In a previous post I asked if there was a way to make a nurb surface (flat plane). Now im stuck because I need to create a morphable and "squishable" nurbs surface which is non-linear so a good example would be an oval, a circle, or any shape created by using the freeform line tool. This program is so easy to get the hang of so Im trying to avoid having to use Max or Rhino. If anyone can help or give pointers I would appreciate it. Thank you much.

If you draw by exemple any 2 curves lines in the 3D space then Loft them you will obtain a nubs surface non linear :)
But have you an example of what you do want? (ovale circle etc are primitives yet inside Moi)

This is what I did earlier today. My signature was brought into MoI from an Ai file.

well thanks for the quick reply. the method of lofting the 2 curves did work but the control points for the nurb surface were only create on the perimeter of the surface not evenly distributed throughout the body of the surface (indicated by red box). and as for the circle and oval shapes i also drew them in the attached picture. mr gibson gave me the tip to draw two perpendicular lines with control points then extruding one line along the other. doing this created evenly distributed control points throughout the whole surface and i want to replicate this and use it with non lineal 2d forms (like the ones shown in the picture).

Hi airdog -

For lofting, if you use more than just 2 curves you will get some interior points to adjust.

So for instance, a set of curves like this:



Select all those curves, then run Construct / Loft to build the kind of surface that you want.

And actually, with this kind of arrangement you can also use construction history instead of adjusting the surface directly - to use construction history means to turn on the control points for the original curves that went into the loft and edit the curves, then the Loft that was generated from them will update to match the edited curve.

If you want to edit the surface directly, you may want to use the Loft Style: Loose option when performing the Loft (it is an option that shows up in the upper-right area of the MoI window). That will keep the control points for the lofted surface to be more similar to the control points for the original curves.

For your oval type shapes, if you want a surface that comes up straight from the oval, you can draw a control point curve and use Extrude with Set Path same as the other example. If you want a rounded shape, try adding another profile and using Rail Revolve, like this:







Rail revolve acts in a similar way to Extrude+Set Path, in that it will combine the control point structures of both curves, except it does it in a pivoting way instead of straight. So to add more points to the generated surface, use more points in the original curves that are going into the rail revolve.

When you do the rail revolve, you will need to either uncheck the "Cap ends" option, or delete the bottom planar cap before you can edit its points. See this FAQ answer for some info on why you can't turn on the points of the solid with the end cap in place.

Some other examples of rail revolve are available here: http://moi3d.com/1.0/docs/moi_command_reference7.htm#railrevolve

Hope this helps!

- Michael