Subject pretty much sums it up. :-)

Any tips would be appreciated. I'm a total n00b but I have several years of poly modeling (modo) under my belt, but no NURBS experience.

Thanks!

Hi Seb, well probably the best place to start is to watch the video tutorials here:

http://moi3d.com/2.0/docs/tutorials.htm

Those go through step by step creating a few different simple models, and those are a good introduction to the overall NURBS modeling strategy. You'll see it's a fairly different process than poly modeling - in NURBS modeling you generally focus on drawing curves, then creating some base shapes from those curves by extrusion, revolution, sweeping or whatever to make solids, then you can combine solids together or cut holes in them by boolean operations and use fillets to round out junctures.

So one of the main differences is that in NURBS modeling booleans are a primary method to use for construction.

Some other resources are the help file, especially read the introduction section:
http://moi3d.com/2.0/docs/moi_help.htm

And there are links to other tutorials and various stuff here:
http://moi3d.com/resources


One thing that seems pretty common for people coming from a poly modeling background is to have some tendency to build shapes trying to surface things directly to some kind of complex boundary, rather than building an initially larger extended and more simple surface and then trimming that surface to produce the final complex boundary instead.

See some of these previous discussions for some more on that particular tendency with various examples that people have asked about:

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4640.4
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4657.11
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4751.13
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3855.7
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3321.17
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3105.7


It is overall a very different workflow than doing poly modeling, but it works very well for building man-made mechanical type objects very quickly and also accurately.

When you are working on models that are more organic and not very well defined by 2D profile curves, then those are the types of things that are better suited for poly modeling instead.


Hope this helps!

- Michael

If you speek French you have very useful video here :D
http://moiscript.weebly.com/

Thanks Michael, that's a fantastic list. I will start working my way through it when work slows down a bit.

Sadly, I don't come close to being able to speak French. Thanks though!

Michael,

I forgot to mention that I only purchased the software because I found out about the Mac beta. Been interested in it for a long time, glad you decided to port it.

Hi Sebastian, I'm glad that the Mac version is useful for you!

I'm just about ready to release a new version which has some various tune ups, like native file open/save dialogs and some other stuff to make it a bit smoother.

Once I've got a few more of that kind of stuff finished up I will then package up a v2.5 full (non-beta) release and that version will be available for v2 owners, so you won't have to wait until all the way until v3 is finished before having a full and non-expiring version available.

- Michael

Michael,

I'm looking forward to the full release! I played with the current beta a bit last night and it seems great. We used to have a MOI 1.0 license at my old studio, we used it to remesh some CAD files from Oakley so that we could render them in modo. (attached) Looking forward to actually using for creation as well. (I didn't render these, I only handled the conversions and remeshing, renders were done by Chris Morris http://www.luxology.com/community/profile.aspx?name=Chris_Morris)

Wow, gorgeous renders there Seb, I'm glad MoI was able to help out with some portion of that stuff too!

- Michael

Beautiful result!

Nice :)

Really hope you enjoy using MoI, Seb - it's my favourite modelling program! The workflow is so much nicer than anything else I've ever seen :)

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I was able to crack it open earlier in the week for a few minutes and actually play with it. I actuallythink it might help me revisit and old personal project that's been languishing for years. Time will tell.

No matter what I do with it, I'll make sure to post it here.

"When you are working on models that are more organic and not very well defined by 2D profile curves, then those are the types of things that are better suited for poly modeling instead."

Michael does this comment include guitar design?

Thanks, N

@VG, while waiting for Michael to comment this is my humble opinion.
Having build guitars myself I'd say that they are a mix of a mechanical and organic object. Thus one could say there isn't a right or wrong answer to this.
However, as I'm sure you're already aware of, if you think in terms of a "subtraction" process (removing material from a wood blank), I think it's more in favor
of NURBS modelling rather than polygonal. Routing a body and the various pockets (booleans), beveling the edges (fillets), constructing a neck with "profile" gauges (loft), all terms very similar to what one is used when working with MOI.
I'd say stick with MOI, because you are already producing awesome results!

My 2 cents.

PS: sorry if my wording seems a bit strange, English is not my native language.

Hi Neil,

re:
> Michael does this comment include guitar design?

I would think no - if significant portions of the model are constructed from 2D profile curves then NURBS modeling is a good fit.

But consider a human face - there isn't any single 2D curve that primarily drives its shape at all, not even something like a side profile because the shape is constantly changing. That's more of the type of thing I was referring to.

- Michael

There are things that are gray areas that incorporate both organic and profile driven elements too though. Vehicles can tend to be like this, where it's not so clearly in either domain.

- Michael

immortalx, your English is most likely better than mine. :) Thanks - really like how you put that. Having spent a year working with Fusion 360 - happily just now getting to feel a bit familiar with MoI. As you implied MoI or NURBS modeling is a different mind set - which has only recently begun to sink in. One thing that has become evident is that regardless of how frustrated I get - MoI is ceaselessly interesting and a lot of fun. The forum here is the most helpful around. My wife thinks I'm addicted - she may be right. Also, it is beyond me how Michael Gibson manages answering all the questions with all the other plates he spins - it is rare indeed to have that kind of hands on owner these days.

Thanks Michael, my work is flow picking up as the program becomes more familiar - and it seems that guitars are a productive initiative in MoI. (beginner opinion). One Rhino user on YouTube called Fusion 360 "confining." That comment makes sense to me now.