[Bf-committers] Layer Manager

[Matthew H. Plough]

Alexander Ewering wrote:

> I've recently developped a Layer Manager in instinctive-blender-2 and
> wondered if there is any interest / thoughts in it.

My thoughts: COMMIT IT NOW. :D

> You can be really proud of driving me far enough to write such a
> detailed HTML. It took me at least 30 minutes! :-)

It was a 30 minutes well spent.  Your document presents a clear picture 
of what this feature is designed to do, how it accomplishes that, and 
how Blender will be extended to accomodate it.  It also explains how it 
fits into the big picture of Blender's workflow -- understanding that 
and following that is crucial for new features.

> Any thoughts on it appreciated.

Can I still use my alt key combinations for layers?  For instance, if I 
want to move an object from Layer 1 to Layer 11, can I still do 
M...Alt+1 ?  I'm sure you've covered this, but it was not clear in the 
document.  The names are a great feature that look like they will really 
speed up workflow on complex scenes. 

Also, can there be more than 20 layers with your naming system?  If so, 
we are going to need to come up with a way to allow *very fast* keyboard 
entry of layers beyond 20, and a way to intuitively cancel a selection.  
For example, in the current system:

If I want to move an object to layer 5 and I accidentally hit 4, I can 
do M 4 5, and my object will be moved.

If 50 layers exist (don't ask why...), and I want to move an object to 
layer 5, hitting M 3 5 might move to layer 35.  How will we address that?

Excellent job on outlining what you want to do with this feature.  I 
appreciate your effort.

Matt