Hi xrok1 - give this a try: Select those objects (the mesh wireframe lines and the plane), and then run Construct / Curve / Isect .

That will create point objects at those intersection locations which can then be snapped on to.

- Michael

excellent i discovered the intersect after my post, its going good so far but time consuming. i'll post resukts sometime tomorrow!

BTW, what did you think of my suggestions? the lock to plane one might satisfy some peoples requests for custom planes until v2 is released, and i think the color coded axis might help clarify the interface ;)

here's my progress so far, any tips for when i get to the corner part. not looking forward to that.

Hi xrok1,

> BTW, what did you think of my suggestions? the lock to plane one might
> satisfy some peoples requests for custom planes until v2 is released, and
> i think the color coded axis might help clarify the interface ;)

I'm not quite clear on how it would get activated - you mean by typing numbers into that x/y/z control?

But typing numbers into that control is already used if you want to specify the x,y,z coordinates of a point you are drawing, like for placing an endpoint of a line at a specific location like 0,5,2 for example. If I used that to enter some special "lock" mode instead then you would lose the ability to specify an exact coordinate... Unless I don't understand?

Another thing you may be interested in is creating a construction line and turning on "Project next pt" mode, which will do something like the kind of locking that you are mentioning, check that out here: http://moi3d.com/1.0/docs/moi_command_reference10.htm#constructionlines

- Michael

i was thinking something like a lock toggle icon beside the x,y,z number, one for each; but maybe something like holding down the x,y, or z key on the keyboard and constraining the current value in that axis would work better. eg. if you hold down the 'z' key and move the mouse around to place your next point, the x,y values would change but the z value would remain locked.

BTW, is x,y,z the order that the numbers appear on the screen, there is currently no indication of which is which, thats why i suggested the color coding.

Hi xrok1, I've added "Method to lock x,y,z axes" with a link back to this thread to the wiki wishlist page.

I think that custom construction planes will do a lot of what you are asking for though - in general when I know that a feature is going to be coming later on I have tried not to throw in too many short term workarounds for it, because it tends to be difficult to remove the short-term stuff later on.


> the x,y values would change but the z value would remain locked.

Another way to do this right now is to drag out a construction line along the z direction at the height you want, then use "Relocate cline" to place it in a different x,y location.

For example, starting with this box, say you want to place a point at the same z value as the top of the box but in a different x,y location.

Start your drawing command (for example here I used Line), then go to your box and drag out a construction line in Z:


Hold down on the launcher tag, and then on the menu that pops up pick "Relocate cline":



You have now "captured" the z value in that construction line and you can now move it around in x and y, here I have moved it off to the side a bit:



Now the snap value is available at that same z, here I snapped the line to it:



View from the front so you can see the equal z values:



- Michael

#1 where is this "Relocate cline"
#2 i think the axis locking feature would be a great addition to moi, custom planes or not it would be a nice quick modeling aid without going through the create custom plane senario each time.

thanks for the responses,

would the axis locking be posible with a quick script?

did you think of any tips for me when i get to the corner junction of my model?

Hi xrok1,

> #1 where is this "Relocate cline"

It's covered in the help file under construction lines:
http://moi3d.com/1.0/docs/moi_command_reference10.htm#constructionlines

When you create a construction line, a little tag will appear above your mouse - click and hold down on it (keep the mouse button pressed down) for a second and that menu will pop up with a bunch of additional options to control the construction line.


> would the axis locking be posible with a quick script?

You should be able to get a lot of axis-locking type of functionality from the construction lines - for example the steps I showed above gives you the equivalent of a z lock.

The nice thing about the construction line method is that it isn't actually limited to just world axis directions - you can drag out a construction line between any 2 points to use any direction that you want. But at the same time straight snap will help you to get axis directions if you want.


> did you think of any tips for me when i get to the corner junction of my model?

That's definitely going to be tough - it is hard to branch when doing a contour slice type method.

You'll probably have to build some things as separate pieces and then cut some holes and add some blends to connect pieces together.

- Michael