"I agree, it would be cool if MoI had the same capabilities as a $20,000 app. I hope you realize that this is an amazingly high expectation."

I was lamenting that the module was only inside a $20000 application. The whole application have many more modules capabilities to probably justify the price tag.

"Let me propose that there can be other definitions of "conceptual modeling" that involve doing quick rough sketches of a model, not focusing on reflection lines or detailed surface styling."

Yes of course, but i disagree that is a desirable path if one wants to appeal for conceptual work from Mechanical Design to Product Design.
One of the most important issues of the Conceptual work is the time spent. If i can cut that time i can make many more iterations. Nurbs is generaly more complex to start modeling except if i have to model just a couple of big surfaces, and it is also it is more dificulty to change afterwards . I am far from happy with Subdivisions by the motives i stated in first post and i agree that a mix Subdivision+Nurbs approach is desirable, that was the reason i posted that link.

"The bottom viewport buttons are set to do a rather smoother motion which may not be to your liking, the right-click-inside-a-viewport method is probably closer to what you are used to."

You're right, i started to use RMB in last test. It's a little slower than XSI but the diference isnt such that i would call it a limitation anymore.

Regards

> Yes of course, but i disagree that is a desirable path if one wants
> to appeal for conceptual work from Mechanical Design to Product Design.

I can totally understand that it's not a desirable path for your design needs.

There are however other people who can benefit from this type of rough model sketching, who do not need to iterate on fine surface details so much, especially early on for some just general massing type visualization.

Does this mean that these people are not doing "Conceptual work", or that they are not legitimately inside the field of "Mechanical Design", or "Product Design" ? I think that would be a rather narrow and restrictive view.

There is a legitimate place for MoI's approach to modeling within these fields. But at the same time I completely agree that it is not a universal solution to every type of design workflow.

There will certainly be many places where it will not be the right fit. It's a matter of using the right tool for the job at hand.

One of the big advantages to NURBS is that some of the techniques such as sweeping, booleans and trimming are quite easy to understand and use. There is more overlap with 2D illustration through curve drawing. This lowers the bar to entry for people who want to build some models (which could be called "concept models") but don't want to invest a huge amount of time to learn how the modeling tool works.

Imagine trying to teach a casual user how to build a model resembling their idea using XSI...

- Michael

Not trying to sound like an ass (okay, maybe a LITTLE) but if you're comparing an unfinished single-purpose app to something like XSI... you need to see your doctor about have a cranial-rectal extraction done.

Think of MoI as being the NURBS equivalent of Silo.