Hi mjs,

> Mar 18 release runs perfectly on that regard. I don't know if
> you actually worked on the import engine but something that
> was done made the import file work much better for me.

That's great news - this version has been updated to use the latest library version for IGES, STEP, and SAT transfer which has some bug fixes in it, and also I've fixed a pretty low level bug in Solids++ involving coincidence checking between closed edge curves which probably helps out some join problems.

Anyway, I'm glad that this release is improving in this regard.

Thanks,
- Michael

Still need to collect info on multi-touch and nsided, but here are all the other notes aside from those things (I will add these to the first post as well):


Updated relative tolerance handling for small objects - make the small object relative tolerance to be 1e-4 of the bounding box diagonal rather than 1e-2 as it was previously. This should help small objects behave more like regular sized objects in things that use relative tolerance. Also made a mechanism that additionally tightens the tolerance by up to 1/100 more if there are small sized features within the object. Fixes a boolean bug reported on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5535.1

Updated curve offset - fixed having the command processor being re-created on every mouse move, which improves curve offset display performace especially on Mac.

Updated DXF export - Enable writing point objects to DXF format, and also fixed a crash bug reported through e-mail when using cubic splines export option with degenerate projected curves. Also don't send out degenerate projected curves at all which fixes importing into one particular version of AutoCAD that was sensitive to that.

Updated IGES, STEP, and SAT IO library to latest version.

Updated viewport scripting - added properties .pixelWidth and .pixelHeight on a viewport so that it can be possible to take the current viewport's size into account when doing something like a screenshot.

Added script interface for getting or setting the active style: moi.geometryDatabase.activeStyle

Added a new moi.ini flag to disable file caching under [UI] DisableFileCaching=n . When set to =y it will prevent MoI from caching scripts and UI files in memory so that they are loaded from disk on each use, this can help when you're working on doing some development with those files and you want to frequently test changes in them.

Updated Align command - Added a checkbox to the Align command for "Move as group", which is visible when multiple objects are selected for the align. When enabled it causes the objects to move as an entire set to their overall bounding box rather than each one moving individually. Requested on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5533.1 . Also fixed a bug in Align where object alignment did not use a custom cplane properly.

Updated Transform > Copy command - added a command specific Undo action for the Transform > Copy command so that hitting undo while in the command will remove the last placed copy. Requested on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/messages.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5524.89

Fixed a bug in Solids++ in the curve coincidence checker when dealing with 2 closed curves. Helps to avoid some edge fragmentation that could happen previously and fixes an Inset bug reported in the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5508.1

Update face domains as part of the default processing when a brep is added to the geometry database. Some Solids++ routines would not set the face domain and it was left the same as the surface domain, while on loading a 3DM file MOI would set the face domain to the bounding box around the UV trim curves. This difference in face domain could occasionally lead to slightly different behavior in intersection calculations, with things working better after doing a save and reload. This update should now give better consistency between how things behaved in a loaded file versus an in-session created one.

Fixed a selection bug where selecting just one curve and doing Join would deselect the curve but the edit frame would stay on the screen. Fixes a bug reported on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5524.97

Updated chamfer UI - fixed a word wrap bug reported on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5524.99

Fixed a bug for 3Dconnexion devices on OSX with multiple model windows open - previously the 3Dconnexion device would only work properly when there was only one window.

Added 3Dconnexion setting in moi.ini: [3Dconnexion] Swap3DViewPanZoom=n . This can be set to =y to swap pan and zoom motions for the 3D view only. Requested on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5574.1

Updated 3DConnexion / simultaneous mouse move behavior. Delay mouse move processing until at least a small amount of time has passed since the last 3DX event - helps reduce jerky viewport movement for some cases.

Updated control point editing with analytic surfaces - After control point editing, if the previous surface was analytic or the new surface is planar, try to create an analytic surface for the new result. Fixes a bug with inset after control point editing reported on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5583.1

Updated extrude to point - If the base curve is an arc or circle shape, try to make an analytic cone out of the result. Fixes a bug reported in the forum here with trying to offset the result: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5524.110

Updated properties panel arc resizing - don't look at closed curves when scanning for touching endpoints for an alternate origin for the scale. Fixes a bug report on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5524.113

Fixed a scene browser bug where editing an object's name where only the case of the letters changed between upper and lower case did not trigger an update in the scene browser's object section. Fixes a bug reported on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5635.1

Updated OBJ export settings - added a new setting in moi.ini for OBJ export to help with mesh transfer into Rhino. [OBJ Export] WriteStylesAsGroups=n When this is enabled by changing to WriteStylesAsGroups=y then the style name will be written as the group identifier when generating the mesh. This allows for using the setting in Rhino's OBJ importer for importing groups as layers to get the mesh back to the same layer as the original object. Requested in the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5637.1

Updated filtering - when a curve is filtered out from selection, don't draw it at all in the hit test map so it won't occlude edges which may be the filter targets. Fixes an edge selection bug reported in the forum where with edge filtering turned on the edges were still unselectable if curves were on top of them: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5732.1

Update selection - fixed regression bug introduced with the Flow command, where post picking for extrude did not allow drill-in to select edges on a box because it took the clicked-on face immediately. Reported on the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5732.1

Update hidden edges display - add a new checkbox setting in options dialog for controlling whether to show hidden edges on selected objects only, under Options > View > "Hidden edges on selected only". When enabled hidden lines are only displayed for selected breps only instead of on everything. This can help to disambiguate snapping onto or selecting hidden lines when there are many objects involved. This can also be toggled by script using:
script: /* Toggle using hidden edge display for selected objects only */ moi.view.hiddenLinesSelectedOnly = !moi.view.hiddenLinesSelectedOnly;

Implement view spinning - Add a script method for view spinning that can be set on a keyboard shortcut:
script: /* click and drag mouse to spin view */ moi.view.spinInteractive();
This allows for tilting/spinning the view using a mouse or tablet if no multi-touch is available.

Updated OSX crash reporting. Put moi_report.zip files into ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ and also try to generate an OSX system crash report .crash file as well which goes in that same folder.


- Michael

-> Updated viewport scripting - added properties .pixelWidth and .pixelHeight on a viewport so that it can be possible to take the current viewport's size into account when doing something like a screenshot.

Ok this is really useful for me ! How I do a script that capture the exact viewport (maybe 2x the pixel size for better antialiasing later in photoshop) :)

Thanks for all the new things, there's a lot of changes in the beta that's great :)

Thanks for all your efforts Michael.

I don't get to spend as much time with MoI as I like, but when I do I am sure glad that I have it.

I sure appreciate how you present the beta versions, always keeping users up to date with your current achievements.

Keep up the great job!

Michael.

Thank you for another super update to the MoI beta.

Something may be escaping me, but is it intended behaviour that the new 'Hidden edges on selected only' option only kicks in when 'Display hidden lines' is also selected, as that's how it's working for me?

To clarify, I think I was expecting the two to work independently, as well as in combination with each other and at the moment I can't see why that isn't the case.

Cheers.

Martin (2)

Hi DesuDeus,

> Ok this is really useful for me ! How I do a script that
> capture the exact viewport (maybe 2x the pixel size for
> better antialiasing later in photoshop) :)

Can you post your current viewport screenshot script, and then I will see about modifying it for generating 2x the current pixel size.

- Michael

Hi Martin,

> Something may be escaping me, but is it intended behaviour
> that the new 'Hidden edges on selected only' option only kicks
> in when 'Display hidden lines' is also selected, as that's how
> it's working for me?

Yup, that's how it's supposed to work. It modifies the hidden edge display - if hidden edges are not being displayed at all then there is nothing to modify.

So "Display hidden lines" controls whether hidden lines are being displayed at all. When they are being displayed, there are 2 different ways they can be displayed - on everything (same as before) or only on selected objects, controlled by the "Hidden edges on selected only" option.

- Michael

Michael.

With regard to keeping a clean screen in complex drawings - and providing it's even possible, do you think it might be an advantage to have the new 'Hidden edges on selected only' option also work independently of whether 'Display hidden lines' is ticked, so that the highlighted parts are the ONLY ones to display as hidden edges/lines?

The reason I ask is because I tried out the new feature on a drawing which contains curves that are submerged into or behind a solid, and it would have been helpful for clarity and ease of snapping, if these (unselected) curves had not been visible alongside the edges of the selected solid.

Thanks again for all your work and quick replies.

Martin(2).

Hi Martin,

> <...> so that the highlighted parts are the ONLY ones to
> display as hidden edges/lines?

That is how it works currently - if you have it enabled only edges of selected solids or surfaces will be get the hidden line display.

This new setting does not have any effect on "standalone curves" though, meaning curve objects like a drawn line or circle or something that are not edges of a solid or a surface.

It didn't really seem to make sense to apply this setting to selected standalone curves, because selected standalone curves already draw on top of everything so selected curves do not get drawn in the hidden-line style at all.


> The reason I ask is because I tried out the new feature on a
> drawing which contains curves that are submerged into or behind
> a solid, and it would have been helpful for clarity and ease of
> snapping, if these (unselected) curves had not been visible alongside
> the edges of the selected solid.

If the unselected hidden-line curves were getting in your way your best bet would be to just temporarily disable the entire hidden-line display, there is a shortcut for that in the View palette in the side pane, you don't have to go all the way into the Options dialog for that one.

Or just in general if stuff is getting in your way you can select it and hide it to get it out of the way.


But basically this new mode is to help manage edges not standalone curves - usually it's normal to have a lot more edges being displayed on screen than curves.

- Michael

Hi Michael.

Sorry to come back again, but I don't know if I made my point very well before.

This is how I think it could work better for me.

Switch off 'Display hidden lines' and switch on 'Hidden edges on selected only'. Then, when selected, only the hidden wireframe edges of parts would be visible and snap-able, and would clear the display of all the other hidden lines/curves that I'm not interested in at that moment.

Here's my video attempt to help explain what I mean, by showing the wireframes of just the block and surface (by keeping the mouse button pressed) whilst noticing that the lower portion of the red circle remains unselectable by the 'Display hidden lines' being turned off.


http://screencast.com/t/BqcmuRuIdkpI

 Thanks for looking again.


Martin(2).

Hi Martin, I'm sorry I'm still not entirely sure if I understand you correctly.

> Switch off 'Display hidden lines' and switch on 'Hidden edges on selected only'.
> Then, when selected, only the hidden wireframe edges of parts would be visible
> and snap-able, <....>

Ok, so you're saying that when "Display hidden lines" was turned off, there would still be some hidden edge display being shown? If so then that's problematic that the setting would seem to say that no hidden lines would be shown yet you are talking about showing some...

I think it's pretty important to be able to turn off the hidden line display entirely, that's what happens with the first "Display hidden lines" checkbox being on or off. There is also a shortcut for that under the View palette. It's useful to be able to totally turn off the hidden line display in just one spot because if you have some hidden lines cluttering up your display it lets you definitely clear them all by going to just one control and clicking it.

That's why the new "hidden edges on selected only" only modifies how edges are displayed _if_ hidden edge display is enabled, it allows you to still totally disable all hidden lines by using the other "Display hidden lines" checkbox the same as before.

Hopefully the new option for also controlling the hidden-line display of edges only on selected objects will help to manage them in some situations without needing to do a full on or off, but I think it's still a good idea to have a sort of master on/off switch still though.

- Michael

Magnificent amount of work Michael!


> Implement view spinning - Add a script method for view spinning that can be set on a keyboard shortcut:

This is awesome!!!

It really works great as a companion to "Free Rotation" view manipulation mode!


After 'spinning', the only way I've found to reset the view back to the original horizontal-0 if this was implemented in "Rotate Around World Axis Z" mode is to switch to "Free Rotation" mode then back to World Axiz Z, where the view port will reset.


But yes! You can now rotate the 'ortho' viewports which helps you to get a better look at your work.

Reset the spin angle in ortho views by clicking on its your current view's activation button twice... (right>left>right) Cool!


Also, would it be someday feasible to implement 'Spin' with other viewport manipulation methods, such as with a View Control button for fine-tuning, or maybe a way to do it on the fly with mouse manipulation?

Thanks!

Hi Mike, I'm glad the view spinning will be useful!

> Also, would it be someday feasible to implement 'Spin' with
> other viewport manipulation methods, such as with a View
> Control button for fine-tuning, or maybe a way to do it on
> the fly with mouse manipulation?

It's possible, but re: view control button - it's good in general to avoid having a zillion buttons clogging up the screen, and re: mouse manipulation all the regular buttons like middle button drag, wheel spin and right button drag are already occupied by options so it would have to go on some kind of modifier key and I'm pretty conservative about populating those too.

- Michael

Hi Michael.


<<Hi Martin, I'm sorry I'm still not entirely sure if I understand you correctly.
** Well I know what I think I want, but it's not always easy for me to get that across :) **


<<Ok, so you're saying that when "Display hidden lines" was turned off, there would still be some hidden edge display being shown?
** ONLY on the part that is selected and along with 'Hidden edges on selected only' being turned ON. **


<<If so then that's problematic that the setting would seem to say that no hidden lines would be shown yet you are talking about showing some...
** Yes, but only in line with what seems possible under Options i.e. 'Hidden edges on selected only' is still shown as enabled. So as it stands, we can disable 'Display hidden lines' and still have 'Hidden edges on selected only' ticked, yet that option doesn't seem to work without the former being selected. **


<<I think it's pretty important to be able to turn off the hidden line display entirely, that's what happens with the first "Display hidden lines" checkbox being on or off. There is also a shortcut for that under the View palette. It's useful to be able to totally turn off the hidden line display in just one spot because if you have some hidden lines cluttering up your display it lets you definitely clear them all by going to just one control and clicking it.

That's why the new "hidden edges on selected only" only modifies how edges are displayed _if_ hidden edge display is enabled, it allows you to still totally disable all hidden lines by using the other "Display hidden lines" checkbox the same as before.

Hopefully the new option for also controlling the hidden-line display of edges only on selected objects will help to manage them in some situations without needing to do a full on or off, but I think it's still a good idea to have a sort of master on/off switch still though.

- Michael

** Basically, my thought was to remove the link between 'Display hidden lines' and 'Hidden edges on selected only', so that disabling 'Display hidden lines' doesn't stop 'Hidden edges on selected only' from working on its own with selected objects. My hope was that this would allow complex geometry to exist behind solids and surfaces without them getting in the way by being selectable.

Whilst my suggestion would need both options to be off to disable viewing of all hidden lines - and I do take on-board what you say about hiding things - I think It'd still be a useful option for isolating the object where the scene is busy with curves that can't necessarily be conveniently hidden and are hampering the workflow.

I've staged a rather unconvincing video of how some mock-complex curves show through a 3d shape and 'obstructs' me when all I really want to do is access the hidden edges of the selected solid. I hope you get the idea though **


http://screencast.com/t/4ubg7Rjr



Martin(2).

Hi Martin,

> > <<Ok, so you're saying that when "Display hidden lines" was> > turned off, there would still be some hidden edge display being shown?
> ** ONLY on the part that is selected and along with 'Hidden edges
> on selected only' being turned ON. **

Ok, but wouldn't that be weird to have a control that say "Display hidden lines" and you have it unchecked, yet still some hidden lines are being displayed somewhere? That's what could happen if it worked like you described.

It's just far more simple if the control that says "Display hidden lines" when turned off means that there are not any hidden lines being shown...


> ** Yes, but only in line with what seems possible under Options i.e.
> 'Hidden edges on selected only' is still shown as enabled. So as it stands,
> we can disable 'Display hidden lines' and still have 'Hidden edges on selected
> only' ticked, yet that option doesn't seem to work without the former
> being selected. **

Yes, that's correct and how it's intended to be set up right now - the "Hidden edges on selected only" checkbox only has any effect on the hidden line display (and only on edges in there as well), so if the hidden line display is turned off (Display hidden lines unchecked) then it won't do anything at that moment. I guess I could hide or gray out the second control when hidden lines are actually turned off, but that's a pretty small cosmetic detail and sometimes that can actually be fairly annoying to have UI that is displayed but not able to actually be set until you go somewhere else.


> Whilst my suggestion would need both options to be off to disable
> viewing of all hidden lines - <....>

From my point of view this is a very significant drawback... Enough so that the negatives of what you are proposing to me seem to outweigh the positives, sorry.


> I've staged a rather unconvincing video of how some
> mock-complex curves show through a 3d shape and 'obstructs' me
> when all I really want to do is access the hidden edges of the selected
> solid. I hope you get the idea though **

If you have a whole bunch of stuff getting in your way you fundamentally have to hide some of it so that it won't be in your way... This new setting is not some cure-all to totally avoid that - having stuff littering your view is more of a demo of not doing enough object visibility management really.

When I first watched your video I thought that you were actually trying to draw some things on the front of the solid and getting snaps onto the hidden-line curves behind it by accident instead - that kind of problem is precisely why it's good to have a single control that can globally disable hidden lines...


Maybe in the future I could add another setting yet that would control whether curves will be part of the hidden-line display or not, I guess that would do what you are describing. But I also don't really like having too many zillions of options for people to have to wade through as well, when things get to a certain level people end up not being able to find anything in the mess.


- Michael

Hey Michael,

Here's the screenshot script I'm using :)

script: /* Custom screenshot */ var prev_background = moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor; moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor = 0xFFFFFF; moi.view.lineWidth = 1; moi.grid.display = false; moi.grid.showXYAxes = false; moi.view.showAxisIcon = false; moi.view.meshAngle = 4; moi.ui.getActiveViewport().renderToClipboard( 4200, 2970 ); moi.view.lineWidth = 1; moi.grid.display = true; moi.grid.showXYAxes = true; moi.view.showAxisIcon = true; moi.view.meshAngle = 8; moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor = prev_background;

Thanks a lot !

Hi Michael,

I've been following what Martin has been describing with Hidden Edges and I sort of agree with him, you have Hidden Edge options in two separate places where I think they should be together.
If I understood what Martin is getting at this is how I see it;


Hidden Edges not shown.




Display all hidden edges.




When 'Hidden edges on selected' is checked 'Display hidden lines' is automatically unchecked and vise-versa.



-

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Michael and Danny.

Michael.

What I wanted to highlight in the videos is that MoI has the ability to exclude curves from displaying through selected solids (by keeping the mouse button pressed, so the effect didn't just flash by) whilst at the same time being able to display the hidden edges/wireframe of that selected solid, and this is something I would have liked to have seen when ONLY 'Hidden edges on selected' is enabled.

<< Ok, but wouldn't that be weird to have a control that say "Display hidden lines" and you have it unchecked, yet still some hidden lines are being displayed somewhere? That's what could happen if it worked like you described.

** I agree that would be odd, but as 'Hidden edges on selected only' is the only one enabled, then it seems quite clear to me that is precisely what I should expect to see, so I'd find it pretty intuitive. **


Danny.

Thanks for summing up and improving the point I was trying to make ;)




Martin(2).

Hi DesuDeus,

> Here's the screenshot script I'm using :)

Here is how it would be modified to do double the current viewport pixel size:

script: /* Custom screenshot */ var prev_background = moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor; moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor = 0xFFFFFF; moi.view.lineWidth = 1; moi.grid.display = false; moi.grid.showXYAxes = false; moi.view.showAxisIcon = false; moi.view.meshAngle = 4; var vp = moi.ui.getActiveViewport(); vp.renderToClipboard( vp.pixelWidth * 2, vp.pixelHeight * 2 ); moi.view.lineWidth = 1; moi.grid.display = true; moi.grid.showXYAxes = true; moi.view.showAxisIcon = true; moi.view.meshAngle = 8; moi.view.viewportBackgroundColor = prev_background;

- Michael