[Bf-blender-npr] textured strokes in Freestyle

[Tamito KAJIYAMA]

Hi Terry,

 >> What remains as a question for now is where to put texture-related
 >> options in the GUI. At the moment, all texture options for Freestyle
 >> strokes are in the Properties window > Render Layers tab > Freestyle
 >> Line Style panel > newly added "Textures" tab. I personally found this
 >> location intuitive, because everything related to Freestyle is available
 >> within the Freestyle Line Style panel.
 >
 > I agree with this placement as the more intuitive choice.

Cool, thanks for the support.

 >> An obvious alternative is to move the Freestyle texture options to the
 >> Properties window > Textures tab. This solution seems more consistent
 >> with other texture options available in Blender (for materials, worlds
 >> and brushes).
 >
 > I actually think this is a UI design problem in Blender -- there is a 
weird
 > state-sensitive behavior for the "Textures" tab in the Properties 
window, in
 > that where it goes depends on what tab you had clicked previously, e.g.:
 >
 > "World", "Textures"   -> Texture for World background
 > "Material", "Textures" -> Texture for currently-selected object
 >
 > I don't think any other tabs in Blender behave like that; it takes some
 > getting used to; and I think it contributes to errors / lost time 
even after
 > I've learned it.

I fully agree with the observation that the present way of context-
dependent switching between Properties tabs is very confusing. It's
a pity if Freestyle has to add another level of complexity to the
already complicated UI components.

I guess core Blender developers are aware of this UI design problem
and have accepted it (at least for now). It would be nice if the
proposed inclusion of textured strokes into Blender triggers a UI
revision to address the problem from a more general perspective.
I would definitely try to get some of the core Blender developers
involved in this discussion.

Best regards,

-- 
KAJIYAMA, Tamito <rd6t-kjym at asahi-net.or.jp>


On 21/04/2014 10:46, Terry Hancock wrote:
>   Tamito KAJIYAMA wrote:
>> What remains as a question for now is where to put texture-related
>> options in the GUI. At the moment, all texture options for Freestyle
>> strokes are in the Properties window > Render Layers tab > Freestyle
>> Line Style panel > newly added "Textures" tab. I personally found this
>> location intuitive, because everything related to Freestyle is available
>> within the Freestyle Line Style panel.
>
> I agree with this placement as the more intuitive choice.
>
>> An obvious alternative is to move the Freestyle texture options to the
>> Properties window > Textures tab. This solution seems more consistent
>> with other texture options available in Blender (for materials, worlds
>> and brushes).
>
> I actually think this is a UI design problem in Blender -- there is a weird
> state-sensitive behavior for the "Textures" tab in the Properties window, in
> that where it goes depends on what tab you had clicked previously, e.g.:
>
> "World", "Textures"   -> Texture for World background
> "Material", "Textures" -> Texture for currently-selected object
>
> I don't think any other tabs in Blender behave like that; it takes some
> getting used to; and I think it contributes to errors / lost time even after
> I've learned it.
>
> If you add
>
> "Render Layers", "Textures" -> Texture for currently selected lineset
>
> It will just add more clutter to an already confusing UI decision.
>
> I actually would like to see the Textures panel made into separate subpanels
> for the tabs in question so that the hierarchy makes more sense.
>
> I suppose an alternative would be to use a selector under Texture, like the
> one in the node editor window that tells which node system (or texture in this
> case) that you want to work with. But I think it's very confusing that you
> just have to remember the context in which you clicked on the tab.
>
> Cheers,
> Terry
>
> --
> Terry Hancock
> Director/Producer - "Lunatics" Project - http://lunatics.tv
> Anansi Spaceworks
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