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[Steve]

cooldude234: I added a temporary option to Build 1113 to see is it's going in the right direction. You can use the Options->Debug->DebugA command to toggle showing all spline lengths and selected knots coordinates when editing splines. Let me know what you think

[Trevor]

Oh WOW, Downloading new an8 now.

Trev

[cooldude234]

I think 99% of the time it doesn't bother me having all the lengths displayed at once. However I have made a picture to go in-depth on my opinion on the matter to help illustrate what I am trying to say.
Also the alt thing is still being a pain, I can't alt print screen with the camera movement coming up, although I do like having a keyboard shortcut for this I don't think having it bound to the alt key is in any way convenient.

EDIT: DARNIT I did it again, I forgot to attach the image  :\

[Trevor]

oh wow... I wish I could test this, it looks awsome.

Yeah, 3D co-ords that are Backfaces and in a complex model can overload the screen.

I really think my idea was purly a drawing aid rather than an everything aid. That said, did I not read that it only showed on selected lines which is awsome.

[edit] I think I just read those lines are showing as debugA, I guess i really need to test myself before passing comment[/edit]

Am I right in saying the boundry measurements override the line legnths? If so then I probably wont be using the boundry tool.
While levels in GoldenEye are limited to 65,534cm (+/-32,767 (15Bit)) I just use a large cube and make sure my mesh does not excede it.

I do like the vert co-ords, they look good and could also show me out of bounds

[MvGulik]

I think the point position data could probably use a bit of spacing after the comma to improve the general readability of the coordinates.

Current: (12.3,45.6,78.9)

+Spacing: (12.3, 45.6, 78.9)

[Steve]

MvGulik: Good idea. I'll for it for the next drop.

[Trevor]

Ok, So comeing back to this in 1164 I have a few Queries.

Normal Meshes display the bounding box size but in PLF mode there are no 2P, L or F measurments.
(By 2P I mean to select 2 points and have the distance between them displayed.)
This, must be with arrow select tool and not fast select. That would get confusing.

Path Tools work for the most part.
It shows the current drawing lines mesurement and with DebugA you can show all measurments. Can you move DebugA to an official button either next to or as part of the CAD mode button.

Angle between last line and new line is still required

I just found the point Co-Ords, you click a point in Path tool and it shows Co-Ord, nice.

Trev

[Trevor]

Can I also add that the use of Scientific Notation is a little exessive.

eg, 65535 is displayed in an8 as 6.554e+004 which is actually more charactures than the original number.

Scientific Notation should only be used if the number displayed is smaller than the original number. In this case the original number would require more than 10 Chars to be of benifit.

Most elements in an8 complain if e > 6 anyway, so I guess there is really no need for it.

Thanks,
Trev

[Steve]

Yes, 6.554e+004 is a bit annoying. I'll work on this.

[Trevor]

Just thought Id Highlight a few needed features that were stated previously.

DebugA works great, I forgot about it and needed it, thanks to a few posts up I was able to see all legnths of lines.

Corner Angles are still needed (Maybe toggle like DebugA)

Splines need the ability to join or else, what does "Convert to spline" work on, so far it has never worked for me.

Lines need a tool to add "Thickness", I tried my making a line path a mesh and used "Extrude Edges" but nothing happened, I also tried "Inset" but that requires a face.
It would be good if that could work with lines from the offset (just like shell mode, add thickness would draw aditional lines a set distance away from the original line with mouse drag (or dialoge per line segment))

Then the line can be extruded or lathed with the thickness already set.

The reason for wishing the feature at the line stage is for drawing more CAD style with the numbers.

If we drew a single line and then lathed/extruded into a mesh and then shelled, we loose the line legnths.
I am not requesting line legnths on mesh as we have already seen the mess, so Im requesting a feature to be brought forward to the planning stage of drawing.

Thanks,
Trev

EDIT
I  have just realised how "Convert to spline" works.
You have to go to PEF mode and then select on edges that dont connect back over themselves (eg, on a cylinder, cut the top off, then only select the perimiter and ignore the crossing lines(Triangulation)) then click "Convert to Spline"
So, this should be dissabled on object mode to denote it cannot be used.

With this method I extruded a line, used shell tool on it, deleted the "Raised" verticies, removed all faces and cross connecting lines on bottom, then finally selected the Inner and Outer Perimiters and said "Convert to Spline" to get back legnths on screen.

This is a very long way round, but at least I know it can be done now.
Im not sure I want to teach my dad how to do that though....

Attached was suppoosed to be a working example, however it crashed when I edited the path/spline

[Unobtainium]

Steve, are you considering adding more CAD features? (I know this is an old thread, but starting a new one feels unnecessary).

[Steve]

I'm always open for suggestions. What do you have in mind?

[Trevor]

You still don't have Angle to last point, that would be nice.

Would be nice if at least selected edges had lengths and angles between connected selected edges.

I know there was talk of there being too much clutter, but selected edges should be ok.

Trev

[Unobtainium]

Well, I'm a fan of the Add edge, Cut Faces, Topographical knife, and Straight / Curved Path tools, and I feel a few more basic tools dealing with 2D curves would be alright. The same goes for more helpers for getting correct positions on faces, along edges, correct angles, and alignments to lines (MOI 3D has these, see 3rd attached image. I can elaborate later or just have a look online yourself ).

Holding Shift while rotating something could show at mouse position, an overlaid (HUD) wheel with lines divided into 45 degrees that you can snap the rotation angle towards. See the 2nd attached image.

It would also be nice to have an integrated "Select similar faces" in the program (by default) and with a similarity threshold variable (range (0, 1] with 1 meaning only identical faces get selected).

Lastly, perhaps some extended repeat / copy tools.

-- Everything is shown in the 1st attached image. Inspiration comes mostly from Moment of Inspiration 3D (MOI 3D) and SolidThinking. I know Anim8or is a polygonal modeler, and that several of the shown tools would require various settings for adjustment of this & that, but they would be practical, imho. In the other programs, these tools are k-step procedures, that is "select point 1", "... point 2", ..., "select point k" in order to finish the procedure. I'm not sure how things should be done in Anim8or, but at least the suggestions are here now for everyone to give feedback on.

Last but not least; I know there exists a bunch of neat scripts already, but I feel that Anim8or can be even easier to use if some more functionality is more readily available like buttons on a ribbon etc. This is partly why I suggest these tools in this post, say there exists two Loft scripts already but they are hidden away in the Scripts list, and would be handy to have by default anyways.

I'd like to explain better but it'll have to be in later posts, not atm.

[Trevor]

These are all nice features but I'm not sure they are CAD functions, at least not as described in An8.
The CAD functions tend to revolve around snaps and measures.
Modeling functions would encompass selection of faces and Booleans (Booleans also have a script, but I agree that it would be awesome if it were built in.)

That all said, CAD literally does mean "Computer Aided Design" so anything that Aids is a CAD function.
But, there are many Aids that are enabled without entering "CAD Mode" in An8 (Icon = Ruler standing on end)

Trev