added to the Special thread Gallery :)

Hi all
There seem to be quite a few people new to CAD using Moi, and I’m one of them. I have tried using Carrara and this week received Hexagon from Daz3d which they sold for $3. To a beginner like me these modelling packages are extremely difficult to get started with and I much prefer MoI.

Yesterday I was browsing the Hexagan discussion threads at Daz when I cam across someone lamenting the difficulty of learning to use that modeller. I posted a link to MoI telling them how easy it was to use and they replied saying that they weren’t going to look at it and had decided to persevere with Hexagon.

I have also noticed that when posting to the Daz galleries you can choose from a list of software that you might have used to create your masterpiece. I have twice informed them that MoI doesn’t appear in this list but it still isn’t included, or wasn’t on the 15th Janaury.

Is MoI going to be reviewed or publicised anywhere and is there anything helpful that can be done by us the users to promote it?
One obvious possibility is to post a link to the MoI site whenever referencing it. I must remember to do this on Renderosity.

I hope I’m not coming over as a hypocrite as I’m still using the December beta and it would probably help Michael quite a lot if I bought a copy. Nevertheless I do intend to cough up some cash when I can afford it and in the meantime will mention MoI’s merits where ever I get the opportunity.
Keith

Hi Keith, thanks very much for your interest in MoI!


> Is MoI going to be reviewed or publicised anywhere

Yes, there will be a magazine review coming out shortly, I'm not sure if it is next month or the month after. I will definitely announce more details when I know more.

Things are still early in the lifetime of MoI, it will take some time before it gets to be more well known.


> and is there anything helpful that can be done by us the users to promote it?

Just telling your friends about it is a very big help!

Thanks!

- Michael

Colin. Working out your methods for making the Slouch Hat was a great exercise. (Well I worked out methods that had the same result anyway.)
The hat crown worries me a bit though--and I can not work out how you did it either.
Here is an alternative idea (still not quite correct) with the 3dm file if of value to you.
Brian

Col. Heres a Rising Sun Badge for the Slouch Hat if of any use to you.(The pdf Trace will open in MoI to work on)
Brian

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the compliments on the model.

Michael, yes, I feel I'm just starting to get a better understanding of how to use the Tool sets.
Still a long way to go, but I'm much more confident with each model I do.

Brian, from memory I did the very top of the hat using Network curves.
I then switched on the curves Points & then tweaked them to give a more "organic" look.
I do know that it took me quite a few goes at making different shaped curves to get close to what I wanted.
Thanks for the Rising Sun, not really sure if I'll need it now, but handy just the same.

regards Colin

Colin.
I had some great learning exercises from studying that ring. I puzzled for ages over the hat band layers and, when my mind worked, I laughed at the simplicity of doing it.
Thanks
Brian

Hi Brian,

The hat band was just a Profile I made with the "creases" in it.
I then did a Sweep, with one of the rails being a deformed curve to get that higher & lower effect.
Again, it was one of those things that took a while, just trying different curves & adjusting the various Points where needed.

Bear in mind that most of the hat's pieces haven't been Boolean together.
That's because I was designing it for machining, not for any rendering.
Mind you I have no experience with Rendering, so I'm not even sure if this model would be suitable for it or not?
Rendering is something I'd like to learn & understand, but at this point I'm concentrating on the modeling side of things first.
I'm figuring there's no point in knowing how to do a Render if you can't produce the model first?
Not sure if that's the right way to look at it or not, but figure I'm better to learn to crawl before I try running!

regards Colin

In a sense, I come more from the rendering side than the making. (Carrara)
Anyway I did the hat band a different way!
I made another curve for the hatband about the level of the top of the lower piece. And, with the points , put a dip in the front edge. The two curves then lofted. Then I made a copy paste and reduced its size to .99 and raised it up a bit, doing similar for each of the layers.
The end result being that, when brought into Carrara for rendering, each of those different layers could have a slight variation in shade perhaps. Even put sweat stain effects differently for the layers as well.(I hope that makes sense!)
All good fun!
(Actually I did not save my results--just experimented to prove working principles)

Here is an exagerated example to show the idea.

Hi Everyone,

Thought some of you might be interested in knowing about this:

I've recently been using MoI to create the all the prototypes, tests & the finished Template files available from here.
http://fourth-axis.com/
http://fourth-axis.com/flipflopwax/

As most Jeweller's are already using Rhino to create their designs, so it was easy for me to Copy & Paste all the parts & curves that I'd created in MoI straight over into Rhino. :)
Then it was just a case of setting up Rhino's Layers to hold the relevant items. (looking forward to when MoI has it's own Layer system!)

regards Colin

Nice work Colin, looks like a very helpful guide for people who want to dig into CNC.

- Michael

Hi Everyone,

For those Jewellers looking at MoI, but aren't too sure, I've made a very simple MoI "Beginners" Tutorial that might help.
This ZIP file contains the whole Tutorial broken down into 3 parts, each as separate PDF files.

Hope it's of use, Colin

Thanks Colin,

Now I have many moi tutorials ;)

Nice contribution Colin!
Well done, clear and easy to follow.

Cheers

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Hi Everyone,

Here's a ring design I've been doing for a customer to celebrate 40yrs of riding.
There's to be 3 of these rings made, each will then have the riders name engraved along the bottom of the band.
The design will be milled in wax & then cast in StgSil.

Used MoI for all of it except the actual deforming of the Brake & Clutch Levers to fit snug to the ring shape.
For doing that part I needed to use Cage Edit in Rhino4...looking forward to when MoI also has this feature.
I've only just started to learn about rendering, so here's some of my first tests using VRay.

Just uploaded these same pics to the Gallery

regards Colin

Hi Colin, that's a very cool design, I'm sure that your customer will be very pleased.

It must be fun creating these kinds of personalized projects for people, since it will have sentimental value to them.

- Michael

Nice conceptual motor bike ring!

Nice one Colin!
I know a few bikers that would love one of these.

Keep 'em coming.

Cheers
~Danny~