[Bf-funboard] selected/active/colours/etc.

Matt Ebb bf-funboard@blender.org
Tue, 30 Sep 2003 16:28:38 +1000


Hi,

> > 1. Getting communicated as clear as possible what 'selected' and
> > 'active' means for Blender. This is "context", as also described in the
> > UI doc
> -----------------------------------
> What if the active item was more distinct from the other selected items?
It
> could be red and the others are blue. It is metaphorical I think
(something
> you might want)... the single red object represents something that is
> aggressive - that is the centre of attention. The blue objects are the
> passive crowd.

Funny you mention this, I was talking about the same thing with ztonzy in
IRC the other day after he showed me a screenshot of his editmode. I really
like the idea of using warm/cool colours to denote active (or
selected)/deselected. Like you say, there's that additional level of meaning
that makes it just that much more sensible and logical. I personally (along
with at least a few others that I know of) think the ugly looking pink and
yellow could and should be changed into something better. Another silly
idiosyncracy that goes along with this and should definitely be fixed is
that the colours for selected/deselected are reversed between object mode
and edit mode! It's totally inconsistent and disrupts any opportunity to
create a nice semiotic language for representing selection states.

Here's a screenshot of the colours that I'm currently using in tuhopuu:
http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/colours/edit_colours.png
Funnily, the warm/cool combination (red/orange vs blue) also sort pf
co-ordinates with the Blender logo colours. Subliminal marketing? :P I find
the warm/cool colours very intuitive - you can instantly tell what's
selected and what isn't. I've had times in the past where I've had to stop
and think for a split second in editmode 'oh hang on, which verts are
actually selected here'. I haven't experienced this minor frustration lately
in tuhopuu, and anything that lets me take my mind off fighting with the
interface and concentrating on the work at hand is a good thing IMO.

Taking this through to object mode/wireframes, you could imagine using blue
for deselected centre points, and red/orange for selected. I thought about
perhaps using a transparent bounding box to mark the active object as well,
but that may get a bit annoying if it appears every time you select a single
object. Here's a quick mockup:
http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/colours/orange_bounds.png

One thing though which I think would make a *big* usability improvement, is
drawing the wireframe of the selected object in solid/shaded/etc views. In
many cases, particularly with detailed modelling, the centre points alone
are useless for telling which object is selected, and you have to switch to
wireframe view to select, and back again. Needless fighting with the
interface for something (selection) that should be as natural and smooth as
possible! Here's an example picture showing the very real annoyances I've
faced while working on one of my projects, and how much of an improvement it
could be to draw the wires:
http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/colours/wireselected.jpg

As for the centre points, I think they could use some improvements too,
though I'm not sure how. Perhaps you could change the centre point shape for
the active object (a triangle or something?) to help with the
active/selected distinction. A big problem with the current centre points is
that they're too easily confused for vertices in editmode. Many times I've
clicked and clicked and clicked trying to select a vertex, only to
frustratingly find out it's the damn centre point! I've also seen a few
posts on elysiun.com from newbies saying "why can't I delete that one last
vertex?!" and so on. Here's another example image that shows how unclear it
can get:
http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/colours/vert_centre.png

Anyway, food for thought. I apologise for the rambling nature of this
email - I've hardly had any sleep over the last few days, chained to the
blender-machine. :/

Matt