^Ugh, why do I get the strange feeling my internals look like that?? :-P

Yes, I think where I go off track with MOI and my wishes is when I look for >interactive GUI< based tools more than simple command oriented functions.

I saw all of those buttons for the LWCAD functions but I certainly wasn't looking for all of that - just simply the click-click placement of segments and how the pipe would bend automatically etc., adjusting the corner radius would have been icing...

I already expect to do that kind of work using LWCAD after I upgrade to v3 (gotta have some justification for keeping Lightwave installed) but of course staying in MOI would have been ideal...

-Will

Hi Will. Rhino has a "pipe" command which allows you to input many different radii anywhere along the curve. But i find it's rarely of much advantage over the sweep command. In most cases, Sweep is more useful because the inputs are reusable and you can set them up more accurately with reference to other geometry. Having a pipe command is only useful for doing simple things...

PS - Sorry for mentioning the "R" word !!! :)

jonah

Hi Will, the problem is that it is kind of tough to have a combined function like that without also having all those parameters come along with it.

I mean for example with the corner radius, there isn't really one single corner radius that could be considered the "proper" one for any given pipe, so that makes it pretty tough to just fix it at one certain value only. It would need to be adjustable.

Unless there is a natural "best" value for something like that, it kind of means that all those parameters have to be in there...

- Michael

Yeah, I really produced a Colon looking thing huh? Ha! But it could havre just as easily been the dimensions you pick.

ALL the MoI Gui tools ARE just commands. Michael has given us the ability to adjust this at will.

I use the plugin gallery and have GUI at one button:





Could make as many buttons for multiple "Commands" as I want to stuff in there!

Really what your asking is to have Petr's Quickcircle script integrate with the freeform scripts click then do an auto sweep at the end!

I wonder if Peter has an inklin to figure out if he can combine these in that way?

Start freeform tool... At point select, pause and wait for quickcircle, quickcircle size and select....resume...At completion, sweep quickcricles with freeform!

I suppose it's easier said than done, eh Petr? :)

Hi, yeah, I rather wait till Michael puts in a kind of an official way to modify or rearrange the GUI (if ever) - as it is now, I've lost scripts that I was using due to updates and moving to the V2 beta etc.

Laziness on my part for sure, but hunting down and keeping track of a bunch of scripts and modifying HTML files for me right now is just not my focus.

-Will

Understandable Will. I have a small setup here that jumps around between a few computers and os's so I feel your pain. to manage this through say 5 installs of moi and the beta changes, I created a folder with the structure duped in it. to update all my MoI's is just a copy all contents. If you try to do it from the moi folder you will never be able to remember all the files. AND, surely I cant do this between Beta's so when the next Beta comes out, it would take a bit more time to have everything I've now gotten used to! Have I hurt myself by trying to get to much too soon!!!? (Story of my life) Ha!

But for sure, If you can wait till it's all over then you have saved yourself the headache! When the dust clears, it will be free, smooth and fun design!

Burr

Thanks, when I get some time I'll try your method with the folder.

Being that script and command key assignments are so important to MOI, it'll be nice when Michael puts in an official way to carry forth these settings (and maybe even GUI customization as well)...

-Will

If you mean that you assign "Q" to "Quick circle" as a short cut, thats jsut one file called moi.ini (I know you knew) So thats one of my extra steps is I keep a text doc in this folder with just the "key assignments" that way when a new beta comes out, I dont have to worry about a different ini file format being ruined by a straight overwrite, I just copy and paste the "add-in" commands only. So my text file looks like this:

Shift+S=SineWave
Ctrl+P=ConstraintPolyline
Ctrl+Q=QuickCircle
Alt+C=CSec
Alt+D=CustomDistance
Alt+G=SpurGearProfile
Alt+R=RingCircle
Alt+P=Pipe2
Alt+T=SelectByType
Alt+S=ScaleArray
Ctrl+A=script:moi.geometryDatabase.selectAll();
Ctrl+Alt+P=script:var img = moi.view.screenshot( 'viewpanel', false ); var name = img.getSaveFileName(); if ( name != '' ) img.save( name );
Ctrl+Alt+S=script:moi.geometryDatabase.getObjects().getSolids().setProperty( 'selected', true );

Easy to just paste this into any ini file for instant custom short assign.

Surely having this integrated will be nice and after the beta and development there will be no issue with changing ini files so a simple 1 file save or move will be easy and probably integrated somehow.

Thanks for indulging!
Burr