Hi Petr, yeah that works but I kind of hesitated to recommend that method because that is somewhat of a fancy mouse maneuver to keep the mouse button down while still typing numbers in... Actually you can release the mouse if you drag it all the way off the viewport first before releasing it, but again kind of a trick maneuver.

One other interesting application for this new "offset" value thing is you can do something like start a polyline, then type r0,0,6 to set a 6 unit in z offset before placing the first point, then when you click the first point in the top view, it will be placed at an elevation of 6 units above where you clicked on and the you can draw the rest of the polyline at that elevation.

That got me thinking that maybe a syntax like "z6" would be good for doing that kind of thing even easier yet. But I'll save that one for a bit later.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

The new stuff looks nice....
What do you think about my idea below, is it possible ?


Hi Petr,

I tried your tips, work but like michael said...
Its not comfortable holddown mouse while typing.

Thanks !!!

Hi Michael,

Thats sounds very cool, I would use that a lot !!!

Keep up the brilliant work ;-)

Hi Anis,

> What do you think about my idea below, is it possible ?

It is, but that is a quite a bit of additional UI to add to end up with the same result.

Here is how you can use the "Distance constraint" with just the current move command to get that same kind of transform:



First, select the circle. Then run the Transform/Move command.

For the first point, click the "reference line".

Then type in 3 <enter> to set a distance constraint.

Now pick a target point - the "Straight snap" will help you to lock the target point perpendicular to the line.

This is how you can use the Move command to do that type of "move by a specified distance".

Is that the same thing as the Xpert Transform that you are asking about? Please let me know if you need something different from that.

- Michael

< Any body can tell me the easies way to create an object in exact location like image below in Moi ?
Why not simply use helpers lines?

Hi Pilou,

> Why not simply use helpers lines?

The construction lines work great if you want to get a point that is aligned in a straight direction from another one.

But in this case there is no existing snap points to grab along those lines - the desired end location was 1.1 units along one line, and 1.2 units along another line.

If there was a point to lock on to at those positions in the x and y axis, then a construction line would work great, that would be something like this:



Notice how in my example here there are some endpoints to grab on to - construction lines work really well and quickly to line things up in cases like these.

Now look at the original picture that was posted - there is no individual snap point available at 1.2 and 1.1 units along those lines, so you will need to enter some numeric values to get them, there just are not any other endpoints or other individually targetable points in that specific spot to grab on to which is what you would need to use a construction line.

I guess it is a bit hard to describe, the easiest answer is to just try it yourself and see why you need to have some numeric entry to get the desired result.

Please note that the original question was not just how to make a point kind of in that general area, but very specifically how to make it 1.2 units over and 1.1 units down.

- Michael

Ok :)

So the more easy seems before V 2

If corner exist (image post 1)

Draw circle at the corner
Select circle
Move
Click Center of the circle as Base Point
1.1 Enter
Draw Circle at the 1.1
Right Click
Click Center of the circle as Base Point
1.2 Enter
Draw Circle at the 1.2

et voila :)

Hi Pilou, yup that way definitely works, and it is fine to use Move to move in one direction at a time like that.

You can also type in a "relative" point for Move to handle the movement part all in one step.

To do that, you would do these steps:

Draw circle at the corner
Select circle
Move
Click Center of circle as base point
Type r1.2,-1.1 <enter>


When you enter a point using "r" as the first character that indicates that it is a "relative" point that is a shift away from the base point using the specified distances in x,y,z .

So if you know you want to shift by a certain amount in x and in y, you can use that "relative" point method to specify it all in one step if you want.

If you are not doing it very frequently then just doing it using the distance constraint and using move twice is not a problem. If you are doing this kind of thing frequently then maybe entering relative points may be more comfortable.

- Michael

yes but the for the "r", the "," and the "-" 1... you must excogitate a little :)
the other solution type only on the numeric keyboard and Enter :)
Speedy againt rustic robust :)
And have no marks on the drawing is not so frequent :)

Is there in the V2 something to move the Cline helper by enter a numeric value (as actually rotation) ?

Hi Pilou,

> Is there in the V2 something to move the Cline helper by
> enter a numeric value (as actually rotation) ?

There is now! :)

I just made a change so that the "Relocate cline" will now use a base point (using the cline's start point) for the relocation pick, which means you can now use distance constraint on it in the same way as the Move command.

- Michael

So a powerful help system!

Hi Michael, Pilou...

OK, I already understand with existing move command in Moi.

Back to my previous post below :
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=1727.9
On that post, I create an illustration of the "xpert transform" that I want.
Michael, I think you can combine this feature with Move command. What I mean is like what you have done in "offset" command.

I am aware, I come from parametric modeling software ( SW ).
Below is what I did in SW to place an object in exact location. I know, maybe its rather difficult to put the dimension directly on the model. Thats why I give you idea with the ui of xpert transfrom.

BTW, its a big work to create this "xpert transform" in Moi ?

Thanks Michael.... :-)

Hi Anis,

> BTW, its a big work to create this "xpert transform" in Moi ?

Well, anything that involves a lot of user interface can be quite a lot of work, I have to be careful about not making MoI become too heavy with so much stuff that it loses the "easy to use" ability of it. That can tend to make me take a slow approach to adding functions that add a lot of interface along with them.

I would also sort of worry a bit in this case about giving MoI the appearance of having constraints when it really does not have them.

But I'll think about it some more, at first I thought it might not really be possible to combine with Move very well because what you are showing there needs to select an "object" which is a different type of pick than a "point location" type of pick. But if I do it in kind of the reverse order from what you show - pick the center of the circle first, then that is more in line with the flow of how Move currently works so maybe that could work. I'm not sure yet though.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

Yes, i think the workflow in Moi will be :

- pick object to move, then base line / point for movement
- pick the ref line / point
- then a UI appear to input the distance

I have use SW, but I am very like the workflow and easy of Moi.
So, use Moi as supplement software is a right choice for me.

One of important thing that I want to look in Moi ( In V2 ) is how you can give me / us "a feature" that will help a Moi user to put an object in exact location without any problem and of course easily.

I wish this will be one of your focus in V2 after on drawing on surface & Object properties.
I believe, many Moi users need to put object with accuracy easily.... :-)

Keep Spirit Michael !!!!

Regards,
Anis

Right now I'd use a corner to corner rectangle because you can type in the size.

.select corner to corner rectangle
.click start point
.type: 1.2 TAB -1.1 enter
.make circle at corner of rectangle.
.delete rectangle



For the future you could have an expansion of the move tool that adds x,y,z co-ordinates like this:



There could also be an absolute option to move to specific x,y,z co-ordinates rather than relative. I think this is in keeping with the existing interaction and interface but gives precise placement a bit more easily than at the meoment.

Michael, what do you think? Is this possible to do?

Hi Ash,

>Right now I'd use a corner to corner rectangle because you can type in the size.

>.select corner to corner rectangle
>.click start point
>.type: 1.2 TAB -1.1 enter
>.make circle at corner of rectangle.
>.delete rectangle

Never think this before, good tips also.... :-)
Lets wish michael add a "special feature" for this case....
A gain, accurate model is very important.

What is your opinion Moi Users .... ?
Contribute your idea & comment !!!

Regards,
Anis

Could this be done by defining a "Hot spot" for the object and then using a more robust "Properties panel" ?(Size, position, orientation, etc....)

> One of important thing that I want to look in Moi ( In V2 ) is how
> you can give me / us "a feature" that will help a Moi user to put
> an object in exact location without any problem and of course easily.

Hi Anis, just to be clear, you do know that you can use existing functions in MoI to place your object in an exact location already, it is not like that is impossible in MoI currently.

To do that, you can use the Move command twice, once to move it to that corner location, and then a second time using the relative point mechanism (or by moving with distance constraint a couple of times).

Please let me know if you are having a problem being able to do this, and I can give you some more individual step-by-step instructions on how to do that with MoI v1.0 .


It would certainly not be bad to have more options for doing this in a way that is more familiar to you, and I'm going to look into that some more. But it is definitely possible to get what you need currently without really any very great difficulty.

- Michael

Hi ash,

> For the future you could have an expansion of the move tool
> that adds x,y,z co-ordinates like this:

That's actually what this coordinate entry box in the bottom part of the UI is for:



Any time that MoI is asking for a point you can enter x,y,z coordinates there to specify the point location numerically instead of by picking with the mouse.

That works for the Move command, Line command, Circle, Rectangle, Curve, etc..., etc...


> There could also be an absolute option to move to specific x,y,z
> co-ordinates rather than relative.

Yup, that is actually already the default - if you type in a coordinate without any extra stuff on it, it will be an absolute coordinate.

You have to start the coordinate with an "r" if you want it to be relative, like: r10.1,2.6

There are also other things you can type in there as well, like a polar coordinate where you give an angle and distance instead of x and y - the whole list is in the help file here.


Because so many commands do involve picking points, that point entry UI is in that dedicated spot in the bottom toolbar instead of being in the options area inside each command's UI. In some of my very earliest designs it was in the options area, but it was taking up a huge amount of space and repeated very frequently, that's why it got moved into that dedicated location.

That control does a kind of "double duty" though - it not only allows for entering points but it also shows you the location of the point under your mouse if you are moving the mouse around to pick instead of typing in a coordinate.


> Michael, what do you think? Is this possible to do?

Yup, it's definitely a good idea, and it's actually been a part of MoI since the very first 1.0 beta release! :)

- Michael

Hi Burr,

> Could this be done by defining a "Hot spot" for the object and
> then using a more robust "Properties panel" ?(Size, position,
> orientation, etc....)

That's basically what the Transform/Move command actually does - it will ask you for 2 points, and the first point that you pick will be used as that "Hot spot" point.

But I do want to add a properties panel that would be another way to do this just like you are describing, it will probably contain the bounding box dimensions and possibly a center point of the object's bounding box and let you modify those values, and maybe some other things for simple objects like if you have a circle maybe you could alter the radius there.

I want to make that one part of the whole "object organization" set of tools that will be coming for v2, I have not had a chance to get started on this area yet, but it should be happening in not too much longer.

- Michael