Opps here's the example scene :

Thanks for your help :)

Hi PaQ,
Cool model, looks great!

Can't you just copy/paste a new surface in the same place, or is there something I'm missing.

Cheers

Hi PaQ, cool spaceship, looks like it is ready to slice & dice stuff up.

So for re-aligning your surface, the easiest tool for that is Transform > Orient. You'll want to place the source axis picker to be aligned to some reference points on the part you want to move, and then you'll position the second target axis picker in the same way on the target surface and that will make an alignment. So you basically need to get the axis picker snapped on to some reference points that can be repeated.

To start with, select the piece you want to move, and run Construct > Orient. Then for the base origin point, pick this point here in the corner of the surface:



So now we've got the source axis picker with the origin on the endpoint which is a repeatable target on the other surface, and the z axis direction is aligned to the surface normal there, which is another repeatable target on the other surface. But the rotation around the z axis is arbitrary, that part is not yet locked down to a known point that can be repeated on the other surface.

So the next step will be to rotate the axis picker around the z axis so that it has a known rotation around that z axis.

To do that, move your mouse over top of the x axis line:



Then hold the mouse button down and drag the x axis line while keeping the mouse down. This spins the axis around the z axis (the z axis is the primary axis having that dot on the end of it, that means that the x and y axes will spin around it when you drag them). While keeping the mouse down, drag over this endpoint here and release the button:




Now the axis is fully positioned in a way that can be repeated on the other surface.

So now you're done picking the base axis, so right-click or push the "Done" button to go to the next stage where you pick the target axis placement.

You're now going to get the target axis aligned in the same way on the other surface.

To start with go to pick the origin on the corresponding end over here:



But notice here that even though the z axis is aligned to the surface normal, it is going in the opposite direction than the first one. So you'll want to fix that - go to the option in the upper-right area of the window and toggle the option for "Flip aligned z axis":



Now go pick that origin point and the z axis will be going along the surface normal in the same direction as the first one, so now you can place it there:




Now the last step is to get the same rotation around that z axis, so this is the exact same step as previous - go to the x axis line:



Then click and hold down the mouse button and while still holding it, drag over the same endpoint as on the other part, and release:



Now the surfaces have been re-aligned, right-click or push "Done" to say you are done messing with the axis placement and end the command.


So basically to do these kinds of alignments you want to get the axis picker locked on to some particular reference points on the model that you know you can repeat on the other place.

Hope this helps!

- Michael

Oh yeah and like Danny says definitely Copy then Paste is an easier way to just duplicate something in place... :)

But anyway the above should show you how you can use the Orient command to exactly position things as well.

Basically the Orient command combines both moving + rotation together in one command and lets you define the rotation by dragging the axis lines over some reference points.

- Michael

Hello there,

Thanks Michael for the full illustration, I was actually using the right tool (orient), but I miss the last step.

For some convenience I was detailing a part of the model in a new MoI session, where I did a lot of rotation, so at the end I had to realign the part using some surface I didn't change as reference.

(I should use the CPlane more often :)).

Anyway, thanks for the help !!!

Btw, I'm not sure if it will make any sence, but I'm wondering if a command like this would be possible to have in MoI.
Some sort of inverse blend, well ... I'm not sure about the name :



It will help to create some sort if knife profile




I'm just thinking about it because I have to create this kind of profile a lot in my current project, not sure if it will make sence to poluate the blend option menu with this probably 'strange' function.

Not automatic but maybe useful ;)
3 segments at the start
And kill of course the "third segment" at the end :)

I was experimenting with Paq's inverse suggestion, and was fooling around with using the frame widget to just "Flatten" the blends points, to get his result.. My question is, can the scripting access the points available in this was??

So I used "arc-continue" to create this point structure, and just want to select and flatten the inner points:



This would also work for the blend tool if you didnt want the hard edge for the blade, and required the continuous surface, though using it with blend, you get those "Stacked points" that may not be a good thing...

Well thanks for the suggestions guys,

I didn't think about the arc continue tool to create the shape (to much poly modeling lately), it works pretty well in fact, with or without the flatten point step.

I think I will use this method to sharpen the spaceship surfaces end.

 

... lovely forum :)

else you can easily inverse the Blend curve (must be half cut up/down)
by two frame box mirror movements ;)

Hi PaQ - re: inverse blend - there is actually such a thing as an inverse blend which you can get by entering in a negative value for the bulge amount.

See here for an example:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3628.47

But it looks like you don't actually want a completely inverted Blend, you want a kind of slightly tweaked in "just a certain way" kind of a blend... :)


> not sure if it will make sence to poluate the blend option menu with this probably 'strange' function.

Yeah, it's sort of difficult to add in options that are so specific to just one particular project like this - if I did things that way pretty soon there would be a huge list of things under every command and huge lists of things make things more complicated to use.

It's more feasible to make a plug-in to help with this kind of thing instead, since a plug-in does not then complicate the regular UI.

But to make a plug-in, the behavior has to be pretty well specified, in order to automate things there has to be an algorithm or well defined sequence of rules to follow that can then be coded up. Also sometimes I may need to add in additional hooks for scripts to access in order to enable some kinds of things, this could probably be like that.

- Michael

Hi Burr,

> My question is, can the scripting access the points available in this was??

Currently the control points are not accessible to scripting, that's something that I'll have to add in for v3.

But one other thing that is scriptable currently is the bounding box size around the current selection, which includes selected points like that.

I'm talking about this thing here:



When you click on that line you get the size editor that lets you adjust the size of the selected objects, that also works on control points:



That bounding size editor stuff can be scripted, so I think it could be possible to do something like set up a shortcut key that shrinks the selected control points towards the center of the box around them by a certain factor or something like that, it will take some experimentation to set that up, let me know if you would use something like that.

- Michael

Hi Michael.
I wouldnt need anything cooked up. I would just do the edit frame crunch. Was just looking at Paq's request there, and trying to brainstorm... With the models I've seen him do, I see the "Knife tool" being something he would use a few hundred times per model, so was just pointing out that those "center control points flattened" was what he was looking at... Probably the V3 solution will provide access to make a script that will do the KnifeTool... Anyway, thanks for the response.

Still few surfaces to rebuild/design, but it's mostly there =)

What a mosquito! :)

Some final shot :








Thanks MoI :)

Wicked!

Another cool one PaQ - looks like something that you do not want to have chasing you!

- Michael

Chikungunya :)

Very cool indeed PaQ !

Cheers