I have been working on a complete rewrite of the MOI3D curriculum we used at YouthQuest to teach 3D design to at-risk and neurodiverse students.

In the original courseware, we did not cover Conic. To be honest, it was because I had no idea how it might be used.

But, I was determined to cover each and every feature of the MOI3D UI this time around and that meant having to put in some effort into understanding Conic.

It turned out to be quite a fun adventure and I learned a great deal!

Lesson #1: MOI3D had Conic YEARS before it was added to Solidworks.

Conic was added to MOI3D in 2009. It wasn't made available in Solidworks until 2013.

Lesson #2: Conic was the direct result of Michael's connection to his users.

One of the things I most appreciate about the MOI3D experience is the personal attention Michael pays to thus community. As I went back through the forums to glean what I could about Conic, the history of it being added in the V2 beta unfolded in a fascinating thread. Michaels response to Jamie's (Futureproof) query was "I think I can probably cook up a conic curve command, I will give that a try."

What followed was an interesting unfolding of the thought processes behind the capabilities that proved fascinating to me.

It is this kind of interaction that gives me confidence to recommend MOI3D to anyone and everyone. What a great product and a great community.

Tom!!!

I think bringing your students the “RHO” value and having them grasp the concept will be HUGE for them. It’s kindof a little door for those sponges!

Good luck!

Yep! Pretty fascinating.

The search also convinced me to include links to the work of so many MOI3D users that have designed amazing things well beyond my capabilities. Students often go well beyond their teachers and that is among my goals for them.

Here is an example of one such designer.

http://www.k4icy.com

But, there are many others here that give us reasons to stretch our skills.

I love it here.

Tom

Yep this guy is a Moi's Master!

I have translated all its tuts! ;)
https://moiscript.weebly.com/batteur-doeufs.html



By MajicMike

Burrman and Frenchy,

I am very happy you both replied because you have the knowledge and skills to help me answer a question about scripting.

Would it be possible to move an object along a path using scripting in MOI3D.

I'm not looking for full animation. Just simple movement along a path. This video was created by manually moving an object with a blue background and capturing it in Camtasia. Then ChromaKey was used to overlay the motion over an image.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/01qcuhsyutt87d5/Flying%20Saucer.mp4?dl=0

Many years ago there was a 3D design application for children called Cosmic Blobs and it had a feature called Vanish Varnish that allowed for very simple animation.

When it went away, so did Vanish Varnish. The creator of that application went on to create Onshape.

Here is a tutorial I did many years ago explaining how Vanish Varnish worked.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b303xfwbbtblwdk/30%20Airshow.mp4?dl=0

The reason why I would love to be able to do something like this is that 3D printing is the bottleneck that holds back wider 3D acceptance in schools. But, kids love moving things around on the screen and that movement does NOT have to be elaborate or even key frame to be useful for them.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/p8agr3zzeon75nfb5i98r/h?dl=0&rlkey=qe4kbqchdgmdz0n633ibdewik

Hi Tom,
My mind leads me towards node editor, although i am not a scripting guy.

But if we can get one of the guys to make a path array node, then the “distance” value can be put on a slider or a rotation widget. Then you could slide an object around on a path….

I think…..

But A script could possibly iterate the distance over and over till the end of the path also. If you wanted to screen shot and save out an image sequence for an avi….

Anybody?

Sorry i have not yet seen your examples so maybe that is out subject...

You have a marvelous thing for animate anything along a path inside moi! :)
By r2d3! http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=7777.878
https://moiscript.weebly.com/elephant-systegraveme-nodal.html

No need to know how works Elephant! From that i remember! ;)
You have just to replace the objects and curves!
I will remake one for be sure!

Fractal is not it! :)

Yes it was that! :)

Funny is that you can Deform, Copy, Replace with any volumes 3 sets of "named" objects "M", "O", "I"! :)
(if you don't want have some headaches to add more 3 sets of letters! )
Idem for the path itself!

Just make all that before call the node!

Else i have seen your videos...

Something else who is not 3D but can be useful with some object created by Moi for animate them!

The very funny free and versatile Algodoo... http://www.algodoo.com
Perfect for all public !:)

The grey legs have motors that turn in the opposite direction.
The "rotating" rectangle will hit the legs.

All are in contact A, touching but not blocking!

The deformed rounding is the result of the ladder tool on a round-ended segment

The result is a jumping movement of the legs of the "crutch"! :)

Here all is drawn inside Algodoo but as you can import any images you can put any images of MOi's Objects ! ;)

Here an image png transparent of Moi's objects: just Drag & Ddrop your image on the Algodoo screen! :)
it's now an Algodoo object!
Of course all that is an infinite field of exploration! :)

wow! Be careful what you ask for! :)

Algodoo is fascinating. (I had never seen it before.)

But, so is the node editor. At this point, however, it looks like I need to a add a few more brain cells to figure that out.

I am almost done with my basic lessons for the course and feel the need to follow up on all the things you guys brought to the table.

Another option I need to pursue is interoperability with Meshmolder and their rendering engine when it's finally delivered. In class we created primitives with MOI3D and to be imported into Meshmolder for its ability to create skins, etc. and the students enjoyed that as well.

You gave me a lot to explore!

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Tom,
here's a basic nod to move a object along a curve.
Place your object on XYZ origin and name it Traveller.
Creat your curve path can be close or open 2d or 3d and name it Curve Path.
The nod divides the curve path into 100 steps (can be more or less) and the indexselect moves the Traveller
to these positions as you rotate the knob (or switch to auto).
Cheers
Barry

Right on Barry!

Wow! What a great community!

Thanks, Barry and Frenchy!

That is exactly the direction in which I needed to be guided.

I have taken some time to look over the documentation materials on Frenchy's site and with examples like you sent me, now think learning to use Elephant, while challenging to an old guy, is not beyond my reach.

My impressions is that Elephant is so comprehensive and versatile that many of us simply shy away from even trying it. But, that it CAN be broken down into smaller and still useful functions that can be digested more easily than it first appears.

While the functionality of the .NOD that you provided may, at first, appear to be a novel use of MOI3D, having worked with high school students using Cosmic Blobs, I can say for sure that being able to do just that kind of simple animation is a true motivator for that age group.

It also provides a different benefit for the instructor.

It is almost impossible to print the work of 10+ students each day. Even when we had more than enough printers for each student to have their own on their desk, the issues that 3D printers present make it difficult to use in the class time allotted.

Having an alternate presentation opportunity, such as a short animated video provides some degree of design feedback and the chance to make things others can appreciate.

This is terrific.

Tom

You are no obliged to know how works Elephant for create something!

Just load nodes yet made and press run! ;)

Create something from zero is another story!
Nodal system is disguised programming! ;)
A daily training is necessary for some gratifying result! :)

Have fun! Et bon courage!

"Just load nodes yet made and press run! ;)"

I assume one has to have installed Elephant before one can run a node. That appears to NOT be a trivial undertaking that involves more than a few steps.

I may need a bit of hand-holding. LOL!

On the other hand, the MORE group seems like an inviting place for a built-in path following function. (See how lazy I am!)

Tom

P.S. I have created an example video from the GIF that Barry posted. Had I used the .M3D and .nod files, I could have applied the same color to both background and path for a completely transparent overlay. The kids would find this a lot of fun!

<< I assume one has to have installed Elephant before one can run a node.
<< That appears to NOT be a trivial undertaking that involves more than a few steps.
Of course you must install it! :) But normally not a big deal! :)

Cool animation and i suppose you can give a certain form to the path! ;)

Big thanks for Picasso's greetings !!!
Best regards

Ken

"In the original courseware, we did not cover Conic. To be honest, it was because I had no idea how it might be used."

Well ... care to share some visual examples showing the interesting uses for this tool ?

One thing Conic is useful for is creating an elliptical arc segment that is tangent to two lines.

Here is a stylized bug that is created from 3 conics and their tangent lines.

While not elaborate or even very useful, this was a very quick way to demonstrate the Conic in actual use.

I created lines to be used as guides for the Conic and Joined the resulting conic segment to the original guide lines.

I offset the conic segments .1mm to emphasize them for the image capture.

I was pleased to learn that Conics seem to result in a nice organic flow.