[Bf-committers] Improving Blender's keymap: a proposal

[Nathan Vegdahl]

> I would like to see four high-level modes, ie object
> mode, face mode, vertex mode, and edge mode.

This is definitely worth trying out.  I'll give it a go and we can see
how it feels.

The other thing I'd like to try out is just assigning the
vert/edge/face modes to 1/2/3.  I suspect vert/edge/face mode
switching is done a lot more often than edit/object mode switching in
typical use-cases, so I'd like to have the former be single keystrokes
if possible.

--Nathan


On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 10:56 AM, Jorge Rodriguez
<jorge at lunarworkshop.com> wrote:
> On the topic of mode switching:
>
> I did some work on this in my own keymap and my approach was to reduce the
> number of keystrokes and mouse clicks to switch modes. Currently to switch
> among edit modes (vertex, edge, face) you must press the hotkey and then
> choose with the mouse. That involves a bit of mouse aiming and an extra
> click that I think in unnecessary and distracting. My solution was to have
> three hotkeys, one for each edit mode. That's more keys on the keyboard,
> but I think it's worth it given how much context switching goes on.
>
> Another thing I would like to see is more seamless switching between object
> mode and the edit modes. If I'm in object mode and I want to go to a
> specific edit mode then the process is
>
> 1. Hit tab to go to edit mode
> 2. Ctrl-tab to open edit mode menu
> 3. Select an option, vertex face or edge
>
> The mental model that this gives to a user is that there are two high-level
> modes, object and edit modes, with edit further broken down into three
> sub-modes. That basically represents how they're implemented in the code.
> It's a complex mental model that requires a lot of keystrokes and I think
> it can be simplified. I would like to see four high-level modes, ie object
> mode, face mode, vertex mode, and edge mode. I think presenting the modes
> to the user this way is a better choice, since it's a simpler mental model
> and can result in faster switching between modes and thus more efficient
> work.
>
> --
> Jorge "Vino" Rodriguez
> jorge at lunarworkshop.com
> twitter: VinoBS
> 919.757.3066
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