Hi, Michael

It is possible in this moment to choose objects and to group to be able to move, to copy or other?

With much entity in the drawings and difficult to times to choose what it is wanted.

Thanks

Hi Marco, for MoI version 1.0 there isn't any way to group objects.

Object organization and grouping tools are definitely going to be a big focus area for version 2.0 .

- Michael

How about layers feature for version 2.0 ?

Hi Johny - something similar to layers is part of that whole "object organization" package.

But I don't really want to do layers exactly because there are some limitations to layers that are annoying. I'd like to try something that gives similar organizational capabilities but is not quite as strict as traditional layers.

- Michael

You know the best Michael :)

Hi Johny,

> You know the best Michael :)

:) Actually I don't quite know exactly how this will work yet, just some general ideas.

The thing I don't like about traditional Autocad style layers is that since each object can belong to only one layer, it makes restrictions in the way you can organize things.

Like for instance a car - what if you want to have a wheel on a layer called "wheels", but also just the front 2 wheels on another layer called "front of car". This can't be done in a regular layer system, and even a hierarchical system doesn't help out for cases like this.

Also the traditional way has grouping and layering as 2 separate mechanisms that provide similar capabilities for clustering objects, it would be nice if these could be merged into one unified system with just one centralized UI for it instead of multiple UIs.

I'm still not sure of the specific details yet, it will take some time for me to do some careful plans for designing this area, that's why I wasn't able to finish it for version 1.0 .

- Michael

why can't this be done with a simple dialog for "selection sets"? There is a Rhino plug-in for this which lets you assign selection sets with a name. then you can later retrieve the selection sets, with options to replace, merge, subtract, etc from the current selection... In the case of Moi, it could probably be done with a simple drop-down panel from one button...

Also this is independent from grouping and layer states...

jonah

Hi Jonah, the thing is now you have a 3rd mechanism for organizing objects, that's 3 different UIs to manage lists of things, etc...

But yeah that's kind of the idea that I'm shooting for is to have something closer to named selection sets.

Like imagine if you had a named selection set but you could also set an option on it for it to "select as one" - then it could act as a group.

And imagine if the named selection set manager also had a way to quickly hide or show the set, then that's acting like layers...

- Michael

Sounds Great, I like the Idea that objects can be part of multiple groups at the same time.
Maybe all the objects in the group could be highlighted when hovering, all the attached groups could also show simultaneously, having a different highlight color.

Marc

maybe something to consider is one tiny button on the UI, to quickly flip through the choices of selections methods. Similar to Rhino's CPlane/World toggle button in the lower left corner of screen. But in Moi, could flip through 4 basic choices:

O = Object mode
S = Selection Set mode
G = Group mode
L = Layer mode

This way you only need a dialog when managing the sets/layers/groups. Other times you just click the little button, or use a hotkey to flip through them. Holding the button down for a second (or using RMB) could open the dialog...

jonah

Hi Jonah, you mean that switch would control how MoI behaves for regular selection clicks?

That might work, but for stuff like groups, it would probably feel more natural for the group to select as a whole without going into a special mode to do it...

There will probably be some kind of panel that you can open that will list all the objects and any "tags" that you have created to act as selection set / layers / groups. So for things like layer-type operations you would open that panel and use some of the controls in it for hiding or showing things, etc.. For a group you would set a property on a tag for "select as one". For selection sets, there would be some way to select objects or tags by clicking on either the name or some button next to the name in the panel.

One thing (along with many) that I haven't figured out yet is if the panel should be an additional thing that opens up adjacent to the current side pane (and can be easily opened/closed), or whether to make the current side pane switchable to different views and have this "object/tags view" be one of the options, or whether to try and make it small enough to be an actual smaller section of the side pane like one of the current toolbars.

- Michael

Yes, it could affect MOI's selection method on a global scale. Having a specialized "object" mode would allow quicker selections, so you don't have to drill down through the group first. Of course in group mode, selecting non-grouped objects would still act on the individual object. And using the hotkey to flip through them would enable you to quickly select individual objects, press a hotkey to start picking groups, press again to add selection by layer, etc. A good example of this would be modo, where we press the space bar to scroll through sub-object selection modes. The major difference in Moi would be that items don't deselect when switching modes... Take a look at modo for a good example of a smart item managment panel. It can be compressed/expanding simply by dragging it's borders...

jonah

Does a very elaborated system of objects take many place in % of the total prog and can slow down it?

Hi Pilou, part of the planning for that feature will be to make sure that doesn't happen.

- Michael

Cool :)

I think one very important thing when object management is implemented ( layers, groups, whatever they are called in the end) is
to be able to easily import and export while maintaining the oganisation structure,
so that 3dm files are imported according to material or layer assignments,
and obj files are exported with objects group as in MOI

re: file I/O of layers

Hi Moka, that is a really good point.

Some of the organization that I want to allow will not properly fit within the way that OBJ or 3DM files organize their layers.

Probably what will happen is if it is important for you to exactly control the layer / group structure of the output file, then you will need to restrain yourself to only create organizations that fit within that scheme. Like for example only make each object belong to a single tag instead of placing the same object on multiple tags.

I should be able to detect if you have made an organization compatible with the regular layering type system and then utilize it directly in that case, otherwise some portion of your organization will be lost.

- Michael