Hi Michael,

> Running custom distance in the middle of a command
> is kind of a no-go with the current setup right now
> though, since it is not just an instant running script,
> it is a full fledged command of its own and currently
> only one command can run at at time.

Can a command interrupt another command, then when finished with the second command, the first command continues, it will be for special cases of course, like Custom distance, when you want to reference measurements.

---------

Have you thought about having "construction lines" also have the custom distance incorporated some how?

Just thinking out loud.

Hi Danny, No currently there is not any support for "nesting" commands like that.

I would like to have some provision for that, but currently when a set of script runs as a "command", it is intended to be the only running thing.

This simplifies things by quite a bit since otherwise if nesting things was more of the default (which I did have at one point very early on) it can get pretty crazy, like if you start to draw a line and then before you pick the second point of the line, you click the circle button and launch the circle command but did not exit the line command, then you would pick a circle and when that finished suddenly be back picking the second point of the original line command again.

To avoid this kind of confusing situation with just any command getting nested like that, there is currently a restriction where only a single command can run at a time.

It just makes for much more predictable operation to have it work like that.

I would like to have a way for a command to optionally declare itself to be nestable though, but I don't think I will have that for v2.


It would probably be possible to restructure the distance custom command to run as an instant executed script rather than as a full fledged "command" though.


- Michael

Hi Burr, yeah it could be possible to attach some logic to examine a construction line like that.

Actually when you drag out a construction line right now, the distance between the 2 points of the construction line will actually currently be displayed in the distance label in the bottom command bar, beneath the x,y,z field.

So I suppose that is basicaly working right now actually.

- Michael

Ok, thanks for thinking about this Michael.
I'll be waiting for that amazing alternative that you're going to cook up :)

Cheers

Hi Danny, put this on a shortcut key to try:

script: /* Show length of current curve being drawn */ try { moi.ui.commandUI.setInterval( 'var crvs = moi.geometryDatabase.getObjects().getCurves(); var len = 0.0; if ( crvs.length > 0 ) { len = crvs.item(crvs.length-1).getLength(); } if ( !window["_crvdistlabel"] ) { document.body.insertAdjacentHTML( "beforeEnd", "<div id=_crvdistlabel></div>" ); } _crvdistlabel.innerText = len.toFixed(4);', 250 ); } catch(e) {}

(EDIT: updated code to remove HTML escaping)


What that will do is start a timer and continuously display the
length of the curve that you are currently drawing in the bottom
of the command options area (below the Cancel button in the
upper-right area of the main MoI window).

Because it is on a timer, it will continue to dynamically update
after you have triggered it. It will go away automatically when
the command ends.


That can be triggered for any curve command, like freeform
curve, rectangle, arc, circle, ellipse, helix, etc... for example
if you trigger it while in the circle command it will display the
perimeter of the circle there.

I think the only command it will not work fully with is Polyline, it
will unfortunately only get the length of the last line segment of
the polyline due to the way the Polyline command works (as you
draw a polyline, there are actually 2 temporary curves created
while you are drawing, so that you can snap to previous midpoints
or perpendiculars on the same polyline you are drawing). It would
take some more work to make it work right there.

Is that the kind of thing you were thinking of?

- Michael

Hi Michael. I wanted to try this and got this:



Could it be because the copy from the forum has the script seperated on lines??? I think I got it all on one line but may have deleted a needed "Space"??

I get the word "blah" in the label space.

Hi Burr, yeah possibly something not right with multiple lines.

Please give this one a try:

script: /* Show length of current curve being drawn */ try { moi.ui.commandUI.setInterval( 'var crvs = moi.geometryDatabase.getObjects().getCurves(); var len = 0.0; if ( crvs.length > 0 ) { len = crvs.item(crvs.length-1).getLength(); } if ( !window["_crvdistlabel"] ) { document.body.insertAdjacentHTML( "beforeEnd", "<div id=_crvdistlabel></div>" ); } _crvdistlabel.innerText = len.toFixed(4);', 250 ); } catch(e) {}

Depending on your web browser, you can probably double or triple-click
the above single line to get it all as a single line easily.

Does that work better?

- Michael

Thats it! Thanks. I dont understand it well enough to pick what was off.

And now, to make it a "full blown tool"....Click the label and enter a value!!!?

Hi Burr,

> And now, to make it a "full blown tool"....Click the label and enter a value!!!?

Not much hope for that one to be done dynamically while running inside of a drawing command, since it would involve trying to modify each command's inputs and they all have numbers or types of inputs.

But I guess it would be possible to make a different command that you could apply to a curve after you have created it though, to scale it to a target length.

- Michael

Hi Burr,

> Thats it! Thanks. I dont understand it well enough to pick what was off.

I see what happened with my other post now - there was a bit of HTML mixed in there, which the forum converted into text formatting. So one piece of the code that had: <div> in it was missing.

Anyway, it doesn't look like I'm going to have the new beta release notes finished up tonight, sometime tomorrow for that.

- Michael

Good luck on the release notes. Sorry to keep you up on other topics!

Having the "length" thing could handle the area of "unfolding" without the need for a toolset specific to that. This is the reason I'm interested in it. Would like to here why Danny is interested or what other benefits there are to this.

But as always, I'll grab the command if it becomes available!

Thanks again. It's all good for me.

BTW: My vote is to stay as a "one man band".

So, where is the new beta?

Michael T.

Hi Michael T.

> So, where is the new beta?

You can get it from here: http://moi3d.com/beta.htm

- Michael

Thanks Michael G., I'll have to download it when I get home!

Thanks.

Michael T.

Hi Michael,

Sorry for the late reply.

> Is that the kind of thing you were thinking of ?

That is great! curve length tracking.
The first script you posted which copies the result to the clipboard was what I was after in a round about way, I will use it.
I use it for, when modeling and I want to reference another length and paste the value in the command I'm in.
So say I'm extruding a closed curve and realise I want the relationship of the height to reference an edge length of another solid,
at the moment I have to get out of the extrude command, measure my reference edge, copy, then execute the extrude command again.

My apologies on delaying you on the release notes :S

Cheers

Hmmm, it seems that there is a regression bug in the new beta where there can be a crash in object snaps in a case where there are a bunch of different snaps stacked on top of one another.

It's not necessarily that easy to run into it, but I guess I'll take advantage of having been in "stealth release mode" for the past couple of days here, and go ahead and roll out a new version with the fix in it.

- Michael

Shhh :)

Don't tell anyone, but the new 6/23 beta should be up now...