So a circular selection right to left touching or left to right strict similar rectangle selection existing ;)

Hi Pilou, well probably a circular selection would be done with the first point at the center, not quite corner-to-corner like the regular rectangular selection.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

> so one thing I have to decide is whether filtering
> should only limit selections to the filtered items or
> whether it should limit both selection and deselection actions.

I'd always expect both selection and deselection, that's because all the other CAD programs I've used throughout my career work this way, the only difference between these and MoI is that the other programs use a modifier key with the mouse click to deselect.

-

Yes :)
point the center then go to the Left = all touching the circular surface is selected
point the center then go to the Right = all inside the circular surface is selected

A circular 3D Selection? So a sphere selection ;)
Same above 2D Selection : just second click is Z Left/ Right selection

Hi Pilou,

> point the center then go to the Left = all touching the circular surface is selected
> point the center then go to the Right = all inside the circular surface is selected

Unfortunately this leaves the starting at the center and going straight up or down as indeterminate... That's kind of different with a rectangular selection since a corner-to-corner rectangle straight up or down is a degenerate flat line, but that's not the case with a circle.

So I'm not so sure that the same left/right mechanism fits quite as well with a circle from center point.... Maybe.

- Michael

The circle could be a corner to corner also.. And a modifier key would constrain a perfect circle.. So "elliptical" selection also!!

< So I'm not so sure that the same left/right mechanism fits quite as well with a circle from center point.... Maybe
Why not : )
Seems a click center point + second click give all possibilities: circular surfaces or Spheres :)

I was thinking

Select center point
drag for diameter
click
arrows bracket the circle line inside and out
click inner to select inside circle, click outer to select outside

the circle would affect anything inside or touching....or outside and touching if an outside selection is needed

The filter sounds great, looking forward to try it!

In some situations locking the solids only will be nice to prevent accidental sub-object selection.

Marc

Hi Grendel,

> arrows bracket the circle line inside and out
> click inner to select inside circle, click outer to select outside
>
> the circle would affect anything inside or touching....or outside
> and touching if an outside selection is needed

The problem with that, is that extra inside/outside step would be really inconsistent with how other selection tools works.

Like for example if you do a rectangular selection right now, there isn't any extra stage to do that kind of inside/outside step - instead the way you do that with the rectangular selection is to first do a "select all" and then do a rectangular selection but hold down the ctrl key which makes it do a deselection of the things captured by it, that produces a rectangular hole in the selection.

It's good if other kinds of selection tools would work in a more consistent manner to the existing ones, rather than having a really different kind of flow to them like the arrow bracket inside/outside step like you've described here...

- Michael

I love these threads where Michael is explaining his rational for features, specifically:

"Things like a permanent extra button means that some beginning user who just wants to do simple things and doesn't need to do any filtering will pay some price in UI complexity for something that they don't use. That's the kind of thing I'm trying hard to avoid."

Implied in this is an often overlooked psychology principle, hierarchy of knowledge and its unconscious effect on emotions, which is required for efficient teaching/learning.
Its at once disheartening and exciting to see that while my University professors are forgetting it, Michael is actively employing it in the indirectly related field of UI design!

I believe that its such things, considered small by modern standards of judgment, that are the reason why many people are grappled by MOI, at first emotionally and then intellectually.

Thanks Ambimind!

Yeah, often times the negative consequences of adding stuff to UI is not really considered very carefully by many developers, that's a big reason why typically a program becomes sort of "bloated" over time.

Trying to avoid that is a big priority for MoI's continued development.

One way that I do that is by trying to get more multiple functions out of the same UI area - like in this case for filtering the selection indicator will do double duty to also allow for filtering as well. I try to make it a higher priority any time there is a good concept on how to re-use some existing UI to make it more powerful without really adding any extra footprint to the simple use case.

- Michael

Hehe this is great :)

But yes, I'm really keen to see circular selection - many times so far I've wished to have it!

If that is not possible then making a circle that selects everything touching inside is simple enough and then I can invert selection to get the outside

Today I feel it very strong, it seems, hour X comes nearer.

Rudl

Hi Rudl - still working on the new selection filtering system right now. Hopefully that will wrap up soon and then I'll probably try a few deformation tools and then release the new beta after that.

Not sure exactly when, maybe in about a week.

- Michael

A week :D

Yeys!

Hi NightCabbage, yup it's getting really close - I think I've got the selection filter system all working, and now I'm working on one of the first deformation tools, the "Flow" command which lets you warp an object between a base spine curve and a target one, like so:



- Michael

Hello,

Does this apply to solids as well? Even if not, I see could the immediate savings in time and effort using it.

Nice Michael.

Can you lay that notched object down flat and deform it around the same curve?

If so, then we may need fewer steps to project designs and text onto a cylinder?

Ed