Several general questions

6. Is it possible to subdivide the object without smoothing it?

'Polygon Shortcut Tools -> Subdivision' opens up a window where you can subdivide selected faces. To subdivide the whole mesh, you'd have to select all faces (double click on a face). You can turn off 'Mesh Smooth' in the window.

Thank you.

4: Done.
5: Done.

Hello guys.
Two problems on one screenshot:
7. NVil clips geometry in ortographic view(!).
8. The blue line is the symmetry plane. If I mirror the model over X and calculate symmetry topologically, NVil calculates it wrongly, because the symmetry plane is misplaced and I can't figure out how to move it.

Any ideas?

Also, I've noticed that if I create a background image in a top view (for example) then sometimes something weird starts to going on with the manipulator. It's almost like it switches between the screen mode and whatever mode I have it set to. Also, the manipulator stays in place when I move the geometry, even though I have "Group pivot goes with objects" and "Manipulator goes with selection in manual mode" options enabled.
I'm not able to reproduce it each time though.
When it begins to happen in my scene, restarting NVil helps to bring things back to normal.

7. What is the clipping style for the viewport, Auto or Manual? If Auto, your camera focus point maybe too behind. You can use either 'Set View Focus Point' command (default:Ctrl+Alt+Shif+RMB) click on a mesh surface, or View > Viewport Flaming > Best Fit to adjust it. If Manual, you also need to check the near clip plane value to make sure it is not tool big. See Edit > Preference > Clip Plane.
8. The symmetry plane is always original from the mesh's pivot. Initially mesh's pivot is located at object's pivot. Can you tell me how did you mirror the model. In NVil, mirror operation and symmetry operation are different things. mirror operation is mesh level operation and it does not set symmetry information onto the mesh, while symmetry operations will setup symmetry information and it let you modify on one side and get symmetrical result on both sides.

Also, I've noticed that if I create a background image in a top view (for example) then sometimes something weird starts to going on with the manipulator. It's almost like it switches between the screen mode and whatever mode I have it set to. Also, the manipulator stays in place when I move the geometry, even though I have "Group pivot goes with objects" and "Manipulator goes with selection in manual mode" options enabled.
I'm not able to reproduce it each time though.
When it begins to happen in my scene, restarting NVil helps to bring things back to normal.

Which object mode were you in? object/mesh/polygon/edge/vertex? If it happed next time, can you record it to a video and also please let me know what is the manipulator pivot setting. If the move manipulator is out of view, the program will display it at the center of the screen to let you still be able to interact with it.

7. What is the clipping style for the viewport, Auto or Manual? If Auto, your camera focus point maybe too behind. You can use either 'Set View Focus Point' command (default:Ctrl+Alt+Shif+RMB) click on a mesh surface, or View > Viewport Flaming > Best Fit to adjust it. If Manual, you also need to check the near clip plane value to make sure it is not tool big. See Edit > Preference > Clip Plane.

I have clipping set to automatic. Best fit... well, it acts kind of strange. Single use of best fit didn't yield any good results. In fact, the clipping occurred even earlier than before. I was about to describe it here, but before that I began to test mirroring and symmetry again and after a while (and a lot of "best fitting" to frame selections) I realised that the clipping in orthographic views was minimised almost to none. Go figure.

8. The symmetry plane is always original from the mesh's pivot. Initially mesh's pivot is located at object's pivot. Can you tell me how did you mirror the model. In NVil, mirror operation and symmetry operation are different things. mirror operation is mesh level operation and it does not set symmetry information onto the mesh, while symmetry operations will setup symmetry information and it let you modify on one side and get symmetrical result on both sides.

To mirror the model I simply selected object reference space from mirror options and the appropriate axis. Then clicked on the mesh and it mirrored nicely. After clicking on "Calculate Symmetry Topologically" I immediately noticed that something is going to go wrong (red vertices appeared). I enabled symmetry ("Symmetry Enabled") and the result confirmed my worries.

I've noticed that if I choose mesh reference space instead, it mirrors over a plane that is in a wrong place (the same place where the blue symmetry plane from the screenshot is located). It looks like pivots of the mesh and object are still in the same place though (I'm using "Selection" as manipulator position mode to check this).

(...) If the move manipulator is out of view, the program will display it at the center of the screen to let you still be able to interact with it.

Ah, but this exactly what I've been experiencing. I was sure this was a bug of some kind. It confused the hell out of me.

I have clipping set to automatic. Best fit... well, it acts kind of strange. Single use of best fit didn't yield any good results. In fact, the clipping occurred even earlier than before. I was about to describe it here, but before that I began to test mirroring and symmetry again and after a while (and a lot of "best fitting" to frame selections) I realised that the clipping in orthographic views was minimised almost to none. Go figure.

If I understand you correctly, then before pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+RMB - max zoom to object.
Read the messagehttp://voidworld.cmcproductions.co.uk/index.php/topic,1091.msg3622.html#msg3622  and below

rubberDuck, you have used mirror operations. You should use symmetry operations.

Edit > Options > Shortcut Symmetry Options > ...
Geometry > Symmetry Cut > ...

There is a tutorial in the help file. Help > Tutorial.

I have only one side of the object (on -X), so I need to mirror it to +X first and only then I can apply topological symmetry. I'm sorry I forgot to mention it earlier.

The problem is with symmetry plane that seems to be stuck in one place. I can't indicate its new position with manipulator, nor reset it or whatever. I can post a video that I quickly knocked out and which follows the steps I take.

The only way of "moving" the symmetry plane I found to be working, is to:
1. Mirror the mesh.
2. Export it to .obj using "Save Selected As..." - this disbands its symmetry plane.
3. Merge the .obj back into the scene - symmetry plane is reapplied at the centre of the imported mesh.

You can adjust the symmtry plane. In object mode, open the 'Pivot' tool, make sure 'Mesh pivots as well' option is on. Then use the move manipulator to move the object pivot, you will see the symmetry plane be moved as well.

I don't believe It was that simple!
Thank you very much IStonia. This helped a lot.

Two more, short questions, if you don't mind.

9. In "File->Import from external file" the only available file format is .vwf. Yet NVil doesn't allow exporting to this format. What is this .vwf? VoidWorld legacy format? Cadvance?
10. I don't know how, but I have locked the radial menu editor. I can't drag and drop in it any more:
http://youtu.be/XDwIO43392Y

9. vwf is a very legacy file format. It is used to save your internal library objects into one file for backup or sharing.
10. Were you able to do that before?. You might be need to restart your pc. I found it sometimes after my pc have been running for a while, a week or so, I can't do the drag-drop any more, even in window explorer or othe apps I use.

Okay, the problem went away after I restarted the system. But I need to say that drag-and-drop in Explorer, applications and even other parts of NVil (buttons in my custom user tools window for example) worked perfectly fine. Radial menu editor was the only place where drag-and-drop did not work.

Yes, this happened before. But only one or two times maybe since my first contact with NVil at the end of the last year.

Thanks.