Michael,
is there a way to see the volume of a solid object in moi.
This would be very useful.
Thanks,

Hi okapi,

> is there a way to see the volume of a solid object in moi.

No, there is not currently any way to do this.

But it is on the wishlist already and I do want to add this in the future.

- Michael

Michael,
if/when you do get around to adding volume calculations, would you be able to calculate the volume of say a model with a shell thickness.
I know one could do the math on thier own, but it might be a nice addition.
For example, I am making a 4.5inch tall statue figure. the volume would be different if I say, what the whole volume, or I say what the volume of material needed if Im making this in plastic with a wall thickness of .06 inches. you know what Im saying?

Mike Fitz
www.3dartz.com

Hi Mike, yeah I understand what you are saying, but I will be limited to what the geometry library that I use supports and I'm not sure yet how well it handles mass properties with thickness applied to the faces. I seem to remember there may have not been full support for that in the geometry library.

- Michael

Netfabb Studio that Ralf-S posted here looks like it has volume measuring tools from the website, not 100% sure though, you'll have to try it.
Please let us know if it does.

Cheers

Michael,

I have a goofy question I think I know the answer to. what do you mean when you say 'geometry library'? Is this some set of compiled commands you have access to when you are programming? I presume someone developed these and sells them to programmers. Do I have it sort of right?

Hi Dave, yeah I think you have the right idea - a lot of times programs are constructed using not just using code that is completely freshly written, but also making use of some previously existing code that may be licensed from another company.

There are all kinds of libraries out there, everything from database libraries, libraries for different UI widgets, libraries for physics calculations in games, etc..., etc....

MoI makes use of one for a lot of NURBS calculations such as surface/surface intersections, fillet construction, and a bunch more. I've also written a lot of custom code in addition to the library as well, for cases where it did not quite do what I wanted it to do. But for some things like a volume calculation I would be relying more heavily on the library for that.

There is some information on the geometry library that MoI uses here: http://www.integrityware.com/solids.html

- Michael