A new v4 beta (version Jun-6-2018) is now available for download here: http://moi3d.com/beta.htm , also linked to from the download page on the main web site.

New stuff:

Major overhaul of STEP/IGES/SAT importing.

These imports will now no longer block the main thread so it won't look like MoI is frozen while it is loading a big file.

The loading happens in 2 phases, first an initial scan of the file that doesn't do too much work except logging the structure of where objects are located. Then the next heavier phase of processing the objects will make use of multiple CPU cores for a major speed increase. So there should be a very substantial performance increase in loading large STEP, IGES, or SAT files in this version.

Also the HarmonyWare libraries used for working with these formats have now been updated from version 1.7.11 to the latest 2.0.8 release and there are a lot of bug fixes from that. A notable one is that some incorrect positioning of instances should be good now. Also some other fixes on MoI's side should make for colors coming through from STEP files that were previously missed.

It would be cool to hear how the new multi-core enabled importer performs on some big files compared to MoI v3!

Also please let me know if you see any new problems with any particular imports. If you do please try to send the file to me at moi@moi3d.com so I can test with it over here, I will keep any files confidential.


Other things:

Window selection Mac - Fix for sluggish selection window dragging reported by James through e-mail.

Properties panel size display - Adjusted the quick size calculation for the properties panel to hopefully increase accuracy a little.

Properties panel - Report closed edges as a distinct object type. Fixes an issue of inconsistent behavior between curves and edges reported through e-mail by Scott.

Edit frame grip size - Added option in moi.ini for setting edit frame grip handle pixel size, so it can be adjusted for higher res displays,
Requested by Barry in the forum here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=8960.1
[View]
EditFrameGripPixelSize=24

DisableOnSrfInOrtho setting - Added scripting access to DisableOnSrfInOrtho setting so it can be toggled at runtime under moi.drawingAids.disableOnSrfInOrtho . Requested on the forum by immortalx here: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=8947.1

NURBS Export RotateZUpToYUp option - Added option in moi.ini for option for exporting STEP/IGES/SAT formats to rotate the export to a Y up coordinate system.
[NURBS Export]
RotateZUpToYUp=y

Update viewport right click - Don't push Cancel buttons with a viewport right click, it's too easy to accidentally cancel a long file import or things like that.


Thanks, - Michael

You will find the French translation in your box mail :)
Not a big work for this time! :)done :)

Always amazing that just bolean a box and a sphere can simple do! :)

Thank you Pilou!

- Michael

I'll update the rest of the release notes tomorrow, it's all small stuff other than the importer update.

- Michael

WOW,

i tested a 83.8MB step file:
V4 Mai 12 = processing 172sec - looks frozen
V4 June 6 = processing 54sec - with a nice progress bar

And even the fans of my iMac 4 GHz Intel Core i7 switched on (something i only know with keyshot rendering on 8 cores)

Thats a big step! Not only in speed but also in user confidence that MOI deals with big files too!

Well done and thank you Michael

Michael

Thanks for the new beta.

I loaded an 80 MB STEP file.
3.0 load time was 9 min, 12 sec
4.0 load time was 1 min / with colors

I'd say that's quite a performance increase.

System info
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 0 @ 3.20GHz (12 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 32768MB RAM
Video Card: GTX-970

Very nice indeed.

Keep up the great work.

-s

Thanks for testing it Ralf, that's a great improvement!

Yup, fans kicking in high gear is a good indicator of multiple cores getting well utilized.

re: confidence with large files, yes this should go well with v4 being 64-bit now as well. One other thing that I still have left to work on is making more use of high VRAM which should also help out in this area even further.

- Michael

Hi Scooter, wow that is quite dramatic!! Great to get those Xeons crunching away.

Thanks for testing it!

- Michael

Hello Michael!

I did a quick test with a super huge 130Mb Step files downloaded from GrabCad.

I have used the Open command rather than the Import command.

Here are the results :

TEST 1 : 130Mb of Step file
Moi V4 Beta 12 May : From Open to full model redraw in the 4 view : 8 min and 14 secs
Moi V4 Beta 06 Jun : From Open to full model redraw in the 4 view : 3 min and 10 secs (Total amount of Ram : 6.2 Gb)

TEST 2 : 32Mb of Step file
Moi V3 : From Open to full model redraw in the 4 view : 46 secs
Moi V4 Beta 06 Jun : From Open to full model redraw in the 4 view : 15 secs

Very good improvement!

My config :
i7-7700K 4.5 Ghz 4 Cores/8 Threads
32Gb DDR4 3000Mhz
Gpu Overclocked custom version of Nvidia Gtx 1080 Ti

But I have a problem with another step file (20Mb).

Moi V3 didn't load it and Moi V4 Beta 06 Jun stopped loading at 36% and the "Cancel" button didn't work, that is, Moi was not frozen but the command has not been cancelled.

You can download and test the file on your own : http://take.ms/slQI1

Have a nice day.

Very nice Pilou!

Hi Marco, thanks for testing it!

re: problem file MF2018.STEP - thanks for sending that, I'll investigate it. There are cases where it will be normal for the progress bar to move unevenly because it goes in steps per object processed so if you have say 1000 tiny objects and 1 huge object it's going to move unevenly in that case.

But it seems that something's getting stuck in a really long low level loop for that one, possibly a too tight tolerance being used, I'll see. Since V3 is similarly afflicted it doesn't look like a newly introduced bug.

- Michael

Anyone has experienced the problem of mouse right click to cancel the command?
In my case, I cannot cancel some commands using right mouse click.
Line or Freeform curve have no problem.(sometimes)
But closed curve like circle and rectangle cannot be canceled using right mouse click.
And other commands have same problem.
That's very weird. :(

Hi sandykoufax - this version has right click to push the cancel button disabled now, I have heard from a few people that it was not expected and I was worried about accidentally canceling file loading with it as well. If a command is showing a "Done" button instead of only a "Cancel" button, right click still works as a shortcut for pushing that.

I will put in an option though to restore the previous behavior for the next release.

- Michael

Hi Micheal

I tested on stop file 219mb in size.

V3 = 13:06 mins

V4 = 2:22 mins !!!!

I am on a iMac 4Ghz Intel Core i7, 32 gb memory, AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4GB

This is great news, so much so that I really think that you should utilise email software notifications a little more, I check the forums quite regularly but progress like this really should be broadcast more widely :-)

Oh and the colours coming coming thru just made my work a whole lot easier by being able to break complex models into easier sections for export etc.

Well done, much appreciated.

Matt

Thank you for answer.
It was very very annoying for me.
So I reverted my version to previous one.
I hope the new behavior is option instead of default in next version. :)

Hi sandykoufax, it could help me if I understood why the right click to cancel was useful. If you start the circle command for example, how is it that you then don't want to draw a circle anymore? I mean is it because you meant to actually run some other command and you were in the circle command by mistake? Or is it something else?

You can also cancel the circle command by pushing the Cancel button, using the Esc key or just starting a new command which will cancel the current one.

The main reason for the switch was that now the Open and Import commands will show some UI with a cancel button on it, and right clicking in a viewport would then cancel the file load which doesn't seem good to do.

- Michael

Because that it was default workflow for a long time.
Something change give some inconvenience until it gets used to it.

Hi sandykoufax,

re:
> Because that it was default workflow for a long time.

Certainly, and that's why I'll definitely set it up so you can do a one time configuration step and then return to the old behavior after that.

But whether it should be the default or not depends a lot on how much inconvenience is involved in normal usage, like is it once a day, once and hour, once a minute, etc... ?

- Michael

Release notes in first message have been updated. - Michael

Hello Michael!

@You : "...Update viewport right click - Don't push Cancel buttons with a viewport right click, it's too easy to accidentally cancel a long file import or things like that..."

This is OK for me!
Thanks.