One of the nice things about using more 2D curves to drive things, like cut other objects, is that it is really easy to edit 2D curves so it is easier to do adjustments and variations.

For example here I used a wiggly curve as the cutting profile instead of a straight line to get a different effect:



- Michael

Hey Michael !! You´re amazing - thank you so much !!

Its strange to be in absolute beginners-status again and have to
ask silly questions ;-) If I ask to much just tell me to shut-up ;-)

But I really went through the manual several times and tried
several options . . . I am adding the file where I where not
able to close the ends as well as to extrude them and round
the edges.

Here another question : Is it possible to "insert cuts" in order
to gett additional points for manipulation ? Imagine a cylinder
with no points between its ends. And you want to enlarge
its diameter in its middle ? Or any surface you need to
"subdvide" in a ceratin area as you need to maipulate its
shape there?

Even just having learnt the very basics I realize I may be able to
save LOTS of time compared to Cinema ?

Thanks again for your fantastic support + regards [TOM]

Hi Tom,

> I am adding the file where I where not able to close the ends as well as to extrude
> them and round the edges.

Yup, the problem here is that open end is not planar - looking from the right-hand side and zooming in:






There is some twisting to that profile edge, it is not completely flat. If you slice a little bit off the ends of this surface with a line (same as in the steps I showed above), then the ends will be planar and can be filled using Construct / Planar.


> Here another question : Is it possible to "insert cuts" in order
> to gett additional points for manipulation ?

No, not really - in the future I want to add some more ways to insert points for surface point manipulation, but it isn't really the normal way to construct things in MoI.


> Imagine a cylinder with no points between its ends.
> And you want to enlarge its diameter in its middle ?
> Or any surface you need to
> "subdvide" in a ceratin area as you need to maipulate its
> shape there?

This is another big difference from poly modeling - if you want a single surface patch that bulges, then you don't normally start with a non-bulgy one and then change it to be bulgy. Instead you construct a bulgy one from curves more directly:

Starting with 3 circles:



Select them all and run Construct / Loft to build a bulgy cylinder:



You can edit the curves and the Loft will update, that's how you can do some interactive tweaking. (in this case you could also draw a side profile and use Revolve).


So you don't usually start with a cube or flat piece and then completely re-arrange it to a different shape like you would in a polygon modeler. Instead, you draw curves that kind of form profiles or cross-sections of your shape, and then use those to construct your object (sometimes to build surfaces, sometimes as cutting objects, ... )

I usually say that this is more like directly drawing your object, rather than the point squishing polygon method which is kind of more like sculpting your object rather than drawing it from profiles.

- Michael

So like I mentioned, creating things in MoI is usually driven more off of key curves like profiles or cross-section curves.

This is also one method that can help you when deciding if a project will be good (and really quick) to do in MoI or not instead of in polygons.

If an object has very recognizable profile curves in it, then that will be a great candidate. Typically man-made objects fall into this area.

On the other hand if your shape has no easily recognizable primary profiles and instead has lots of little bumps and ripples, then it will fall more naturally into being being built with polygons/subd instead. Typically faces / creatures / character models fall into this area. (even though a face has a silhouette profile, it isn't the same kind of profile that I'm talking about because it rapidly changes).

- Michael