Hi eric, I still do not have (and may never have) a detailed plan for exactly what will be in v3 and what won't be.

So I don't really know the exact answer to your question for whether dimensions and line types will be in v3 or whether they will come later than that.

They are definitely on my radar, but I don't yet know how much work will be involved to make them happen.


Also one other factor that plays into this particular area is that there are quite a lot of low cost and even free 2D drafting programs available out there.

That enters into the overall cost/benefit type analysis, because if for example I spent a bunch of time making a highly refined 2D drafting/production drawing toolset to add into MoI, the end result would certainly be nice but it would not exactly provide you with a breakthrough that enabled you to do things that you couldn't do before. But if I took the same time and instead applied it to various kinds of 3D modeling tools, those could actually provide you with some kinds of tools to do things that you could not do before...

- Michael

Hi Michael ...

I do understand, of course, though it is somewhat inconvenient to switch back and forth between programs for modeling and drafting. The same applies to rendering. It is very convenient to be able to use a rendering program as a plug-in within the program.

So, I don't use MoI for my primary tool as much as I would like. It is my favorite modeler.

I even gave Sketchup another try as with 'layout' it is now possible to create a set of working drawings within it. However, I still find Sketchup awkward and not very intuitive from my particular viewpoint. I know that users are very subjective but Sketchup and I have never been very comfortable with each other.

I agree that there are some quite good, low cost, drafting programs out there and realize your reluctance to reinvent the wheel.

cheers,
eric

Yes, I get the notion of other packages currently offer 2D drafting for a low price.

My experience is thought it is very cumbersome to get models between software packages, takes a lot of time... and different GUI you need to learn, or get up to speed if you haven't touched the software for some time.

Other softwares also offer nurbs modeling, albeit not on the same class and ease of use as Moi.

That is why i don't want just another drafting software, I want it to have Moi qualities... Already the 2d work in Moi is class, beautiful and elegant workflow, I just enjoy making 2D artwork in Moi, before exporting to AI for coloring and printing.

That is why I have high hopes for some 2D drafting in Moi, Because I know if it is done by you Michael, it will be done right!

Hi eric & olio, I definitely understand that it is inconvenient and can be cumbersome to switch to another program to do the 2D drafting stuff, that's why it is on my target list of things that I want to add into MoI.

But there is a pretty big difference between that kind of problem and a "just can't get it done" kind of problem, and that comes into play when scheduling it.


I think one of the initial steps in this area will actually be to improve the 2D export from MoI, to be able to generate a hidden-line 2D drawing to DXF format, that would be a big step to making drafting data transfer work more smoothly.


Then after that other things directly in MoI will come in over time, but they will probably start out pretty basic and simple though and I'm not sure if something simple will meet your drafting needs or not, like do you need highly detailed control over the spacing of the arrowheads in your dimension lines and things like that?

- Michael

Speaking for me personally, needing high precision control over details like that (spacing of the arrowheads) is not necessary for me. A simple clean default style would do nicely. Perhaps keep the arrows and lines highly editable somehow, so you could tweak appearance in AI or something like that if you need. But getting the basics down in MoI would be terrific and i believe that would fit and be perfectly suitable for most of us MoI users.

Thanks for keeping this in mind Michael.

Hi Michael ...

Ideally the dimension text would be selectable for style and size and it would be good if the arrowheads were able to be sized by the user.

I know this is not going to happen rapidly but one of these days soon I will send you a list of the things I would like to see when dimensioning does become available in MoI.

I will check out a free program called DraftSight that reads and produces .dwg files when I am not so busy ... a quick look at it seems pretty good.

Thanks for all the listening you do with your users ... I do understand the time constraints ... I have a one person design office (by choice) and there are times when I hardly have time for anything else and still can't keep up.

Our greenhouse tomatoes are getting out of hand so yesterday I simply had to stop for awhile to build a bamboo trellis to tie them up to. It was great getting away from the computer for a couple of hours.

cheers
eric