Hi Rabbit, well one of the main things that MoI was originally set up to do was to perform tasks without requiring you to touch the keyboard.

This is an example of that - for example in Rhino you are not able to do this without touching a key, so for cases where there is no keyboard handy like on a tablet PC that is a problem.

Another thing I've generally tried to avoid with MoI is to force people to remember a whole lot of key combinations in order to make things happen - this is a case where that kind of notion applies, since you get that pop up menu that has words on it for you to read, instead of having to think "oh yeah, which key was it that does this particular task, was it Ctrl+Alt+Shift, or was it just LeftAlt+Ctrl?" or stuff like that.

Anyway, that may help to explain some of the reasoning.


Creating a construction line is not really what I would call "very difficult", all you do is hold down and drag the mouse instead of clicking it. You don't have to go push any button or hit any key to start making a construction line, just drag.


Maybe instead of using the construction line projection, an easier approach is to just drag out a horizontal construction line in one of the 2D side views, then there will be an "int" snap available for you to use, without popping up any kind of menu at all.

For the kind of vertical copying that you are describing, that would probably be the easiest way to do it.


Here's an example, say you have this rectangle and you want to move it vertically to the level of the top of the disk which is at a different z level:




Switch to the Front view, run the Transform > Move command, pick the base point snapped on to the rectangle, then move to the disk and drag out a horizontal construction line and pick the int snap as the target location, like this:




I do have some general ideas about adding in some kind of "elevation editing" type tool in the future, maybe as part of an extended object properties dialog.

- Michael

EDIT: This is other approach is the same thing that vodkamartini described above, I just did not see his post while I was writing this.

Click and move pressed then release again and again ...before first click function, after first click function, before last click function is the karma of the "helpers lines" :)

Hi rabbit, also did you originally post another question about copy/paste between MoI and Rhino v5?

Do you still have some problems with that, or did you edit that from your post because it is working ok for you?

I would think that if Rhino v5 can do copy/paste back and forth between Rhino v4, that it should also work with MoI as well.

- Michael

Thanks everyone - yeah, I hadn't got that dragging construction lines thing, though it is easier in a front or side view than in a perspective, and Michael I do understand about you wanting to make everything work without the keyboard...


re copy/paste - yes, I edited that because it is working fine back and forth to V5 - I recall it not being so before, but I think that is because there is a rhino V5 option that needs to be enabled to allow copy/paste to V4..

cheers
rabbit

Hi rabbit, also in MoI v3 it should not be difficult for me to add in an option so you could set up a shortcut key for a direction lock by keystroke. That would probably be useful for doing something like this in the 3D view.

re: Copy / Paste - also what you may have run into there is that if you want to copy from MoI to Rhino you need to keep MoI running while you are doing the paste into Rhino.

It won't work if you do something like copy, then shut down MoI, then go to Rhino and try to paste it in.

That's to save some memory - MoI "advertises" that it can create a Rhino file on the clipboard if some other program wants to use it. Then if some other program does want to use it, MoI needs to be running so it can respond to the windows clipboard saying "ok now put the data into the clipboard in that format you had advertised".

- Michael

cheers Michael

Yeah - so far I always use a keyboard with my programs, so there is always one hand free to use it, and, as long as all the cad / 3D programs i use can have shortcut keys set to be the same, it is easy to flip back and forth between them ...so, yes, an option to lock to direction via a key would be great.

can i just say here, since it as good a place as any, that your work on rhino way back in the first wips before V1 was released, which is when i discovered it, really changed my life insofar as 3D / CAD work goes. Previous to rhino I had used a stack of stuff on the Amiga platform, and finally 3D Studio release 2, which I did manage to get some good work out of; but rhino was a total revelation - its interface was so clear, its navigation so intuitive, and the ease with which one could create things (accurately) was stunning.

It is still a great program, and I really appreciate now all the 2D, dimensioning etc in it, because I can stay in one program for almost everything I do.. As for MOI, i just think of it as a super plug-in to rhino - often if something won't work there, it will work in MOI, and if it doesn't work in MOI, then something needs changing. I love that the view commands / orbit etc are the same, and that the one can cut and paste between them...thanks so much for your work, back then, and now...

best

rabbit

Thanks rabbit, I'm glad that Rhino was useful to you way back then and still now! :)

Those early days before Rhino v1 were pretty crazy for me.

- Michael