This object 3dm (clic on the link) http://moi3d.com/forum/get_attachment.php?webtag=MOI_FRANCAIS&hash=9ad1777e162cb0804a31246c5fa6aed6


must have its "side faces" like the side orange form (the internal forms must not move) the orange form is not a rectangle
What is your process for obtain a result form without lines on it (construction or intersection)
In this little video I have made only the right part (form is not symmetric)
http://www.divshare.com/download/944385-5cb (sorry the interface of moi is in french but you will understand the images :)
but maybe exist a more speedy trick?

Hi Pilou,

Generally the fastest way for something like this is to draw it initially in that widened shape, instead of trying to edit one shape into a completely different shape.

There are other solid modeling programs like SolidWorks, etc.. which are more focused on doing that type of editing.

MoI is much more focused on drawing quickly rather than editing existing models into completely different shapes as much.

Of course it is still possible to edit a shape, you showed one good way to do it by boolean union. But it is so much faster to just draw it the way you want it from the beginning... In this case it looks like the grooves were cut by a boolean with a box and a cylinder - if you think that you will want to change the bottom shape I would recommend keeping these box and cylinder shapes around saved in a file somewhere, so you can later on redraw the base shape and then boolean out the grooves from it again. In a future version I want to add more history functionality to make it easier to allow this type of thing more automatically but for now you have to keep track of these older objects yourself.

The other editing method than boolean union is to separate the model into different surfaces and edit the surfaces, then join those surfaces back into a solid later. This object repair tutorial gives some details on this type of detailed object editing: http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=446.17 . It takes a little bit of practice to get used to this type of editing.

Here is how I would apply that type of "low-level" surface editing to this situation.

First, just delete all the faces that are going to be changing, and extract (by copy/paste) the edges that you want to move:



Next, scale those extracted edges by scale1d. Then loft between those edges and the edges of the back face to get this:



Next, draw some lines to connect pieces in the front, then use Construct / Planar to build a surface there:



Then select all surface pieces, and use Edit/Join to glue them together. Then select the combined object, and use Construct / Planar to fill in all planar holes (there are 3 holes that get filled in here):




I'm not sure if that is actually quicker than your boolean version... I guess maybe it is faster because it handles both sides not just one side.. Anyway, I wanted to make sure to show it because this type of editing is very powerful, it will allow you to get into any object and make very detailed changes to it.

For shapes with a lot of planar faces, it helps speed things up if you try to form one closed ring and then use Construct / Planar to fill in all planar holes automatically like I did here - that can fill in a lot of stuff automatically if you just build up the side parts.

Hope this helps give some other ideas for object editing!

But again let me stress that it is better to keep the cutting objects, and just redraw the base part and repeat the boolean difference that created this object in the first place.

- Michael

Many thanks
it's always good to see many possible version of a same problem
As you say maybe not more fast (if the object is very complex), and maybe more perilous in the extractions but working also :)

I have first thinking of just draw a triangle, extrude it, but the boolean result union with the first object don't work :(
But maybe I have another idea :)

All of that is of course a conceptual subject :)

I think actually when the object gets more complex, it is probably a better idea to do the rebuild method more often rather than try to boolean union new parts on.

With boolean union, there is the risk that you will get additional edges inserted around the new pieces you are trying to attach. The geometry library that MoI uses does some extra work to try and combine planar faces together when you do booleans. This is why your method works well in this case. But sometimes that automatic combining may not work and I don't think it will happen for non-planar surfaces either.

With the reconstruction method you're always guaranteed to get a simple clean result at the end, without extra edges being introduced into the middle of the object.

The reconstruction method is often times faster than you would think, once you get used to the techniques for it. But it takes a while to get comfortable with the techniques though.

- Michael

Sure
in the previous case funny is the fact that was only the inflate faces who are wished and the object was very simple:)
Deconstructivism the next time :)