I'm newbie with MoI using a trial version. The learning curve is impressive short and the interface is the best that i've been seeing. My question is: i'm an architect and have to think all time in constructability. Transform complex surfaces in flat panels is one the strongest ways in the contemporary architecture. Is it possible with MoI? Maybe with an external application? I'm talking about in a process like this: http://paraclouding.com/WP/?p=1423 .

Thank you for your attention and congratulations for this great tool.

One of particularity of this prog is that the creator Michael can make your personal plugin, or other coders, if possible ;)
Does nurbs adapted of these sorts of forms, why not :)
If I good understand Paracloud is a strong Geometric Plugin of Excel? ;)

From Paracloud's site:

"About Paracloud

ParaCloud is a software solution that converts Microsoft Excel™ spreadsheet into a powerful generative and associative modeling and analysis application.ParaCloud extends common CAD software capabilities with minimal changes to working habits and defines a new way of communication replacing the import/export approach. ParaCloud Modeler drives Rhino 3.0, Rhino 4.0, Autodesk Maya, DXF, OBJ, STL and VRML output."

Hi Marcos, MoI would be good for the early modeling stages where you create the initial surface forms. But you'll need to bring that surface data into another program that can handle doing further processing of those surfaces into panels for construction.

Probably the easiest other program to use for this step would be Rhino - there is a PanelingTools plug-in for Rhino to convert a surface into panels: http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/PanelingTools.html

It is very easy to move your surface data from MoI into Rhino - both programs actually share the same file format and you can even copy and paste back and forth. So I think that the combination of MoI + Rhino should be able to handle this task well.

You may want to contact McNeel to get more details on their paneling tools and to see if it will do the job you need.

- Michael

Ok, Michael. Thank you.

Hi Pilou,

> One of particularity of this prog is that the creator Michael
> can make your personal plugin, or other coders, if possible ;)

For simple things yes, that is true. But this kind of paneling for construction is a quite difficult task, it involves a lot of calculations and it isn't really the same kind of thing as just automating a few existing steps with a script.

That's why it will need to be done in an external program where someone has already done a bunch of that work, such as that Rhino Paneling tools plug-in, or that Paracloud software.

- Michael

Hi Marcos, just one other note - I'm not familiar with Paracloud, but on their web site they mention they have a lot of integration with Rhino.

So it may be possible to use MoI with Paracloud by using Rhino as a kind of gateway in between them.

- Michael

Hmmm, ok Michael, but so many softwares...and, in this case, all the roads goes to...Rhino. Isn't?

Hi Marcos,

> Any chance to see a similar plugin for MoI in a near future?

No, not in the near future. I would like to do some work to enable plug-ins for MoI in the future (so that 3rd parties can extend MoI) but it will be a while before I can focus on that.

I'm still working on more basic "simple use" type stuff right now, in the near future the focus is just on more conventional modeling tools.

However, this big focus on doing simple modeling tasks (rather than on extensive specialty plugins, etc...) is what makes MoI so much easier to use than other programs.

That ease of use (and speed of modeling that goes with it) is why it can be very nice to use MoI along side of those other programs - do the drawing in MoI, and other processing in those other programs. Then you have the best of both worlds.

If you only want to have one single software that does every single kind of task, then MoI is definitely not the right software for that. But the software that does everything also comes with a lot of complexity with it... I do not know of any software that combines the best of "easy to use" along with "does every possible thing", those tend to be opposite things that just do not combine together.

- Michael

Isnt this your "Network tool" or am I just to new to understand what he's doing here?

> But the software that does everything also comes with a lot of complexity with it... I do not know of any software that combines the best of "easy to use" along with "does every possible thing", those tend to be opposite things that just do not combine together.


Yeah, i agree with you. It's just a personal resistance to have one Rhino's license to make panels in my surfaces :) To design i really prefer MoI's interface and your easy-to-use approach.

By the way i'm thinking in buying a MoI' license.

Thank you.

@BurrMan
See the video of this link http://paraclouding.com/WP/?p=1423
it's a transformation of a surface in separated plans with incline + a possible variable thickness
so not so easy :)

Hi Marcos,

> It's just a personal resistance to have one Rhino's license
> to make panels in my surfaces

But why is that? Is it because of cost? I mean if it does the job for you well it seems like it would pay for itself in just one construction...

As far as I can tell, paneling is not just a very simple problem to solve, it takes quite a bit of work to have a good solution. For example that paneling plugin for Rhino is a set of 32 different commands that are all related to different pieces of paneling work.

Since it is a pretty complex area, that just naturally goes with it being a normal thing that you will have to buy some kind of more specialized software to do it.

- Michael

Hi Burr,

> Isnt this your "Network tool" or am I just to new to understand
> what he's doing here?

This isn't so much about constructing an initial surface (which Network would be good for) - it's more about taking a surface that you have drawn and breaking it down into kind of "manufacturable components" so that it is possible to construct a real building that generally follows the original surface shape.

You can't generally just hand a construction crew your 3D model and just tell them to build it, they need to know a lot more details like how pieces should fit together, how much wood or metal they will need, etc...

- Michael

Thanks, I'll research it more to know what it means.

Hi Burr, another example would be like if you wanted to build a big sphere in your back yard.

If you went to a contractor and asked them to build it, they might say something like: The lumber yard does not have any spheres, we have to build your sphere out of pieces of wood, how many pieces of wood would you like us to use?

The kind of "ideal sphere" design is itself not easy to build because there aren't any materials that match it exactly. You have to break it down using more commonly available materials like boards, sheet metal, etc...

- Michael

Ah, So paneling is more like taking your model and nesting or sheeting it to a specific material set?

> Ah, So paneling is more like taking your model and nesting
> or sheeting it to a specific material set?

Yes!

> Since it is a pretty complex area, that just naturally goes with it being a normal thing that you will have to buy some kind of more specialized software to do it.

Ok, Michael. Thank you very much for your attention. I'll read a bit more about Paracloud and even about the Rhino plugins.