Hi Magnus, in MoI, try Construct / Boolean / Merge - I think it should do the job for you.

For example if you have this sphere and cylinder:



if you select both of them and then run Construct / Boolean / Merge, you will get this result, similar to Rhino's BooleanSplit (I moved some parts around for illustration):



Just delete the parts that you don't want to keep.

MoI's boolean merge command will intersect all objects together and then extract an object for each volume that was formed. So in addition to splitting solids with other solids similar to Rhino's BooleanSplit, it can also be used to extract a common volume from a set of intersecting open surfaces, same as Rhino's CreateSolid command.





So it's another one of these cases where one tool in MoI is performing multiple different tasks depending on how you use it, this is the kind of thing that helps keep MoI's UI so streamlined and easier to use.

Additionally, you can use merge on curves:



And also you can have planar curves interact directly with solids like with the other booleans, for example here is a sphere with a star polygon in front of it:



If you select both the star polygon curve and the sphere solid, then run boolean Merge, it will essentially "imprint" the star onto the sphere and leave all the pieces behind:



You can do similar curve / solid interactions with the other booleans, but difference and intersection will throw away pieces, while merge will keep every piece that forms a volume. If no volume is formed then it will split surfaces at intersections with one another, actually sometimes that is also a handy quick way to do surface/surface trimming too.


Also one quick note - if you need to bring models back and forth between Rhino and MoI, just try using Copy/Paste from one to the other (just make sure to leave MoI running when pasting from MoI into Rhino). This is generally the fastest way to shuffle things back and forth - you don't actually need to save any files to port stuff over.

> Thanks in advance and good luck at Siggraph Michael :)

Thanks Magnus! Let me know if you don't think that boolean Merge does the right thing you are asking for.

- Michael

That's one impressive explanation there Michael, thanks a bunch! :) it was very helpful and i can't figure out whyi couldn't get the same result as you did even tho i tried that function. In other words Merge in Moi is more powerful than in Rhino 4 ..running some simple tests now here while typing a reply i do see it works better than in Rhino, how sweet is that! :)

I can't see what would need to be changed on this feature now

Btw, great tip about copying and pasting models between Moi and Rhino. Thank you!! i had no idea that was even possible but it'll save a ton of hdd space and time :) very useful feature.

Cheers!

/ Magnus

You're welcome Magnus, I'm glad that function will work for you!

Sometimes it can be hard to immediately recognize all the stuff that is packed into a particular command, which is why I wanted to mention all the details here. This should get better once there is some proper documentation though.

You may have also gotten initially stuck because MoI's boolean Merge asks you to pick all objects in one set, while Rhino's BooleanSplit has you pick them in 2 sets more like Difference, so the steps are slightly different.

- Michael

You're right, it takes a while to find all the tools and where they are. And as it been a few months since i last time used Moi it's not making it any easier getting started again and to find where everything new is placed and what it does. :) but you can skip this feature request, one less thing to add to Moi hehe

True, it's quite easy to simply think that if it works like this in Rhino then it should work like this in Moi too, which it obviously don't. Not that it's a bad thing, if it's easier which infact it is now in Moi then it's all good.

Btw, one other thing.. it probably been asked/requested before but i'll ask again. How about variable fillets and chamfers, could you add that ? ..and also so when a surface curve which will be filleted or chamfered on a object is selected then it can autoselect all edges that connects in a flow to that first edge you selected, if you understand what i mean. SolidWorks has filleting and chamfering which works like this and it's wonderful to use when you add chamfers and fillets to your objects, it makes the process so much quicker on large complex objects.

/ Magnus

Hi Magnus,

> True, it's quite easy to simply think that if it works like this in Rhino then it
> should work like this in Moi too, which it obviously don't. Not that it's a bad
> thing, if it's easier which infact it is now in Moi then it's all good.

Yeah, although there are plenty of similarities (they are both NURBS modelers after all), MoI is organized quite a bit differently, mostly to keep things trimmed down and solve a problem of "UI overload" which is a really major stumbling block especially for people just starting out or trying to use the modeler more casually.

One of the big differences is that MoI relies heavily on being able to pre-pick sub objects such as edges or faces before launching a command. This helps to give additional context to the command and lets it adapt to do different things depending on the input. It is actually a big win for keeping the UI simple when each command is more powerful (and also complex itself), which is in a way counter-intuitive.

In Rhino, I structured things where each individual command was more simple and more narrowly focused on a particular task. This was good for certain things, and it certainly made it easier to design each individual command. But eventually it leads to a huge proliferation in the number of commands all of which tend to compete for space in the UI and have a very overwhelming effect...


> How about variable fillets and chamfers, could you add that ?

I do want to add this, but not until after version 1.0 is out. It's going to take a bit of time to plan the UI for it, that tends to be very time consuming for me, so I have postponed this until later.


re: Chain edges - this is another one that I am planning on adding but again not for version 1.0. It should end up with kind of a bundle of selection helpers. One note - if you want to fillet all edges that belong to one face (like the top of something, or all around the bottom of an indentation), you can select faces as input to the filleter, and all edges of those faces will be filleted. Sometimes that is easier than selecting edges.

- Michael

Yes interface overload as you mentioned is a major issue with apps like Rhino, there's a gazillion tiny buttons, commands and menues to scroll through to find what you're looking for. :) it can easily scare off newbies when they try to get started in nurbsmodeling. That's one place where Moi has an advantage due to it's simplicity.

Good to hear you would like to add variable fillets and chamfers and also chain edges, but i fully understand it's best for a 1.x release than 1.0 as i understand you're pretty much finished with your 1.0 release by now. No rush tho, take the time you need to do it well so the functions are stable and solid, rushing it will only result in a poor job. :)

Great tip about selecting the face to fillet the edges, i missed that one. Thanks! :)

Btw, here's a quick 60 min modeling test i ran last night with Moi. It's supposed to be a cablemodem..






[Edit] : And a 2 hour testrendering of the Moi model.



/ Magnus

Very nice Magnus, clean modeling job and nice looking render!

- Michael