Hi all...

Ive been wondering if there is a script or something that can move things progressively. For example, some times i model terrains in MoI whit this workflow: I take the plans from a dwg file, convert it to pdf and then import it to MoI. Then, in MoI I move each contour to its corresponding Z position, but when there are dozens of contours it becomes annoying. I wish there was some way to make it automatically, like selecting the contours in the order I want to position and then running a script that moves it incrementally by a desire length.

Thats one thing. The other question is if there is any way select only the edges or faces of various objects with nothing preselected.

Thanx!

Hi Ed,

> Ive been wondering if there is a script or something
> that can move things progressively.

Check out these posts, the first one has a bit of a description on a manual process for moving slices, and the second one has a script that can help to automate that:

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2749.33
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2749.36

That may possibly apply to what you are doing as well.


> The other question is if there is any way select only the
> edges or faces of various objects with nothing preselected.

Not with the mouse - for selecting a sub-object with the mouse you need to first select the full object before it will do the "drill down" for selecting sub-objects on the second click.

You can select edges or faces using the Scene browser though - for example to select all edges go to the Scene browser "Types" section and click on the text label for the entry labeled "Edges" there. Also if you find yourself wanting to select the same set of edges or faces over and over again, assign them a name and then an entry will show up in the Objects section in the scene browser for them and you can select them by clicking on their name in that spot.

- Michael

Thanks Michael, the reason i wanted to select some faces of various different objects was because some times i "cut" models with the boolean difference tool and then i apply a different style to the faces created by the cut i made. But you gave me an idea, and its to select all the faces and then ctrl deselect the faces I dont want!

Thanks again, ill read the other posts too.

Ive seen the plug in, its brilliant! Thanks for that too!

Hi Ed, re: Booleans and styles - you can also apply the style to the cutting object before doing the Boolean. The pieces that descend from the cutting object in the result will inherit that one's style.

For example if you set up styles on a box and a sphere like this:



Then if you do a boolean difference and use the sphere as a cutting object, the result will look like this:




> But you gave me an idea, and its to select all the faces
> and then ctrl deselect the faces I dont want!

You can do that (you don't need to actually hold down ctrl unless you're doing a window area type selection), or also initially select the faces you don't want and then use the Invert selection command to flip the selection to the other faces inside that same object.

There's a button for that under the Select tab on the side pane, or also it's pretty handy to set on a keyboard shortcut so you can push the I key to invert the selection. To do that go to Options > Shortcut keys, and add in a new entry. For the key part put in I (or whatever you want to trigger it), and for the command part paste in the following: script:moi.geometryDatabase.invertSelection();

If you have sub-objects selected, then the invert command will only flip selection to the other sub-objects within that same parent object and won't change selection on other separate objects.

- Michael

Wow! Is there something MoI can not do?? hahaha...

I usually made the cuts with a line, but now ill be cutting it with a plane with a different style! Thanks again!