Hi Pilou, I have updated the SKP export for the next v2 beta to also write the current decimal (or fractional) display precision to the file so that part should work like you expected in the next version I think.


> I must return in each y and Z for input decimal!
> Is that normal??? beta 21 nov 2008

I'm not sure if I completely follow what you are mentioning there.

One thing is you should press Enter or Tab after typing in a number to commit it, is it possible that you are leaving out that step?

Also if you have "Maintain proportions" checked, then when you alter one value, the others will also change to maintain a uniform scale. If you want to edit each dimension to an individual specific value, you will need to uncheck "Maintain proportions" to do that.

Was that what you were running into? If not then I probably need some more information on the steps that you are doing.


Also the decimal place display under Options / General is actually not used for the size display. That's because it needs to fit 3 values on a single line, and larger numbers like "1250.23 x 5321.23 x 5312.52 cm" will not fit in the available space.

So if the number is larger than 100, it will not display any decimals for that in the top quick display, if the number is between 0.01 and 100.0 it will use 2 decimal places, and if it is smaller than 0.01 it will use 4 decimal places - this is regardless of the setting in Options / General.

That helps to give a balance between readability and being able to fit within a limited size.

When you open up the menu panel, there is more space available there for each value so it will switch to use 4 decimal places in that case to give more accuracy.


Also the "quick" size at the top level is more of an approximation which gets its values from the display mesh. When you open up the full panel it does a more accurate (and also somewhat more time-consuming) analytic calculation and shows the higher accuracy data there for editing.

- Michael

That was that! the Tab key!
I had enter number with just click the mouse inside case!
So now all is fine except that in Sketchup it's write
32.2400 cm
16.1200 cm
8.0600 cm
so not a very big problem ;)

Hi Pilou - use Tab if you want to also enter a value for the next field, as it will commit the current value and then also move keyboard focus to the next field so you are ready to type in something there as well.

If you only want to commit a single value, then push Enter.


> So now all is fine except that in Sketchup it's write
> 32.2400 cm

I've got that part fixed up for the next beta.

- Michael

< currently MoI does not export the number of decimal point display precision to the SKP file, do you think that it should?
Seems you will obtain perfection in the next beta ;)

Using Tab for valid was not so evident / against Click mouse :)

Hi Pilou,

> Using Tab for valid was not so evident / against Click mouse :)
> TAb = left hand, mouse click on case = right hand

Normally Enter is the common way to do such things, which should work here as well.

But Tab can also be used for the same as Enter plus moving focus to the next field.

- Michael

Tab = left hand, mouse click on case = right hand
(I enter my number on the numeric keyboard with my left hand when i had the mouse in right hand ;)
So Tab was not under my hand :)
This explain that ! No thinking of the Tab key!

Hi Pilou, does your numeric keyboard have an "Enter" key?

You should be able to use that one as well.

If your hand is on the number pad part of the keyboard, there should normally be an "Enter" key right near your hand as well. That one may be easier to think of to hit than Tab.

- Michael

yes it has :)
but that is ending the current inside (and not the all if I move the click mouse on the 3 changes x,y,z)
the cyclic Tab is the only great key (or future mouse click if this one can be possible :) (if not, that is not a big problem)

Another thing : what about pen Graphic's users when they want modify the x,y,z object ?
I don't find the Numeric panel?

Hi Pilou,

> I don't find the Numeric panel?

Yeah, in this case I decided to experiment with a type-in only control for this particular piece of UI.

It just seemed a little strange having the pop-up panel come up in this case, partly because it is a already a small panel and having a pop-up on top of another pop-up is slightly odd.

If I hear a lot of feedback from users that they really need to use this particular thing without a keyboard I'll try to figure out some way to enable it in the future.

- Michael

If the future is like this you will be obliged! :)
And that will be that!

Hi Pilou,

> If the future is like this you will be obliged! :)
> And that will be that!

No, not necessarily.... A device like that will also need a kind of on-screen "virtual keyboard" for general purpose typing tasks.

For example I don't expect for MoI to try and pop up a complete alphabet keyboard of its own to enable typing in a file name, that is something better suited to the OS supplied virtual keyboard.

Similarly, in certain areas where I'm kind of expecting that a larger number of digits may be typed in, it may possibly be better overall to rely on the OS virtual keyboard for those particular areas.

It is bad to need to pop it up for very frequently used things, but for things that are less frequently used and at the same time more typing intensive, then that is a good fit probably.

- Michael

So wait & see :)