I have a newbie question: is there a way to measure things on the screen? Rhino3D has an "analyze" command which allows you to measure all kinds of things. Is there anything similar in MoI? Or are there various ways to get the same information?

Hi mickelsen,

> Or are there various ways to get the same information?

Well, one basic way to get the distance between 2 points is to draw a line, and look at the distance readout in the bottom toolbar here:



When you are in a drawing command, that control there shows the distance from the last point.


In MoI v2 there is also a new properties panel that shows information about the currently selected objects. It shows up in the upper right corner of the main window, and will tell you stuff like the radius of a selected sphere, the length of a selected line, or the bounding box dimensions around any group of selected objects:







It's also not just a display, it's actually an editor too - if you click on it you will get a dropdown that lets you edit the value like this:




There are not currently any functions in MoI for things like surface area or volume calculations though, but I do want to add those in to a future version.


- Michael

You can measure a distance with this MoI script: http://kyticka.webzdarma.cz/3d/moi/#MeasureDistance

I use that script a lot - really great.

Moi V2 seems to have some great new features.

This has been probably been asked for many times. It would also be good if there was a just a way to measure by clicking 2 points or 3 if you need to check an angle(without scripts). No dimensions , just a basic readout would be fine. When I show someone how great Moi is , it always ends with - but is does not have dimensions or DWG/DXF export.


I use Rhino most of the time, but recently used Moi V1 again for a project I am working on. I was constantly surprised how intuitive it is.

Love the product.

Hi 3dcnc,

> It would also be good if there was a just a way
> to measure by clicking 2 points

The easiest way to do this currently is to just draw a line, while you are drawing it the length of the line will be displayed in the bottom toolbar here:



That method will work without installing any extra plugins.


Also in v2 after you have drawn a line you can select it to see a readout of its length, see the previous post in this thread for some examples:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3013.2


I do plan on working on some additional analysis tools, dimensions, and a 2D DXF export in the future...

- Michael

Michael, I think he was asking about measuring an ANGLE.

Hi Nick, there is actually an angle readout in the bottom toolbar directly to the right of the distance readout. That would work if you wanted to know the angle of a particular line in the plane, with the X axis direction being angle = 0.

- Michael

"Well, one basic way to get the distance between 2 points is to draw a line, and look at the distance readout in the bottom toolbar here:"

I know this is wishing for alot at this stage of V2, but could we not have a "tape measure" button that does not draw a line but still shows a readout in the bottom of the toolbar. maybe 2 click points shows a distance . 4/3 click points shows the angle between 2 lines. It more for me as a designer to quickly check a dimension. ( I would be happy with just being able to check a distance at this stage)

Because I sometimes use files for CNC cutting, its a big gripe of mine to have additional "unwanted rogue" lines all over the place. It can cause problems for CAM software.

I know this "wish" might not make it to V2. but I struggle to see how anyone can design something for the real world, without being able to check basic measurments.

Still love the product. Thanks again.

You dont have to actually draw/commit the line. Just start the tool and read the data you want, then end the tool with the esc key or cancel button. There is a script that reads distance and coords but not angles. Look for CustomDistance on "petr's MoI page on the MoI resources page at moi3d.com. For the angles you'll just need to look at the angle field when running the script.

Michael has said that dimensions are definately in MoI's future.

I am not a programmer, but is it that difficult to just add a button. It seems all the scripts are there? right next to object snap. Even if it just says "measure" for the moment.

Am I the only one who desperatley wants this function?

Well....

Thanks Burrman

I am using Moi V1 . I was hoping that there would be a dedicated measure tool for V2. I dont really need dimensions , but checking measurments and angles is really neccesary for me.

If I understand correctly - what I need to do is use the line command - then ESC to cancel . This seems to be going against the Moi work flow.- using the keyboard. But I can use this work around for now.

I will stop bugging about this point and wait for V3.

thanks for the response.

If your on a tablet then there is the cancel button to use to quit the command also. It is only temporary while we wait for a tool to do it.

If you want a button, I could show you how to setup a button to launch the CustomDistance Measuring tool from Petr's MoI page that shows up in the sidepane. Then you could have a button that says "measure" in the tool pallette if you want.

I have a custom button that looks like this:

Hi 3dcnc,

> I know this is wishing for alot at this stage of V2, but could
> we not have a "tape measure" button that does not draw a
> line but still shows a readout in the bottom of the toolbar.

V2 is all wrapped up at this point and getting prepared for the final release, so there won't be any new things for v2 at this point.

But also what you are describing is exactly what the Line command already does - it lets you pick points and shows a readout in the bottom of the toolbar.

So what would be the benefit of this additional tool that you are talking about here if it does exactly what the Line command is doing already?

If you don't want to keep the line like Burr mentioned above, just hit Esc or press the Cancel button to bail out of the command.


> Because I sometimes use files for CNC cutting, its a big gripe of
> mine to have additional "unwanted rogue" lines all over the place.
> It can cause problems for CAM software.

Well, you have all kinds of options to avoid that - press Esc or the Cancel button before ending the command, or you can even press the Undo button afterwards if you forgot to cancel out.


> but I struggle to see how anyone can design something for the real
> world, without being able to check basic measurments.

Well, like I posted previously there is also a basic size readout that is new in v2 which shows up when you select an object:



So just look over there if you want to confirm your object's overall size.


Most of the time if someone is drawing something precise, it is best to directly enter your desired lengths and such right when you are initially drawing the object so that you are controlling the size right from the start rather than worrying about it later on.

- Michael

Hi 3dcnc,


It's not difficult technically to add a button, but it is very difficult UI design wise to add in new features that impact the UI in a major way like new buttons.

If I just add in a bunch of buttons all over the place in MoI, it will not take long before the UI is heavily overloaded with a zillion buttons all over the place and at that point it loses the streamlined and easy to use nature that is one of its major benefits currently.

In order to keep MoI having a friendly interface and maintaining the "ease of use" factor, I tend to be very conservative about adding in new buttons - I don't add them in just willy-nilly but only after carefully considering where they can be well organized for a long time.

With this function for instance, I'd like to eventually have it in some kind of "Analyze" or possibly "Dimension" palette on the side pane, but it takes a lot of thinking and design time to figure out exactly how to arrange big portions of the UI like that.

So it is actually a pretty major and complex issue, not something that I treat lightly at all.

I do expect to have a set of tools for things in this general area worked in for MoI v3.

But sorry, it takes a lot of design time to do a high quality UI, and one of the easiest ways to ruin it is to just stick in a whole bunch of stuff without careful planning.

- Michael

Hi Michael

As a designer, I do understand compromising the Moi user interface by just adding buttons.I like using Moi for its "less is more" approach.

many thanks

3dcnc

(PS. thanks Burrman for trying to show me some alternatives)