A few requests that may or may not have been discussed before so sorry if they have been already.

1. Currently im working with a pdf for my blueprints which is great as i can directly use the lines in the pdf - however to use the lines for profiles etc I need to individually click each line and then join them. This process is getting quite tedious and I was thinking it would be made much easier with an option to auto select all connected lines (connected to the first line selected). This for me would be a real time and sanity saver!!

2. On the odd occasion the architect who has drawn the original drawing im working from has not quite joined up the endpoints of a shape and moi rightly shows this as a curve not a closed curve which means that extruded shapes don't cap. This is fine until you try and hunt down exactly where the hole is along a large and intricate shape - again can drive you mad! Moi must know where this hole is for it to know it's not a closed curve so can there be an option to auto close the curve as it will only be a small line needed conecting the end points and so not really changing the shape of the profile as it can harly be seen by the naked eye.

3. I find the 'though points' option the easiest to use when drawing curves as specify exactly where the line will pass through so it makes it easier to match backround curves. But as soon as the curve is created it looses this function and reverts to a standard control points curve. So when i turn on points the points are no longer on the curve but floating away from it which makes it harder to be precise when adjusting the curve. Is there a way to preserve the control points on the line?

That's it for now!! Sorry for the bombardment as i know you'll be busy with the iminent release of the next beta and hopefully these are already in it!!;-) but if not then hopefully sometime in the near future!

Cheers
Rob

Hi Rob,

re: #1
> however to use the lines for profiles etc I need to individually
> click each line and then join them.

Is there a particular reason why you need to individually click each one rather than doing a window select of many things in one go?

If your drawing is formed well (like not having duplicated or multiple branching things in it), you should be able to just do a window select, or even just a select all and then do a join on all that at once...

If that doesn't work for you maybe you could show me what situation you have with an example model.


re: #2 - I definitely would like to include some tools in the future to help analyze things which would help with this kind of a thing, like make some kind of visible point at the start or end of a curve so you could more quickly see where the gap is. I'm not quite sure yet when that will happen though.

> as it will only be a small line needed conecting the end points
> and so not really changing the shape of the profile as it can
> harly be seen by the naked eye.

Unfortunately this kind of modification can be somewhat problematic, as it would then introduce a tiny slivered surface in the side wall of your extruded shape, which is not always good to have...

Often in a situation like that it is better to move the control points together so that they touch one another but without introducing a tiny micro segment. But in general it is a somewhat finicky thing to make things automatically morph your objects around, it can tend to be easy for things like that to also make modifications that you might not want as well. So I tend to be a bit on the conservative side on this right now and things currently lean towards avoiding modifications. Over time I will probably be able to tune this up kind of gradually.

re: #3 -
> Is there a way to preserve the control points on the line?

No, not currently - that is something that I hope to be able to do in the future through a kind of history editing.

But you may try the "drag point on curve" mode to help with a similar kind of editing. This is a special mode that is available when you have control points turned on, it lets you grab a point directly on the curve and drag it to a new location. It is kind of like a temporary single "through point" drag. There are some more details on it here:

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=744.16

- Michael

Thanks Michael.

>Is there a particular reason why you need to individually click each one rather than doing a window select of many things in one go?

Unfortunately i don't have that particular file with me at the moment but if you can imagine a curvy profile roof with curved windows in the gable etc. window selecting isn't really practical as it is an irregular shape and will cross/encompass unwanted lines. Also it's not just one stand alone profile it's located amongst a whole building elevation (lots of lines) so selecting all isn't an option either. It's probably going to be a major part of an arch vizzers workflow (select pre-drawn lines > loft/extrude etc) so if it is at all possible to create a select adjoining lines command then im sure it would make moi a real winner with those working from predrawn path plans etc.

>I definitely would like to include some tools in the future to help analyze things which would help with this kind of a thing, like make some kind of visible point at the start or end of a curve so you could more quickly see where the gap is.

That would do it forget the auto close then if it's going to cause problems (and i can see why). C4D runs a gradient around a spline so it starts off say dark blue and ends up light blue which works well when your needing to find the end but I guess you wouldn't even need that with mois nice large point markers just make the end ones purple for example so we can as you say just snap them together ourselves.

re#3
I tried your method and i can kind of see how it would work however it's a fair bit away from adjusting the initial input points to reshape. It maybe best for now to just trim that section and start again with the through points method and then rejoin. Looking forward to your history function progress (especially if it's going to work with sweep profiles too).

Thanks again as always
Rob

Hi Michael,

>>
re: #3 -
> Is there a way to preserve the control points on the line?

No, not currently - that is something that I hope to be able to do in the future through a kind of history editing.
<<

I wanted to ask you about this feature after the next beta.
It will be most usefull with Network,so that the curves always intersect.

Hi Paolo,

> I wanted to ask you about this feature after
> the next beta.
> It will be most usefull with Network,so that the
> curves always intersect.

Yes, it should be useful for that case.

But it is going to take quite a bit of work to make the improved history function, I do not expect to have it in version 2, that is something that I hopefully will be able to make progress on in version 3.

- Michael