There has been some ideas on how to make the organisation of
objects in Moi 3d possible .
I would love to see an organistion of the objects in 3 ways simultaniously.
grouping by color .... 1. dimension
grouping by layers 2. dimension
grouping as a group object 3. dimension
the nearest program that does this kind of organisation is Sketchup.
grouping by group object should be savable and have the possibility of anotation as well as properties.
Some of these properties could be snapping properties or normal to surface properties etc(or sliding on an axis).
Other then these properties it should be possible to store macros with itor short scripts.
plus a thumbnail of that group.
Now to an example :
You build a screw and make it a group object.
as a property it would have to always snap to surface normal plus second property would be to always snap to a surface
withn only the screwhead looking out (depth information)....
In the future if it were able to also store a macro it would i.e drill a hole into the surface it goes into and automatically
bevel that hole at the surface.
That would be future safe and save lots of work for prototyping.....
Those are just a few ideas that i had when braintorming....
Maybe not all for V2 but i think its good tol look into the future when nailing down the possibilities
hope thats not to confusing
Peter

Michael's brain must be overheating :)
Maybe this thread must be merged with the scene tree?

Hi Peter, I'm not quite sure if I'm follow all that you've got there, but in addition to grouping I want to also have an "orient" command that would let you reposition any kind of object to place it perpendicular to a surface.

The idea would be to make that work for any object you might have around, not just a particular kind of group object...

We'll see if that will get the job that you're talking about there done or not, but I think it may handle it.

- Michael

Michael !
My idea was not to make a complicated scene tree and not just a single
orientation command but more like a whole series of possible actions
for a future release !
Let me come up with some examples ...
I will have to make pictures !
Peter

Hi Peter, some pictures would certainly help clarify it!

- Michael

Jst an idea Michael but a group can have an axis as a
snapping rouler so you can slide a group only on these...
I would be easier to place groups in holes if you have lots of groups



This is just 1 idea of placement I can think of quite many...like use a pivot point etc.
Peter

Hi Peter - in the sample you show there it looks like the pieces are already aligned? (I mean in orientation)

If so then you can use the current Transform/Move command to move the object to line it up with the hole - the Move command will ask you for a reference point and then a target point. Pick the reference point on a center snap of your "group" object, and place the target point on a center snap of your hole, and you should have alignment...

You can also use the Move command with a "Straight snap" to make a move only in one direction. To do that you can just pick your base point anywhere, then for the target point move your mouse nearby an axis direction and when you get close it will lock to that direction and you should see a label like "x", "y", or "z" appear on the base point.

Make sure you have Straight snap enabled on the bottom toolbar to make that work, it will be highlighted in orange when it is enabled.

Let me know if you need some more detailed steps on how to do that, but it should be possible to do what you show in that example there with the existing command.

- Michael

Yes good to know that Michael !
Thank you !
I am always learning and Moi 3d always keeps me amazed...
Peter