Hi.
I tried the script, selected two edges and run the shortcut key, but nothing happens !?
Appreciating your help !

Without file 3DM zipped linked, that is some difficult to answer! ;)

Thank you for your lightspeed answer ;-)

It does not work with any file - maybe I misunderstood the concept.

Attaching an example object.

Yes! It's normal!
Works only with surface(s) of volume !!!

You mean its normal iEdgeloop does not work in this case ?

Can I tranform this imported object somehow to make the edgeloop work ?

As your object is a wire it's a little tricky with all these free progs

Try this :) Sketchup Make is free! http://www.sketchup.com/products/sketchup-make

Export from Moi in format SKP

Reload the SKP In Sketchup - Scale 1000 : Export from Sketchup in Format DAE

Import the DAE in Blender V 2.75 (mine) : a nightmare! :) http://www.blender.org/
Press A (= Select All)
Press Edit Mode (bottom left screen)
Make Edge/face (Middle left screen)

From Blender export as OBJ (Menu File up left screen)

From MOi: _importObj (by Max Smirnov)
http://moi3d.com/forum/get_attachment.php?webtag=MOI&hash=196c71c0e707b0c68f267a376fa30df3&filename=ImportObj.v.1.5.2015.09.10.zip

you have your elephant format 3DM in Moi as a unic solid! :)

But the EdgeLoop selection will be not very useful!
You will only select a face one by one! :)

http://moiscript.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/3/8/3938813/elephant_solid.zip

Thanks for your efforts, Monsieur Pilou !

I have to construct a lot of curves so edge by edge will be painful ;-)

If the wire is the problem ; what is the type of object needed for loop selection ?

Or asked in an other way : How should I export an object if I want to make use of edgeloop in Moi ?

I do the modelling in Cinema 4D and want to reconstruct it using curves in MOI.

The problem is that you have modelised in another "World"! (Polygons: segmented lines)
MOI is "Nurbs" lovely smooth curves! :)

You have not yet specialised select tools for select "segments" as your elephant!

But subdivise it one time with Subdivision by Max Smirnov
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=6674.426

Now you can draw any Line - curve in any orientation above your volume (here the elephant)
and project it: Menu Construc / Curve / Project for have any section curve
or any form projected that you want!

So any selection! ;)

" you have modelised in another "World"! (Polygons: segmented lines)
MOI is "Nurbs" lovely smooth curves! :)"

I agree, MOI has stunningly amazing lovely sweet smooth curves !

And what I want is the best of two worlds : Polymodelling gives me the advantage of beeing able to change the shape and try variations during all the process and it is a very intuitive way of modelling. MOI gives me precision and those lovely curves . . .

Disadvantage is the time effort tu build up the curves in MOI - projection is a good idea but I also have curves moving through x y and z planes.

But now you have the best of the 2 worlds !

You have obtain your Elephant as a nurbs object isn't it?

Nurbs is not very well adapted for very organic thing ...but... :)

<<<I also have curves moving through x y and z planes.
you have that in Nurbs!

try Conctruc / Curve / Iso

xyz you have that in Nurbs!

of course, I meant I cant project a curve which winds through all 3 projection planes


"you have obtain your Elephant as a nurbs object isn't it?"

The object I currently work on is a different and I will use your suggestions to get that lovely curves,
thank you Pilou.

Hi Tom, just to clarify, re:

> I tried the script, selected two edges and run the shortcut key, but nothing happens !?

The problem is your file does not contain any edges - it's all curves. The edge loop script only works with edge objects, which make up the boundaries of surfaces.

It sounds like you have got this figured out, but just in case - MoI is not designed to work with a polygon mesh type object like you're trying to use here, you probably need to use a polygon mesh editing program to work with that type of data, not MoI.

If you export your original polygon mesh object to .obj format, you could then use Max's importObj script which is here: http://moi.maxsm.net/media/files/ - find the one labeled ImportObj and there are instructions for how to install a script here: http://moi3d.com/FAQ#Q:_How_do_I_install_a_plug-in_script.3F

But basically MoI is not designed to work with that kind of polygonal 3D data, MoI is oriented around using NURBS surfaces for modeling.

- Michael

Thank you Michael for clarifying.


So one workflow to transform a subdivided model designed with a polymodeller into a nurbsoject in MOI would be :

- save as *obj in the polymodeller.

- Import the *obj. inTO MOI using the script

- apply the subd plugin

- select edges and copy paste to generate curves

- connect the curves with the respective commands like network etc. ?

PS The importobj plugin delivers a model much smaller in size than the same model transformed form *obj into 3ds.
or a dxf file.
Is there a way to get the importobj managing the files in the same size ? Thankyou,

Hi Tom, re:

> So one workflow to transform a subdivided model designed with a polymodeller
> into a nurbsoject in MOI would be : <....>

Well that's a "possible" workflow, but many times you would probably be better off just keeping that model in the poly modeling program throughout and never bringing it into MoI at all - MoI's strengths are more in the area of mechanical object design and not so much in organic creature modeling. It's a better fit to just create models like that in your poly modeling program and never try to bring them into MoI at all, it's not the kind of model that CAD programs are generally good at doing.

If you did want to try it, you could maybe stop at your step #3 though, and just keep the result of max's sub-d command as your final result.

The focus of MoI is in building profiles primarily from 2D profile curves - if your object is not well defined just by 2D profiles probably it's an organic model that would be better done all in a poly modeling program without Moi being involved at all.

- Michael

Hi Tom,

re:
> PS The importobj plugin delivers a model much smaller in size than the same model transformed
> form *obj into 3ds.
> or a dxf file.
> Is there a way to get the importobj managing the files in the same size ? Thankyou,

Sorry I don't understand the question - when you say "much smaller in size", what size are you referring to, like 3DM file size? Or number of polygons or something like that?

3DS format can only contain triangles, so trying to use that format will result in many more polygons being generated because all quads will probably get converted to triangles.

Or maybe you're running into something like importObj does not support non-planar n-gons ?

But again, I don't really recommend trying to work with this kind of data in MoI at all - it's faceted polygon data and MoI is not designed to work with polygon data - polygon editing programs are a better tool for working with polygon data.

- Michael

"Well that's a "possible" workflow, but many times you would probably be better off just keeping that model in the poly modeling program throughout and never bringing it into MoI at all - MoI's strengths are more in the area of mechanical object design and not so much in organic creature modeling."

My intent is

Cinema4d > 3d-sketching / concept design
MOI > Construction of the final model

The models I want to build in MOI are not organic, but perfect for Nurbs.

Nevertheless I use the polymodeller Cinema4d for 3d concept sketching and developing the design as polys offer me lots of flexibility and - most important - nondestructive modelling.

MOI comes into play to of the final shape to achieve precision an smooth curves.

Of course I could use renderings of the concept to rebuild the object designed in Cinema, but importing the *obj seemed to be a faster way to rebuild the shapes.

Thank you for the tips.

The overall size of a model imported via script is about 30 times smaller than if I open the same model as Obj-3d, or dxf file directly.

Hi Tom,

> The overall size of a model imported via script is about 30 times smaller than if I open the
> same model as Obj-3d, or dxf file directly.

Ok, by size I think you mean bounding box unit size, sorry I thought you were talking about file size.

I think the ImportObj script by default does some scaling of the object, but you can disable that by passing the parameter "exact" to the command in your keyboard shortcut.

So set up the shortcut like this:

_ImportObj exact


- Michael

Hi Tom,

> The models I want to build in MOI are not organic, but perfect for Nurbs.

Ok, so very different than the elephant one you posted previously, right?

It's because you posted that elephant model that I thought you were possibly trying to do modeling of creatures or animals.

- Michael