[Bf-committers] Re: [Bf-blender-cvs] CVS commit: blender/source/blender/src editobject.c

[Ton Roosendaal]

Hi,

I think the past discussion already gave sufficient hints why this  
feature has issues. Check on what Matt wrote for example.

Not everything anyone can think of in Blender is per definition good,  
and not anything that's offered as code is per definition good to  
include. In the beginning of open source Blender we were hardly  
critical on this, which was OK during such a startup phase. But at a  
certain moment design and purpose should become valued more. This  
prevents feature bloat, and prevents Blender from getting too many  
overlapping methods to do the same.

One of the things Blender always did good, was offering a the minimal  
but coherent & comprehensive set of tools, which are fast to access and  
create a good workflow. Many of such design decisions were made  
purposedly and conscious in the past (mostly be me yes). I am also not  
so interested in what people find in general 'good workflow', but  
interested in *creating* a specific workflow, which has to be learnt to  
appreciate well.
One of these design concepts was to always try to provide a non-exact,  
interactive & visual toolset. No axis-awareness (x-axis, y, z), no  
coordinate awareness (typing in location/size/rot for adding object),  
and no scale awareness (we have the "blender unit").

That's giving a nice focus for designing features (and I'm the first to  
admit many things in Blender don't do well still). But it's not an  
axioma; when exact editing is needed (like exact rotation around exact  
location) you should have the tools to do so. But it's secondary, and  
not primary like in most CAD tools.

The 3d cursor in Blender is an aid to visualize 'here's where the new  
object is added'. You add the object, start modeling it, exit editmode  
and transform the object to where you like to have it. Another use for  
the cursor is to use as rotation/scale center. Here the 'snap to' menu  
is useful to give it exact locations (if you need).

The 3d cursor is a builtin 3d window feature, which can even differ per  
window (check localview for example). It's not a 3d object, and not  
something you model. Being consistant in tools for accessing it has a  
meaning and is useful. Invoking cursor grab with Gkey whith nothing  
selected is just abuse. Or first grabbing some object, and press Ckey  
the same. So even if you like such a feature, invoking it should be  
done different.

Using the transform() code for it was just code with added exceptions.  
And although more hackish/inappropriate features are there (like  
creases edit), such things are really needed, and can be nicely  
integrated on a next version of the code.

Lastly; Intrr knew that I had severe doubts on the feature. So it was  
not meant to be committed at all. We agreed to only commit code in  
parts you know is endorsed by original author, or is part of the module  
assigned to you.

And for myself, yes I reserve the right to veto out stuff. Won't do  
that easily, but definitely on obscure additions. And always after  
feedback of the other project admins.

-Ton-



On Tuesday, Jul 27, 2004, at 14:49 Europe/Amsterdam, Johnny Matthews  
wrote:

> Ton, is the feature lacking or just the implementation? I'm not trying
> to poke sore wounds here, I'm just curious.
>
> Johnny
>
> On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 14:43:59 +0200 (CEST), Alexander Ewering
> <blender@instinctive.de> wrote:
>> On Tue, 27 Jul 2004, Johnny Matthews wrote:
>>
>>> Intrr, will you revisit this with a full blown proposal? The idea is  
>>> a good one!
>>
>> I doubt. But if you need the feature, you can check out an older  
>> version
>> of editobject.c and keep it in your local source tree. A cvs update  
>> will still
>> be able to merge the changes that happen in CVS even into your  
>> locally modified
>> version.
>>
>> | alexander ewering              instinctive mediaworks
>> | ae[@]instinctive[.]de   http://www[.]instinctive[.]de
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
> --  
> Johnny Matthews
> johnny.matthews@gmail.com
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>
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
Ton Roosendaal  Blender Foundation ton@blender.org  
http://www.blender.org