Here is what I quickly came up with (most of it on my lunch break) using free software:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sd96vmcau717hrh/MoI3dAddonsInstaller.exe?dl=1

This is a user-friendly installer that downloads and installs:

- CustomUI
- nodeeditor
- radial copy
- lighting options
- sbridge/sscale/scopy

All files are placed in the required locations and copies of the zip files are stored as an archive.

The locations (and therefore the versions) are hard-coded. What is needed is for someone to create and maintain a web page that always links to the current versions, e.g. CustomUI.latest.zip actually gets CustomUI.2.0.beta2.zip, which is what I was trying to explain in the other thread.

This is just an example that took me very little time to create. It would be trivial to adapt this to have an installer for 'essentials'', 'advanced', etc.

Andy

Hi Andy,

re:
> This is just an example that took me very little time to create. It would be trivial to adapt this
> to have an installer for 'essentials'', 'advanced', etc.

It's interesting, but I would not consider any of those you have there as "essentials" - the essentials are already included with MoI in its stock configuration. A beginning user does not need to install any plug-ins to start using MoI. Plugins are useful to more advanced users to optimize their workflows for some specific kinds of scenarios.

So an installer like this is kind of an "odd duck" - it's not needed for beginners and for advanced users it's only doing a job of downloading a file and copying it into MoI's commands folder which is a trivial operation for an advanced user.

I would recommend for a beginning user to not worry so much about finding every conceivable plugin as you seem to be so focused on. Just learn to use MoI in its stock configuration first with maybe a few keyboard shortcuts set up for things you are using frequently and that's it.

- Michael

What you said about me isn't true. Andy

My 2 cents,

I agree with Michael about many scripts which have very few users or usage for few projects.

I think the question we have to ask is : Is there a minimal set of scripts or plugins to include in all versions of MOI ?
I think, some are "must have" to save time and avoid many questions of beginners.
Perhaps could we do a survey to ask regular users which scripts or plugin are usefull for every users (beginners or advanced).
For examples :
- I can't tune models without "Nudge" (for modeling or locating)
- "ReconstructCurve" is usefull to avoid problems in multiple situations
- "SelectNakedEdge" is the answer in many situations for all users to find why an object isn't Solid.
Not so many but perhaps other users could say what are their "Must have".

Perhaps is it possible to add a minimal set of these "Must have" ?


The first advice for all users is RTFM (Read the fucking manual) !
Vidéo tutorials are very good but before, we have to read a documentation to understand what is the philosophy of a software and what is the usage of basic tools.
Many times, we confuse Tutorials and Demonstrations.
Demonstrations with timelapse are never usefull for beginners. They give us some hope of wonderfull results, but are done by advanced+++ users with their prefered interface, scripts, etc.
Tutorials for beginners must be done with basic step by step and basic version.
Beware to confuse those two types of vidéos.

An idea, separate in ressources the tutorials for beginners and the tutorials for advanced users.
Or perhaps, explain which videos are done with plugins and which are done without.

This is my 2 cents.

One more time, sorry for my poor english.

Have fun !

@Phiro> The first tip for all users is: read the "......" manual (s)!
("Introduction to MoI 3D" and "MoI Command References")
The video tutorials are very good but first, you have to read a documentation to understand what is the philosophy of a software and what the basic tools are used for.
Many times we confuse tutorials and demos.
Demonstrations with timelapse are never useful for beginners. They give us hope for wonderful results, but are made by advanced +++ users with their favorite interface, scripts etc.
Tutorials for beginners should be done with basic step-by-step version and basic version.
Be careful to confuse these two types of videos.

Thanks Phiro, some of the best advice we can give to beginners. I have adopted this learning method for many years. But it still took me a long time to understand this and it became almost an unconscious reflex (5 or 6 CAD / 2D and 3D CAD software over several years). It is also for this reason that I am very attached to the quality, accuracy and precision of the translations of the documentation (and the software interface) for non-English speakers of which I am a part. This should be a collective contribution. I am also very attached to my language and my culture, they are what allow me to access more or less complex concepts and philosophies.

One more time, sorry for my poor english !!!

- Zooen

"... Demonstrations with timelapse are never useful for beginners."

In my opinion, time lapse demos are not useful period. Even less useful if no audio.

I have never understood the purpose of these types of demos. But you see them often for MoI, Blender, Photoshop, etc.

I would rather the creator do a focused, one-minute real-time video, covering one single concept, rather than 20 minutes of chaos.

My $0.02 worth of opinion :)

Ed Ferguson

but - it's the beggining, may be idea will grow and will expand to addon/scripts selector inside moi )