I recently learned about the existence of MoI (Moment of Inspiration) thanks to discussion on Cheetah 3d’s forums. I’m normally not much interested in Windows-only software, but for MoI I’m willing to make an exception. MoI is for NURBS modeling what Silo is for polygon/subdiv modeling. It doesn’t suck. It’s written by Michael Gibson — who apparently was the original developer of Rhino (the reigning NURBS modeler) — but this time he designed for tablet users (i.e. think single mouse button) from the get go, and the result is nothing less than a 3d doodle pad that just works.
This is the first model I created with MoI. So this is me learning to use the program. It’s a very simple model, but it’s also a model I’ve never been able to satisfactorily complete in any 3d modeling program ever. Note that I chopped it in half just so I could show off the interior. There’s no shortcuts or compromises. E.g. if I did this using subdiv modeling I wouldn’t have fins with a real airfoil cross-section and sharp edges. Chances are the shape of the fins wouldn’t be quite right either since you just end up pushing edges around until the curve looks “close enough”.
And look at the beautiful and precise way the fins join onto the fuselage. (You may notice that the control spline does not match the geometry in this picture — that’s just a consequence of my mesh approximation preferences which can be dialed up as far as you’re willing to live with.)
This is a close-up of the cabin cross-section. I want to show how the window openings are actually modeled. I made all the rotational symmetry five-fold simply because I could.
I actually took a bit of a shortcut in modeling the interior of the rocket nozzle, but that’s simply because by that point I’d already decided to buy a copy of MoI and I wasn’t going to put more work into the model since I was using a save disabled trial version.
Playing around with MoI has been amazingly liberating. Instead of messing with subdiv for hard edged models because working with NURBS is just too painful, I now have a tool for creating hard edged models (like spaceships) when I want to, and I can use subdiv modeling for what it’s best at — organic stuff. I can’t wait for my license to show up.