Hello moi3D-Forum! Since 2013 I'm working with c4d in poly-modelling - now moi3d has been added to my workflow. INCREDIBLE TOOL!! Since I've been working with it for 2 weeks very intensively and I've watched many tutorials and made my own copies, it's time to have a look at some hand drawings (concept design) and implement them in moi3d. I found a great drawing that I just can't realize - I would need your help and your ideas how you would do it. Enclosed is the photo of Michael Oberschneider in Artlist https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8mNOm - a really great work! (also attached). I would like to create this geometry in moi3d and always fail because of the soft transition from the cylinder (wheels) to the main body (in the middle). I would be happy about your input. Thanks a lot!

Hi RJ, models that have a branching structure with soft transitions like that tend to be easier to do with sub-d modeling rather than with NURBS construction modeling.

So the easiest method would probably be to construct it in c4d using poly modeling / sub-d smoothing there, and then if you need to do further CAD operations on it like booleans you can use the V4 sub-d converter (available in v4 under Sub-D > Create > From file) to convert the sub-d control cage in .obj format exported out from C4D into a NURBS surface object in MoI.

To do this in MoI you would need to use some of the more advanced surface modeling techniques like trimming surfaces and constructing blends, like this:

Trimming to make a hole:







Then you can select edges like this:



And use Construct > Blend to build a blend surface connecting between those edgs:



But can be a fairly difficult process. If you are already familiar with sub-d modeling it would probably be a good idea to build it in C4D rather than in MoI.

- Michael

BOA, Michael - MANY, MANY THX for your quick response and your help!! I apricate that very much - you made my day :-) !! - I bought moi3d for about 2 weeks together with some tutorials on gumroad and I'm working about 12 hours/day to be ready as soon as possible - but compared with poly-modeling in c4d I made so much progress within this time where I needed about 1 year in poly-modeling :-) :-) - and there is so much fun working with it!! I'm with the original moi v3 Release (as with every software I 'm using it in production) and not beta - but do you recommend the v4 beta? As far I had 0 (null - zero!!!!!!) problems - unbeatable - I love this!! The only wish I have :-): I'm working with c4d since 2013 and there is 1+LMB = pan, 2+LMB = zoom, 3+LMB rotate - this costed me so much time to change that behavior and to navigate in moi3d - if there is a possibility to make this allocation individually, that would be surely an advantage. Are there many new features from v3 to v4? Hmm, I think I have to watch out for v4 :-) Again: - MUCH thanks a lot for your help!!! Best, Robert

Hi Robert,

I realize that you asked Michael about using the v4 beta and I expect you will get a more complete answer from him, but as a user I will say that I have been using the v4 beta releases exclusively for over a year with no troubles. You can learn a great deal about the new features by browsing through the release notes: http://moi3d.com/wiki/V4Beta

--Larry

THX a lot, Larry!! I will definitely do that - thx for your quick answer! Never thought that a user group is so helpful and responsible. I have never regretted taking moi3d for a second, although one of my customers (when he found out that I was adding moi3d to my workflow in c4d) asked me if this was a professional software, he looked at the website and asked if the product would be developed further ... i should rather use Fusion360 with c4d ... hahahahaha .... now I show him what is possible! THX again, Larry! Best, Robert - geopic.at

hi rj,

yes, many years ago when i first found MoI, the website was a turn off. It does not give a professional view of the software. That's unfortunate. But like you have found, the software is excellent and the support and forum is the best by far.

one thing I have found is Rhino is tempting because it lists more features than MoI. however, so many of the features of Rhino are riddled with bugs that it makes it terrible to use. MoI has less features than Rhino, but the features it does have work. so you aren't having to try to do the same operation in many different ways, like in Rhino. with Rhino I have to try all sorts of things until I uncover what the bug is. i've been waiting for MoI v4 to be released so that I can switch from Rhino v5 to MoI v4. they are fairly feature compatible with a few exceptions that I can live with.

anthony

You can also use MOi3D as SubDivision Modeler ;)

Sure in no so complete mode as normal SUBdivision Modelers like the Free Blender or Rocket 3F but yet funny!
https://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=9689.1

Hi RJ,

re:
> I'm with the original moi v3 Release (as with every software I 'm using it in production)
> and not beta - but do you recommend the v4 beta?

Yes I do recommend using the v4 beta, it's actually quite a bit more polished up than v3.


> I'm working with c4d since 2013 and there is 1+LMB = pan, 2+LMB = zoom, 3+LMB rotate
> - this costed me so much time to change that behavior and to navigate in moi3d - if there
> is a possibility to make this allocation individually, that would be surely an advantage.

Hmm, I did not know about the 1/2/3+LMB in C4D, I'll see if I can support those in MoI as well.

- Michael

Hi RJ,

re:
> The only wish I have :-): I'm working with c4d since 2013 and there is 1+LMB = pan, 2+LMB = zoom, 3+LMB rotate

I was looking into this but it's problematic to use "regular keys" that generate characters like 1, 2, 3 as modifier keys.

There are many places in MoI where typing "1" is already used for numeric input. For example when you are drawing a circle and you are at the stage where you are picking the radius, you can type "1" and that will put a "1" into the radius numeric input field so you can do things like type 10 and push Enter to specify a radius of 10 without needing to click on anything.

If I tried to use the 1 key as a "modifier key" for the mouse, when you typed it I wouldn't be able to tell at that moment if you were planning to use it as a modifier key for mouse view navigation or whether you were trying to type in a radius value.

That's why usually Shift/Ctrl/Alt are used for this type of thing since those don't generate characters when you push them all by themselves.

So I don't think it is feasible for 1+LMB, 2+LMB, 3+LMB to work in MoI for view navigation as a default "out of the box" behavior. It is possible though to set up 1, 2, 3 as shortcut keys which will then override the regular numeric input handling unless focus is already in an edit field. I'll see if I can add something so a script set up on those shortcut keys could be used for view navigation, I don't think there is quite enough exposed to script at the moment to do it.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

thx a lot for your effort!! Meanwhile I think I got it to work :-) - I changed Substance-Painter, C4D and RizomUV to the Moi3d navigation so I'm consistent in every software again. I haven't thought that this would take me 2 weeks :-) - THX again!! Best Robert

Hi Anthony, thx for the info - very interesting! Yea, in different CGI forums you will read a lot about Rhino but also on Fusion360. I was very hesitant which nurbs-based tool to use for my daily c4d workflow. It was the decision between Fusion360 and Moi3D. When I read many reviews that Moi3D is very easy, very fast and extremely stable I decided to use Moi3D - so far the best decision (besides c4D - which I don't regret so far - also incredibly stable, fast and great support). Best, Robert