Chaining branch

[SlaveCam]

After years of use, I still haven't figured this out.

Which arrow goes straight and which one turns? What's the rule here?

[SuperHoneyBadger]

Just did a few tests. Even/odd number of wireframes, even/odd number of intersections, arcs, lines.

I thought I was on to something... but the answer is "the other one".

[AHarrison1]

Red goes straight or direction of next chain, blue (or green in 3d) is alternate

[JParis]

Blue is the Branch point where you have to make a decision...Red is the software guessing which way is next...

 

[Aaron Eberhard]

1 hour ago, AHarrison1 said:

Red goes straight or direction of next chain, blue (or green in 3d) is alternate

 

Yep, Red is the vector of the last chain, Blue/green is the alternate to that vector.  It makes a bit more sense if you see it compared to more obvious splits:

 

[SlaveCam]

What Aaron described is not working for me. In the above case for me, red takes the turn.

It would be nice if the appropriate geometry was emphazied/boldened when you hover over the arrow.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

27 minutes ago, SlaveCam said:

It would be nice if the appropriate geometry was emphazied/boldened when you hover over the arrow.

+1

I agree, that would be clutch. I was seeing the red arrow select straight ahead or turn if the chain was modified somewhere else along the line. To see some idea on the path itself when you hover would be the best option

[Aaron Eberhard]

You can just click on the geometry itself you want when it's at a branch and it will continue chaining along that path...

 

Can you post an example file of it not working?  Mine was just a couple of lines & arcs I made in a second.

[AMCNitro]

8 minutes ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

You can just click on the geometry itself you want when it's at a branch and it will continue chaining along that path...

 

Can you post an example file of it not working?  Mine was just a couple of lines & arcs I made in a second.

Was about to say the same... Im from the time before the arrows

[SlaveCam]

Clicking on geometry makes it very easy to accidentally start a new chain without even noticing it, when the chain is very long.

There's been a lot of chaining work lately and it's constantly either a) clicking on the wrong arrow, going back and retry or b) clicking on wrong geometry, starting over

[Aaron Eberhard]

28 minutes ago, SlaveCam said:

Clicking on geometry makes it very easy to accidentally start a new chain without even noticing it, when the chain is very long.

There's been a lot of chaining work lately and it's constantly either a) clicking on the wrong arrow, going back and retry or b) clicking on wrong geometry, starting over

If you click on the wrong geometry and go down the wrong branch, don't Unselect (U) as that throws away the whole selection.  Use Previous (O) to go back one step.   You can iterate really quickly via the keyboard by using X (NeXt), J (AdJust), O (PreviOus) to just try your various options if there's ambiguity.    I'm not sure what the keyboard shortcuts would be in Finnish, of course

[#Rekd™]

Another option is to use colours to differentiate the geometry then use a quick mask. 
 

I am big on using levels, colours etc to separate everything whenever possible. 
 

 

[SlaveCam]

3 hours ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

If you click on the wrong geometry and go down the wrong branch, don't Unselect (U) as that throws away the whole selection.  Use Previous (O) to go back one step.   You can iterate really quickly via the keyboard by using X (NeXt), J (AdJust), O (PreviOus) to just try your various options if there's ambiguity.   

Good tip but It's not that I select a wrong branch, but start another chain without noticing it until it is too late and then it is just faster to start over.

3 hours ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

 I'm not sure what the keyboard shortcuts would be in Finnish, of course

Doesn't matter, I never use localized version (for good reasons )

[jpatry]

On 1/26/2024 at 5:42 PM, Aaron Eberhard said:

You can iterate really quickly via the keyboard by using X (NeXt), J (AdJust), O (PreviOus)

Nice, I'll have to start using that.

I wish the camera followed the chaining progress, though.

[Simon Kausch]

On 1/28/2024 at 1:51 AM, jpatry said:

I wish the camera followed the chaining progress, though.

That would be a nice feature!

[Thad]

I've only clicked on geometry to select the next entity. Clicking the arrow never even occurred to me. When selecting any chain, you click on the geometry to select it. When MC finds a branch point, clicking on the geometry seemed like the logical thing to do.

[SlaveCam]

On 2/1/2024 at 2:28 PM, Thad said:

I've only clicked on geometry to select the next entity. Clicking the arrow never even occurred to me. When selecting any chain, you click on the geometry to select it. When MC finds a branch point, clicking on the geometry seemed like the logical thing to do.

Sure thing, the problem is that both arrows overlap the geometry (lots of small segments) so you have to keep zooming in to be able to click the geometry and then zoom out to get the big picture. So I thought maybe I should just learn to click the arrow.

[Jake L]

23 hours ago, SlaveCam said:

you have to keep zooming in to be able to click the geometry and then zoom out to get the big picture.

F1 and F2 are your friends for zoom in/out quickly

[Aaron Eberhard]

14 hours ago, Jake L said:

F1 and F2 are your friends for zoom in/out quickly

Don't forget Alt+F1 (Fit)!