I'm still eagerly looking forward to MoI V4. Just wondering: will it also contain changes to the UI, maybe only cosmetical? I'm not saying I dislike the current UI, just wondering.

Thanks,

Metin

I forgot that my name is already in my signature. :D

Hi Metin, yes there are a few cosmetic tuneups to the UI. Stuff like some updated icons and a new font that is packaged along with it. This is what it looks like:



- Michael

Hi Michael.

If you don't mind my asking...but...

What is that strange viewport grid ?

It seems to be a little bit..."intrusive"...

The old separed gride 4 view was smarty! :)

Hi Marco, the strange viewport grid is just a temporary placeholder, the full viewport display is not there yet. That's just about the last remaining area that I have left to work on before releasing the first v4 beta.

So just disregard the viewports for now, it's the other parts of the UI that I was showing.

- Michael

Ok Michael :)

Thanks for the info.

Hi Michael.

@You : "...That's just about the last remaining area that I have left to work on before releasing the first v4 beta..."

So....The longed-for day is at hand!

The countdown clock is now activated :)

lol.....! :o

The UI is beauty!!

Cool. Best yet. My wife was complaining this morning that her banking interface had changed and confused her. I like moi1

Thanks for the preview Michael! Looking good!

One more question: what will be the most significant changes from MoI V3 to MoI V4?

I'll try to kick off with native MacOS support and a more robust filleting engine? Will there be totally new tools as well?

Thanks,

Hi Metin, yeah I think it has helped a lot to have the worst old Windows XP style icons replaced. And the new font helps improve text legibility. The text difference is especially pronounced for the Mac version where it's now drawn using the native Core Text functions instead of with FreeType by way of Wine. There are numerous details improved for the Mac version so it won't be quite so weird anymore, things like full screen mode working normally, window sizing from any edge instead of the old fashioned corner only, should support Retina properly now, should work fine with multiple monitors with default OS settings, and others... It will still be a little bit weird since it's a cross platform app that has it's own style conventions and doesn't follow any one single operating system's style conventions exactly, but it won't be "unnecessarily" weird anymore. Also it should not be so susceptible to getting broken by new macOS releases either, at least I fervently hope so!

re:
> what will be the most significant changes from MoI V3 to MoI V4?

I won't know the complete list until much further on in the beta release process. The only things I can promise for sure is the stuff I've been working on so far which is 64-bit (for both Windows and Mac) and the native Mac build. I am really looking forward to working on new features though instead of porting and rewriting. Filleting improvements are not looking likely for v4 unfortunately. Grouping, instancing and basic dimension functions are probably the highest things on my radar right now.

- Michael

Re:
> Filleting improvements are not looking likely for v4 unfortunately.

Oh my, please don't say that Michael! Anyone who tried to use Moi, especially after trying other solutions out there like Fusion 360, almost immediately notice that fillet is not as good, slow on more complex stuff or/and very prone to failed calculation.

Beside Moi being x64, filleting overhaul was what i was looking forward the most!

Please consider it as part of v4. You doesn't have to get on it right away so you can first work on, as you said, grouping, instancing and dimensions...but please consider it as high priority too since it is one of the most used features. When i see what Fusion 360 can handle like self intersection of edges, disappearing fillet (when fillet goes into a poin) and some other very complex stuff Moi fillet just fails without even trying to calculate...huh

One the side note: Would be awesome if you can fillet multiple curves at once too insted of selecting one by one.

Thanks for the elucidation Michael. The MacOS improvements sound great.

Hi Michael.

@You : "...Filleting improvements are not looking likely for v4 unfortunately..."

I can imagine what a very incredible amount of code re-thinking and re-writing you must have done to create the upcoming new first V4 beta,
both for Windows and MacOs.
I can imagine and I'm confident that you have written a top quality code !!

But, with that said, it's really a bad thing to hear that there will be no improvements for Filleting and Shelling,
two very important aspects of any 3d Cad.

Some times ago you were talking about include a new and more robust CAD Kernel for Moi.

What about that decision ? Did you abandoned that road ?

Anyway...I stay tuned for the new V4 beta and I hope that in the near future you can return to develop and include a new CAD kernel.

Thanks for all and have a nice day.

Unfortunately the new geometry kernel is still under development and high level features like filleting aren't really ready for production use yet. Right now I still want to use it but it doesn't seem very likely that it's going to be ready for MoI v4.

- Michael

Hi Michael.

Thanks for the info and for your frankness.

@You : "...Unfortunately the new geometry kernel is still under development..."

Are you referring to the KCM kernel from Kubotek ?
I hope so.

@You : "...Right now I still want to use it but it doesn't seem very likely that it's going to be ready for MoI v4"

So, do you think that it could be ready during the whole V4 beta period, that is, before the first official V4 commercial version ?

Thanks.

Hi Marco,

> Are you referring to the KCM kernel from Kubotek ?
> I hope so.

Yes, that's correct.


> So, do you think that it could be ready during the whole V4 beta period, that is,
> before the first official V4 commercial version ?

I don't really know, I'm not even sure right now how long the V4 beta period will last.

But also it's pretty fundamentally unwise to introduce something like a new geometry kernel late in the beta release period. It needs to go in somewhat earlier in the beta test period so it can be tested for longer.

- Michael

Hi Michael.

@You : "...But also it's pretty fundamentally unwise to introduce something like a new geometry kernel late in the beta release period..."

I agree with you.

Have a nice day.