI.

Anyway, thanks again for great support!

For this particular case i will don't use Helper lines!
Draw and Move a simple square will be many more speed! ;)

Hi mk1978 yeah for that particular type of usage I probably wouldn't use construction lines. I'd probably just use object dragging. First drag it to align with the reference point, then drag 2 more times using distance constraint. You can enter in your distance constraint for an object drag by typing in a value and pushing enter before doing the drag, like this:



Or if you know the displacement in the x and y directions you can use the Transform > Move command instead of the last 2 drags and enter in a relative coordinate value for the second move point by typing rx,y, so for example type r-10,-10 to move by -10 in x and -10 in y from the first picked point in Transform > Move.

If you like to visualize the target point by an offset outline, then another possibility would be to use the offset command to build some temporary geometry, then you only need to enter one offset value. And you also can then just drag the object into place instead of using the Transform > Move command:



- Michael

Do you know what is the reason why I am not able to execute Shell command on this part?

I would assume that the problem is with the curve that has been used for creating the face but is there something that can be done to clean the curve, etc.?

Hi,

your model is super huge.
Perhaps do you not see the shell because of the size.

I test the shell after having resize and I had no problem.

In the screenshot, Is it the face you want shell ?

You could have a limit in shell with the corners.
Shell could erase te small face and it is impossible for MOI.

Hi mk1978, same as Phiro over here - shell is working on your object as long as you stay under a thickness that would cause the area shown above to collapse in on itself. That's around 170 units or so.

What thickness value are you trying to use?

- Michael

I have been trying to use 200mm thickness. Now it works perfect, thanks again for help for both!

First time I've ever used the construction line tag.

Is it possible to make the tag bigger?
It is really small on Hi-Def monitor.

- Brian

Hi Brian,

re: make construction line tag bigger - the size of that comes from the image MenuLauncherTag.png in the ui sub-folder. If you increase that image size it should increase in the UI as well to match.

I've been thinking of maybe getting rid of that thing and having a "Construction line" section appear on the side pane when you make one instead.

- Michael

Thank you Michael, I'll try out a larger png. I think W10 power tools has a sizer.

Sidepane section might be good, especially for those of us who do not read all of the documentation :-)

- Brian

Again some more questions to understand Moi3D better.

1. Do you know what is the reason why I am not able to perform Union command in this shape? I have been using Boolean / Union but somehow I am not able to combine these solids. Moi3d example file attached.

2. When extruding the form is this (arrow) only visible error or do you think that there is something wrong with the curves that I am using?

your object has huge dimensions - 10000 etc

i rescale

apply join and rebuid on all your curves

extrusions and union are ok ( 3dm attached )

Thanks for the tip! I always forget that the size may be causing some challenges.

You can also add some volumes thickness on some faces of one volume
for not have just "flat" intersection surfaces when you have some complex volumes...

my bad i forget the subtracted piece

Hi mk1978, it tends to be more difficult for the booleans to process objects that have overlapping surface areas, it makes for a more complex intersection.

It can work though if the pieces are accurately placed. In your your case here things are off by a bit:





Like corchet mentions above, it's also not so good to have large coordinate values for your objects like having it 10000 units across.

In the attached file, I scaled your objects down by 1/100 in size so they don't have overly large coordinate values and I also just moved your pieces so they were accurately in place and now the boolean should work ok.

- Michael

Thanks for the comments Michael. It seems that I have made small errors when editing/mirroring parts so it is good to understand that these are causing the problem. Naturally it is difficult to spot these because the model/parts are huge in size.

Again I would like to ask some help in modeling approach. How would you model this kind of shape?

I would need to model a fan duct for a 3D printer and I would like to use this model as a basis. I need to remodel the fan to make it fit to my purposes but how could I create this kind of geometry? I have tried to take some basic planes from the original model and I have tried to use Loft + Shell functionality to create the shape but this doesn't create a solid model but it get splitted. Do you have any ideas how to model this kind of shape that hollow from inside?

I was also able to import the original model to Moi3D as a obj file but it seems really complicated to edit the obj imported model. This is the reason why I was planning to model it with the help of some basic planes from the original model.

Short extruded, rectangles, or circles or ovals can be blended between. Select the edges to blend, not curves.
Delete or hide, the curves overlying the edges.
-Brian

The short extrusions can be temporary.
The blended sections can also be blended between.

Make some strategically placed cross sections...Small extrude, Blend, (delete unwanted extrusions), Blend remainder, repeat ...