Modifiers "Twist, bend..."...but I don't know if it's realy possible for Nurbs volumes?

An "Helix" primitive :)

Michael, you rock!
This program is progressing fantastic!
Thanks
Ken

Some option on sweep to preserve the orientation of the curve relative to the global coordinates as it is swept down the rail?

I thought "Flat" did this, but it doesn't seem to do it, the curve always wiggles as it's extruded, especially if the rail has any sharp kinks.

I mean something like this:



Think of it as a top down view.

Hi Crusoe - "flat" still allows for rotations, but only rotations around the world z axis, so it pivots in a more controlled manner (no upwards or downwards changes in slope, hence 'flat' ).

If you want no rotation at all, then you can use Construct/Extrude for that, with the Set Path option - that should do what you are requesting here.

- Michael

One quick note on Extrude with Set Path - it seems that there is a bug where it won't work right if you have a path with a kink in it with, if you have "Cap ends" also turned on.

I should be able to fix this for the next beta but for now make sure that Cap ends is turned off before you pick "Set path" if you have a path with a kink in it, then you can select the object and do Construct/Planar to put on caps after that.

- Michael

Hmm, so how are sweep/extrude different then? I mean, what's purpose for having 2 seperate ones?

I guess it's partly tradition, the non-rotating type of "sweep" has been grouped under extrude in NURBS modelers before.

It fits somewhat because without any rotation you are much more limited in the path shape that you can use, you kind of have to use one that goes fairly straight, you can't make a good surface with a circle path for instance, because the shape will fold over on itself.

So in that sense it is kind of like a guided extrude, since simple extrude is straight.

Also calculation-wise it is quite different from sweep - there are some special properties to the extrude with set path. It preserves the control point structure of the path curve in the resulting surface, while sweep goes through a fitting process which is a little different.

So another use for Extrude with Set Path is if you want a straight extrusion, but with say 4 control points along it - you can draw a curve in a straight line using 4 points and use that as your path and get an extrusion with 4 points in it. People have requested being able to set the number of points along the extrusion, and set path allows for that, so that is another reason it is under there...

- Michael

New wishlist item :

Automatic solidification of objects when trimming (or an option to do so).
See the attached image. I know that there is a way to close the cylinder or the box but what about the sphere?
The only way to do what I want is to use a solid and boolean->diff but this way you loose a small part of the object.

Hi JTB - I do want to add this, but I also wanted to let you know that there is currently another way to do this other than booleans.

What you can do is extrude your curve into a surface (use "both sides" option), then do a "mutual trim".

This is where you select the 2 objects, then do a trim and at the point where it asks you to select cutting objects, just push "Done" there. This signals that those objects are both being cut and acting as a cutter as well.

This will leave you with the pieces, and you can then join those pieces back into solids.

Let me know if you need more info on this.

- Michael

Thanks Michael, I can use this for now...

Regarding Crusoes' post.
that could certainly be a nice option to have - This would be usefull for those such as you looking sculpting further via displacement.

However the OBJ exporter works great as is in my opinion for most other uses, precisely because creates ( as far as I have played with it til now) nice clean Ngons.

>> What you can do is extrude your curve into a surface (use "both sides" option), then do a "mutual trim".
This is where you select the 2 objects, then do a trim and at the point where it asks you to select cutting objects, just push "Done" there. This signals that those objects are both being cut and acting as a cutter as well.
This will leave you with the pieces, and you can then join those pieces back into solids.

Hey !
Added to my "bag of tricks". I had to experiment a bit to understand what you were saying but after that, the only question was why I could not imagine such an easy and obvious solution earlier by myself ! ;-))

And that's something I like in software like MoI. As a lot of actions can not be done automatically by thousand of dedicated tools, to compensate you really have to figure out how to solve the modeling problems with a more "basic" set of tools. That's part of the fun and of the creative process (as long as you're not working on a deadline). Reminds me Blender some years ago or even Bryce where some really creative guys used terrains (yes, terrains !) to create trees and simulate foliage long before there was a "tree tool"...

Ha ! The Bryce Forum Gallery by http://www.watchfuleye.com/ And Bruce MacLeod
But seems dispeared :(

Refound this by the "Wayback machine" :)
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.watchfuleye.com/

I would love to see a closed Loft feature added.
It's not too much trouble now as I can make a plane, trim and mirror, but closed loft would be nice in one mouseclick.

Regards,
Ken

re: closed loft

Hi Ken, I do intend to get to this pretty soon.

- Michael

i think my biggest wish for the release would be a Layer system.
I know this has been already discussed, and has been mentioned as something that will be added at a later date.

I would really urge you to add it for the release, even if it is a fairly simpled layer system.
A more elaborate system could be developed at a later date.
Ideally it would need to understand layers from 3dm files.

Otherwise it makes, for me at least, 'communicating' with Rhino files difficult,
as well as modelling ( or rather managing) anything remotely complex.

To okapi:

As Michael has already said, it hasn't been decided yet the exact way of grouping and organizing objects so maybe there will not be a clear layering system.
AutoCAD has only layers, Revit has no layers, just categories,names and groups, Max has layers, names, groups, named sets... so you can understand that there is not only one way. Layers is the classic way, but I am not sure it is the best too.
Be patient...
Creating a layer system is much work to do for Michael so at least it has to be the final decision.
I am not sure that layers are the best solution for MoI. Maybe this should be a new poll for Moi users...

As I build more complex models, the clutter from not having a layer system is getting difficult to manage, even with hide-show.

At the very least, it would be nice if there was a key I could press so when I click, I could select surfaces, or points, or lines only. Right now, I click, and sometimes it selects a surface, or a line, or a point, depending on how zoomed in I am, and where I am clicking on the scene. Then I have to redo my camera angle, and try clicking again so I select the surface w/o hitting any curves behind it.

So, if laters are a ways off, can we get some modifier keys like silo? Where holding down a key, or at least clicking it puts us into "Select points Only", "Select Curves only" and "Select Surfaces" only mode.

In silo, these are "ASD" on the keyboard, and it works very well.

Pretty please?

So, what you are asking for is a selection filter. Very nice idea, I think filtering objects is always useful.

Hey! This is the 100th post of the thread!