<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Hi All,</div><div><br></div><div>Trying to get an overview of the types of layouts that'll be useful for 2.5, I've started mocking up some more layouts, and playing with the layout engine. One of the big things missing is the templates which will take care of some of the more intricate controls that aren't simply RNA switches.</div><div><br></div><div>Here I've attempted to map out Mesh, Curve and Armature ObData panels:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/meshproperties.png">http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/meshproperties.png</a></div><div><div><a href="http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/curveproperties.png">http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/curveproperties.png</a></div><div><a href="http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/armatureproperties.png">http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/armatureproperties.png</a></div><div><br></div><div>(As an aside I realize there are one or two controls missing from these layouts, and that curve will have to change a lot to reflect current curve vs. entire curve)</div></div><div><br></div><div>Doing these mockups, what I've found is that the amount of different types of templates needed is actually very low. We need:</div><div><br></div><ul class="MailOutline"><li>Datablock controller (at the top, for renaming and managing the datablock)</li><li>Preview item (material, texture, world, lamp)</li><li>Object/box template (modifiers, constraints, bones, object groups...)</li><li>List template (vertex groups, material groups, texture layers, shapes, vertex colors, bone groups, pose library...)</li></ul><div><br></div><div>As far as I can tell, this covers everything we need in terms of these templates. Now, I realize there is probably still lots of custom c-code for each single template, but knowing there are only four kinds, perhaps a more efficient code-sharing structure can be explored?</div><div><br></div><div>The List template can nicely be used for almost everything that has data in a list, and gives a nicer overview of the data than 2.4x: <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/uploads/0/0a/Dev_wcamp_properties_08.png">http://wiki.blender.org/uploads/0/0a/Dev_wcamp_properties_08.png</a></div><div><br></div><div>I'm mainly targeting Brecht I suppose, seeing as he's setting up these templates. Perhaps less time can be wasted making lots of custom templates by just implementing these four types and then simply hooking them up to the correct data? Or is this wishful thinking ? ;)</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br></div><div>-William</div><div><br></div><div>PS (unrelated)</div><div>We've talked about putting User Preferences in its own window for 2.5. This solves a few issues with trying to pull down the top bar when there are too many window subdivisions, and makes them much easier to find.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm guessing it can use the same layout engine as properties editor?</div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, here's a fun mockup: <a href="http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/userpreferences.png">http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/userpreferences.png</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>