[Bf-funboard] Toolbox idea

William Reynish bf-funboard@blender.org
Mon, 15 Dec 2003 16:19:11 +0100 (CET)


 --- Matt Ebb <matt@mke3.net> wrote: 
> Ok, while I was going through the menu stuff, I came
> up with an idea. I 
> wanted to post it now before it's forgotten (it's
> currently sketched on 
> the back of an envelope that was next to my bed :P).
> 
> Now the rush of Blender 2.30 is over, and we can
> take a step back and 
> re-evaluate things. One of the objectives of this
> new menu system was 
> that the pulldown menus would be a very logical,
> structured system 
> (perhaps at the expense of speed), while the toolbox
> would be fast, 
> immediate and context-sensitive. I don't think this
> has been successful 
> - the toolbox is still very structured, and based on
> navigating through 
> the hierarchy, and definitely not as fast as it
> could be. In some of 
> the research we did leading up to 2.30, the
> toolboxes from Wings and 
> 3DS Max were pointed out as being very good, as they
> allowed immediate 
> access to tools (Screenshot of Max's quad menu: 
>
http://www.adamwatkins.com/s3_tutorials/images/final.gif)
> 
> So, the idea I had is to combine the W key specials
> menu with the 
> toolbox, making a nice, fast, all-in-one control.
> Rough mockup here:
> 
>
http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/toolbox/toolbox_specials.png
> 
> The menu items around the outside would basically
> just be the specials 
> menu, repurposed into a radial layout. It would
> update based on mode 
> and selection, to show the tools that are relevant
> to whatever you're 
> working on.
> 
> The advantages of this are:
> - Everything is in the one place, under your mouse.
> If you want a menu 
> item that's not in the 'specials', you can select it
> from the 6-way 
> centre toolbox. This also means one only has to use
> one hotkey (space) 
> for everything, which can be nice fast and habitual.
> - Specials menu gets the benefit of a radial layout,
> which is easier 
> and faster to hit and remember
> 
> A secondary stage 2 of this idea (would probably
> take a lot of work to 
> code) is user-configurability. So a user could
> right-click on a 
> 'special' entry, remove it, add new ones, or change
> it to whatever 
> command (that's available in that mode) the user
> would like. This way, 
> you could set up your own personal menu that's
> tailored to your 
> workflow, and have all your favourite tools one
> click away.
> 
> Here's a mockup right-clicking:
>
http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/toolbox/toolbox_specials02.png

I agree the toolbox could be made faster, but I like
the structured way it works now. With your mockup
there would be a fourth way of accesing options.
Currently there is the buttonwindows, the menus, the
toolbox, and now there would also be a fourth system
around the toolbox. I think we should keep as simple
as possible. And why the Specials menu above all other
options? The best solution surely is to make all the
options in the toolbox easy and fast to acces rather
than picking a few random ones. I have always liked
the idea of a radial pie menu a bit like Maya. Anyone
who has played The Sims will also know what I am
talking about. 

Your idea incorporates a fast pie menu AS WELL as the
current toolbox design. Lets not make it too
complicated. Stick with one or the other.




> And how to choose the item for that button:
>
http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/toolbox/toolbox_specials03.png

I'm not actually that fond of the custumizability idea
here. In my oppinion customizability is only good to a
certain extent; custumizable headers would be
interesting, but custumizable menus? As Thorsten said
I think it is better to make it work really fast and
smooth so that all the options are easy to acces
instead of making it customizable.

If we end up going for an all out radial pie menu
system I think the design of your buttons look quite
nice and clear.

Keep the ideas coming though.


> I'm including these mockups now, because even though
> it would take a 
> lot of time and effort to produce compared to having
> it totally static, 
> it may help to have these things in mind when
> designing the code, if 
> this idea ever gets off the ground.
> 
> Anyway, something to think about.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Matt
> 
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