Hi guys,
There are quite a few posts on people disappointed about the VSR tools going away when upgrading to V6. I’m one of those people. I decided to make a few videos on the difference between Rhino tools vs. VSR tools.
Let me begin to say that I believe the Rhino geometry creation tools generate good geometry, I just find the VSR user interface for two tools that perform similar or identical geometry is often much more user friendly.
First example is the Adjustable Curve Blend.
Hi Mark, I think as a person who uses Rhino we always want more functionality. From the other side , I am guessing the developers of Rhino are trying to put the rescoures to the most benificial places.
As you showed in your video how putting numerical values near the sliders. That looks like a better way of adjusting blended curves because it is not just a visual estimate. Over time a person could gain knowledge of these values and what works best for them.
—-Mark
Hi Mark,
For sure everyone always wants more functionality. I’m not a developer and have no idea how much work it would be for the developers to enhance this tool, but I believe a user experience similar to this would really benefit most if not all Rhino users.
I don’t know if this will be a priority for the developers or not, but rather than just complain we need improvements, the video shows how the current function could potentially be improved. If enough people believe this is a good idea, it might make it on the list for new enhancements. I sure hope it does.
A lot of these feature are from Icem Surf. VSR devs were former Icem devs. They developed some ideas further but it feels very similar. Icem Surf is dying out as well. There are not much licenses sold, and development goes into wrong direction as well.
So there are 4 options I see so far:
a.) Someone or Rhino devs will develop similar tools. Some tools are not as easy as it looks like and are based on decades of experience and years of work (not this particular feature, but others)
b.) you will stick to rhino 5 forever, all people owning VSR are in luck
c.) you buy Icem Surf or Alias or Catia with ISD module, use Rhino for the rest. Together both worlds are unbeatable
d.) I don’t know, there is always a plan d. Could be illegal or expensive. 
here is a screen of the same function in Surf (green arrows behave the same):
Hi TomTom,
Yes I was aware the VSR guys were former ICEM guys. In my videos I mention that the Rhino tools can already produce great results, so I don’t believe the geometry creation algorithm needs to change. The updated MoveUVN tool is a good example. The basic functionality hasn’t really changed, but having buttons with preset drag strengths is a really nice enhancement of the existing tool. It’s a one click operation and based on the geometry you’re trying to modify you will quickly learn what type of drag strength you can click to perform that task. It’s those types of enhancements that would greatly improve the user experience.
I don’t plan to uninstall V5 and keep the VSR tools, but what if I need to switch the license to a new computer? Will this work? Will Autodesk help me if it doesn’t work. I don’t believe I will be able to keep it running indefinitely and I hope I won’t have to. A few small useability enhancements to the existing Rhino tools would go a long way in my opinion.
