<< make a CAD tool that was friendly to artists who did not have any mechanical engineering background!

Excellent! (or any people - children to oldies )

It really is an awesome approach Michael...

I am using Moi for tons of hard surface modeling for VFX and games...its just much faster then SubD modeling.

I do miss some more sophisticated scene organization tools like parenting, layering etc etc.

Hi 2byts, I'm glad that MoI is useful for your hard surface modeling!

I definitely want to improve the object organization tools, you can use Styles currently as a similar mechanism as layers, but in the future I want to add other methods that will allow hierarchical structures with groups and instances.

It will be a while yet before I'll be able to work on that, I'm still in the middle of a major rewrite to get a 64-bit version first.

- Michael

FYI, spent a good amount of time re-reading some old threads here then going to see how others solve similar problems.

I do *know* that mastering PolyFlow with SubD is quite the acquired skill. Took me months and I still don't consider myself anything of a master. An older thread mentioned this design and how it was probably better challenged using SubDs (click to enlarge):



While I know that design was done in Zbrush, I really don't think it could be accomplished easily in SubDs. Probably a basic cage is all that's doable, with a few details, but then you'd have to FREEZE and **THEN** the fun begins trying to do real booleans in a polymodeler ;-)

It appears more and more concept designers are going to solid modelers to try and create these sci-fi products. Based upon several Zbrush tutes I've watched, I believe the above design could be realized faster in MoI than in Zbrush. The actual form is fairly geometric and I believe could be carved out quickly.

Also, the parting lines look very "Zbrush" -- they are soft and too wide. In fact Zbrush models are typically recognizable for their 'clay-like' appearances, though I've seen a few which are better...like this one which seems pretty tight:



It's all to say how much I, too, really like working in MoI!

@chippwalters: Funny you mention ZBrush and hard-surface modelling. Some days ago I found a video from Zbrush Summit. The guys from Red Storm Enterprises show a little bit of their workflow (https://youtu.be/Fg6QPJ7XirE?t=1187). They show how they doing box modelling in Max to get base shape and shapes for boolean operations which they do in ZBrush via DynaMesh.
When I saw that, I was just wondering why they do not Solid modelling only. Would be much faster....

ZBrush has now a terrific Low Poly modeler - ZModeler ;) (a curious Interface - maybe radial menu will better who knows)
An another way to modelize - a sensitive mood! :)

By Mahlikus the Black

I'm on my 2nd day of the trial version.

I managed to mock a camera mounting plate to the point of ready to 3D print in 15 minutes within installing MOI without any previous experience. The same project I spent 4 hours in Sketchup and still couldn't get to work properly.

Now I just need to save up the money to buy MOI as it's a little pricey for a hobbyist.

Hi Teddy,

> I managed to mock a camera mounting plate to the point of ready to 3D print
> in 15 minutes within installing MOI without any previous experience. The same
> project I spent 4 hours in Sketchup and still couldn't get to work properly.

I'm glad that you're able to get stuff done so quickly!

I hope MoI will continue to be useful for you.

Thanks, - Michael

I love MoI too <3, bought it for 3D modeling, but now use it even for vector graphics. Great software.