Hi Michael,

>>What do you think?

I admit "drill-in" method for curves is somewhat less useful than for (poly)surfaces, but still useful. So solution using filter mode, you was thinking of, would match my needs. Of course, I can do without it for V1... hehe..

Petr

Hi Petr,

> Unfortunately, when separating a face/faces I would expect that only
> separated object/objects keep selected instead of all part of original object.

Yes, that makes sense, I forgot about that scenario when I tweaked it.

This should not be hard to fix up.

- Michael

Hello Michael, Hello All,

Let me start by saying that I like MOI very much. I do like to make abstract surfaces and objects for rendering. What I do need for that are the essentials options: bend and twist ( as seen in many modelling applications). Would it be possible to add this to V1? If V1 would include a good manual (currently I'm spending too much time trying to find out what things are doing) and the options bend and twist: you could absolutely count me as a new customer!

Best regards.

Hans

Hi Hans,

> bend and twist ( as seen in many modelling applications). Would it be possible to add this to V1?

No unfortunately I don't expect to be able to add these for version 1.0. It will actually be quite a while before these will be possible.

Probably the other modeling applications that you are referring to use polygon mesh surfaces. Those are a lot easier to twist and bend. MoI does not use polygon mesh surfaces, instead it uses NURBS surfaces. It is a lot more difficult to calculate twists and bends on NURBS surfaces, although NURBS surfaces do have advantages in other areas such as Boolean operations.

Here are a couple other recent posts that describe the problem in some more detail:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=523.13
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=412.103

There will be a manual though.

- Michael

Bitmap tracing, Inkscape uses an existing library for this that works quite well.

PO Trace, http://potrace.sourceforge.net/

Works very in inkscape. Tracing a simple bitmap with Moi would be killer. :)

> PO Trace, http://potrace.sourceforge.net/

Looks cool! Unfortunately I can't use the library directly because it uses the GPL license, which means it is only allowed to be directly included in other open source programs.

- Michael

I'd like to have something like a button i can push to bring up a small window where i see all the objects and curves in my scene and then i can select the objects/curves i want from there and also reverse my selection. This is useful when you have large complex objects and selecting them only based on what you see in the viewport isn't always easy, it's kinda difficult.

Also i'd like to be able to export a selected object from a large assembly if possible, i can't remember if this can be done already so that's why i write here now. If this can be done already then ignore this request.

Many thanks in advance

/ Magnus

Hi Magnus,

> I'd like to have something like a button i can push to bring up a small window
> where i see all the objects and curves in my scene and then i can select the
> objects/curves i want from there and also reverse my selection.

Yeah, this kind of object manager / object browser is probably the biggest missing thing in MoI right now. But it is going to take quite a bit of work to add a really good one, so this is something that I have planned to work on for version 2.0 of MoI, I won't be able to get this into the 1.0 version. But it is pretty much up at the top of the list for working on after version 1.0 is out.


> Also i'd like to be able to export a selected object from a large assembly if possible,

This one is possible using File / Export. Export really means "Export selected". But right now it will only export complete objects that are selected, it won't do a sub-selection currently. So if you want to export just a few faces from a solid for example, you will need to use Edit/Separate on them to break them into separate full objects, then you can export those full objects.

- Michael

Dear Michael,

A stupid question for a super beginner like me.
Will V1 have a measurement tool,
where I can get the distance in between two points, example?

Thank you,
Rudy

You can do this now, just draw a line between the two points. Pick start point and move to your endpoint. Don't click on it, just read the distance at the bottom of the screen, d nnn < nnn. By using these numbers there, you can even draw lines of specific length and angle.

Hi Rudy, as JTB mentions right now the method is to draw a line and watch that distance control in the bottom bar.

Also, Petr has made a custom command for measuring distance, which you can install to give MoI a new distance command, he has details here: http://kyticka.webzdarma.cz/3d/moi/ (look for "Measure Distance"). That might be useful.

I expect to put in a bunch of "Analyze" related commands such as distance, length, volume calculations, etc.. for the V2 version of MoI.

- Michael

Thank you
Michael,
Thank you
JBT.

Hi Michael,

I know I'm getting way ahead of what you need to do to get ready for version 1, but this discussion about measurements has gotten me thinking about bounding boxes...is there anything in MoI's coding that could scripted to make a bounding box that reports the X,Y,Z dimensions of an object? It seems it would have to come after the distance and length tools are developed.
A BB manager would give one a lot of flexibility for measuring and re-sizing objects *on the fly* from either an area or volume center, or in combination with object snaps, the option to quickly measure and scale in 1 or 2 D. If you made it part of the object properties feature that you're planning to add, scaling (and re-location) could be done by entering new numbers for X, Y & Z length and position... and a tool that relocates an object to the origin, could be an offshoot of this.

-just some ideas for the future. :-)

-Jesse

Hi Jesse, that is something that I would like to add for V2. I would like to have that as one part of an "object properties" panel that would let you see and change various properties for the currently selected object(s).

- Michael

A message for Petr,
regarding the distance between two points you posted here http://kyticka.webzdarma.cz/3d/moi/



" This script allow evaluating the distance between two points.

Unzip the file CustomDistance.zip into the \commands folder.

Go to your moi.ini and add a keyboard shortcut, for example:

[Shortcut Keys]
Alt+D=CustomDistance

Now pushing Alt+D will launch the CustomDistance command."




since I am not a computer guy, where is the commands folder?
Or anyone else?
\Sorry to bother with these stupid questions....
Rudy

Hi Rudy - the commands folder is located on your computer at:
C:\Program Files\MoI beta Mar-29-2007\commands

To add the keyboard shortcut, you will need to open the moi.ini file in notepad. To do this, first make sure that MoI is closed, then go to Start / Run and type in "notepad".

From Notepad, do File/Open and open this file:
C:\Documents and Settings\Michael\Application Data\Moi\moi.ini

This file is where MoI saves all of your options settings, it also lists all the keyboard shortcuts. Right now to activate a custom command you have to set up a keyboard shortcut. Make sure you close MoI before editing this file.

Scroll down until you find the section [Shortcut Keys], and add a line directly underneath it:

[Shortcut Keys]
Alt+D=CustomDistance

Then save the file. Now the next time when you run MoI, you can use Alt + D to activate Petr's "CustomDistance" command.

Let me know if you get stuck on any of these steps.

I am planning on making an easier way to run custom commands, I just haven't got to it yet...

- Michael

Thank you Michael
as usual.
Rudy

Dear Michael,
I got it. Nice tooling for my purposes.
Thank you and also Petr.

Have a nice weekend all

Rudy

Dear Michael,

As an hobbyist with very limited budget, I learned that the 3d navigation device Space Navigator Personal Edition from 3dconexxion is availbale for only Euro 51 (all other 3dconexxion device are much more expensive). So I did myself a favor and bought one.
Could you please add support for the 3d navigation devices in V1?

Support for 3dconexxion (alle device use the same driver) and a proper manual in V1 and price not above $200: if so I'm willing to preorder :)

Regards

Hans

Hi Hans, I do plan on working on 3dconexxion support, it will probably be one of the last things that I work on for V1.

> Support for 3dconexxion (alle device use the same driver) and a proper
> manual in V1 and price not above $200: if so I'm willing to preorder :)

Well, I think I'll have you covered. Price will be right around $200, and I will be working on a manual next month. But I'm not ready to take preorders yet... :)

- Michael