Till today quasi all carpenters, carpenter-joiner, cabinet maker, wood workers etc... in the world use the SketchUp prog! ;)

Alas the last free version on local computer is not yet existing from a month only "free online" and with no possibility to use plugins!!!

But you can always download the previous 2017 version Make (Free) local for computer! (so using Plugins !!! )
https://www.sketchup.com/fr/download/all
(of course for a pro use you must buy the Pro Version! But for training that is perfect!

Of course learning Moi is also perfect because it's the "SketchUp" of the Nurbs! :)

I just translated a very cool wood site plugin for SketchUp! https://trussfr.weebly.com (in French) :)
in english : http://design.medeek.com/resources/medeektrussplugin.html (free version is existing ! )





PS and a very cool Real Time Renderer for all that is SimLab Composer Lite! Maxi 1920 * 1080 some sufficient for many things! :)

http://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-products/simlab-composer-lite.aspx



You can of course us it for any assembly of any thing from any prog with any format! :)

Thanks Pilou

Hello,

Sketchup won't get you nearly as far as MoI when it comes to actual production. MoI has a great toolset for furniture makers and outputs DXF and STEP which nearly all shops will take and machine without issue.

Hi Keith,

I did furniture and commercial interiors design for a part of my life.

I learned autocad, but I wish a program like Moi3d existed at the time!.
It really shines for designing, specifically in that area, in my opinion.

You have to think in the same way that would machine it in real life to build your model, which is not quite the same in a polygonal approach.

The only caveat is you have to use another program to do dimensioning and annotations.
But for me the benefits outweigh the inconvenience 10 to 1.

Also, If I remember, basic dimensioning is not too far in the roadmap.

Marc

Hi Keith.

It depends also on what is your budget.

I think that Moi is a wanderful tool suitable for working on many different kind of projects.

But you also should keep in mind that is lacks some very important features when it comes to managing stuff for "building".

For example first of all History.

Moi is not a classical "history based" cad.
When you have to simply modify for example the length of an object that represent a "wooden board" on which you have already applied a fillet or chamfer,
you have to do all the operation manually. Delete the fillet, repair the surface, modify the lenght, redo the fillet. Often the fastest thing in Moi is to redo the complete object from scratch.

Also Moi doesn't have an effective "Annotation and dimension" toolset.

You have to consider these things if you want your son to study on a "industry standard" tool.

You would obtain great result for example if you couple Moi with Rhino.

Ciao!

In my opinion MOI would be an excellent tool for designing custom furniture. I have been using it for this purpose for many years. Previously using Rhino but only go to it now for some of it's more specific functions. Dimensioning and detailing 2d drawings for production is one of the features you will be missing. There are plenty of affordable 2d (like Vaicad) drawing programs that would let you fill in the gaps.

Hi Keith,

In my opinion MoI is the best CAD package available by far, I trained as a furniture designer and have run a stone business for 32 years.

MoI is at the heart of my business, I like it particularly for 2 reasons, firstly using it is fun and a very pleasant experience and secondly Michael's passion shines through in his software and support for it.....an unparalleled combination in my book!

-James Elliott

We manufacture wooden seating furniture, creativity is important. The design drawing should also be used for visualization for the customer as well as for production. I've been working with Moi for 1.5 years now. I didn't make any 3D drawings before. I am extremely satisfied because it is quick and easy to use, even in complex jobs. The results can also be used for CNC work in combination with corresponding programs, because the result is a nurbs surface. Visual representation for the customer is best done by exporting to Sketchfab. I finish dimensioned 2-D drawings in Q-Cad, also for printing and as PDF. This is fast and in most cases sufficient (whereas I finish the drawing work as far as possible in Moi).
Here are some works to look at in Sketchfab:
https://sketchfab.com/plankf/models
I am very happy to have put my focus on Moi and enjoy the possibilities of the forum and the great contributions.

Because of my limited language skills (English) with automatic translation.

"Anyone should be encouraged to learn MoI and create beautiful things." — Metin Seven, December 2017 ;)

Thank you all for you comments. I shared them with my son and he now wants to learn 3d modelling.
BW
Keith

@You : "...he now wants to learn 3d modelling."

Wow!!

I wish all the best to your son.

(Serious) 3d modelling it's such a wanderful and also very tough field!

He will have to study a lot :)

Regards.

P.S.

I apologize Keith if I tell you a thing that might seem a little bit intrusive :)

Please, don't let your son to be one of the hundreds people who waste their talents and their efforts for creating yet another 3D War game or 3D models for very violent "messages" :)

I think that too many very talented 3D artists are sacrificing their talents in that kind of things.

Have a nice day.

Hi
I appreciate your concern but I think he is only planning to make plans for furniture. Apparently he now evaluates the craftsmanship that has gone into every wooden thing he encounters.
BW
Keith

@You : "...Apparently he now evaluates the craftsmanship that has gone into every wooden thing he encounters..."

:)

Cheers!

Keith,

I have a wood workshop (in Belgium) and use exclusively MoI for designing and manufacturing (both with power tools and CNC). I have Sketchup on my computer for when clients send me .skp files, but it is not a very user friendly or intuitive program, compared to MoI. The only drawback of MoI (as mentioned before) is the lack of dimensioning and annotations, but that is coming in the near future as I read somewhere. And you can export Moi to .skp and add the dimensions there with the free SketchUp Make version.

MoI is easy to learn, cheap, simple yet rather complete, and one can always upgrade to a "real" CAD program if the need for something more elaborate comes up.

cheers
Wim

<< but it is not a very user friendly or intuitive program, compared to MoI.

Moi is the "SketchUp of the Nurbs"! ;)
So SketchUp is some friendly against other Polymodelers
and has the best Plugin Libraries, Objects System etc...seems rustic but so efficient! :)

> So SketchUp is some friendly against other Polymodelers

I don't think so when it comes to subd modeling. :-)

Regards
Stefan

That's not its primary function! :)

You can but for this take ZBrush ($) or Blender (free)! :)
The right tool for the right function! (it can or Moi can but with very difficult efforts !)

@You : "...The right tool for the right function..."

Wise words my friend....wise words!

These words are the perfect summary of tons and tons of posts and forum threads :)

Ciao!