any word on v4 features? cuz i think interface and fundamentals need a refresh....

[GroBoto]

Hi Darrel,

thanks again for your explanations...is the cosmoKayak shell modelling possible with the current 3.2 version? also is it already possible (i dont seem to get that working) to boolean a shape then used that new compund shape to boolean another? do you think you will be able to manage to create say an extruded tube that will then be used in booleans? (unlike tthe groboto to modo example that rlied on Modo to complete the curved extrusions)

all this will be fantastic and im sure you know it

cheers

Hi gasoil,

The cosmoKayak was done entirely with v 3.2. I am working on a Video of those Shell techniques -- really quite simple (and one of those fun, realtime, workflows once set up). Check my YouTube Channel later this week.

Regarding compound Booleans -- not yet, but soon.
As Boris mentioned near the top of this thread, we are enhancing our Boolean capabilities:
Luxology Thread with New Boolean Notes
(starting about halfway down on the first page, continuing for several pages after that). This is coming in version 3.5.

Extrusions are a bit more complex. It would be possible -- without major core technology changes -- to support linear extrusions, and possibly extrusions along Quadric paths. Any thing else -- other spline paths for example -- would require handling geometry that lives on another level of complexity (one that is about 100 times as difficult to calculate when it comes to intersections & boolean operations -- so, potentially 100 times as slow). We do see paths to supporting other analytic surfaces (NURBS for example), but both what the scope and performance of those systems would be is unknown.

That's the strength/beauty/reason for Hybrid GroBoto-Mesh modeling. Mesh forms are unlimited (both a strength and a problem -- how does one navigate that space of all possible forms). Our systems help guide that navigation using the inherently orderly & graceful nature of Quadric Booleans. Additional data -- derived from that geometry and passed along to the Mesh App in the form of weightmaps, script-accessible info, and the very structure of our meshes -- carries that grace & order forward into the Mesh realm.


…on another note -- I forgot to mention this Video -- 'tho perhaps you found it anyway. …speaks to that GroBoto-as-Design tool notion:

Best Wishes,
Darrel

This Video shows the use of GroBoto as a Concept & Design tool, highlighting the advantages of the metaSolid modeling booleans-now-mesh-later system.

Nautilus Flyer Design Movie on YouTube

[boris]

gasoil,

cosmoKayak was all done with the current release version 3.2.1.

As far as using a compound boolean for another boolean operation, I imagine you would like to subtract it from some other object, and this is not possible in the current version. This is what is coming in version 3.5.

Using an extruded tube for booleans is yet another level. Our current goal is to allow the primitives we currently support - spheres, cylinders, cones, boxes, ellipsoids, etc. - to be used in multi-level boolean arrangements with real time editing.

Cheers,
Boris