[Bf-funboard] Toolbox idea

Thorsten Wilms bf-funboard@blender.org
Sun, 14 Dec 2003 18:06:48 +0100


On Mon, Dec 15, 2003 at 03:16:16AM +1100, Matt Ebb wrote:

> One of the objectives of this new menu system was 
> that the pulldown menus would be a very logical, structured system 
> (perhaps at the expense of speed), while the toolbox would be fast, 
> immediate and context-sensitive. I don't think this has been successful 
> - the toolbox is still very structured, and based on navigating through 
> the hierarchy, and definitely not as fast as it could be. 

Yes, it is not very fast. But the structure is very nice and there are 
lots of shortcuts for realy often used things. I mean, it's fast enough 
for inserting new objects and many other operations, while using it for 
selection and basic transformation operations is unbearable.


> In some of 
> the research we did leading up to 2.30, the toolboxes from Wings and 
> 3DS Max were pointed out as being very good, as they allowed immediate 
> access to tools (Screenshot of Max's quad menu: 
> http://www.adamwatkins.com/s3_tutorials/images/final.gif)

Far as I remenber Wings has 3 contextmenus, 1 for every selection mode.
And still it are huge menus. Also don't forget that Wings is much more 
specialized.

Don't know Max's quad menu, but I guess it is like in Maya, where 
the contextmenu depends on mouse pointer position. So you will 
see different options if you click RMB right over a selection or 
over empty space. We should consider doing the same.


> So, the idea I had is to combine the W key specials menu with the 
> toolbox, making a nice, fast, all-in-one control. Rough mockup here:
> 
> http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/toolbox/toolbox_specials.png

How does further integration help with fast access?
 
> The menu items around the outside would basically just be the specials 
> menu, repurposed into a radial layout. It would update based on mode 
> and selection, to show the tools that are relevant to whatever you're 
> working on.
> 
> The advantages of this are:
> - Everything is in the one place, under your mouse. If you want a menu 
> item that's not in the 'specials', you can select it from the 6-way 
> centre toolbox. This also means one only has to use one hotkey (space) 
> for everything, which can be nice fast and habitual.
> - Specials menu gets the benefit of a radial layout, which is easier 
> and faster to hit and remember

So the menus in the main toolbox would not show up automaticaly, but 
would require an extra click. Click-hold-select-release menu action 
would be impossible.
It's not clear where the whole menu ends and will disappear if you 
move the pointer there. It should have a clear border, or menu 
action would have to restricted to click-hold action (menu only  
disappears on releasing button). The later is not the way of the 
Blender, I think. Anyway, my fingers prefer the first option ;-) 

It makes sense to have 2 levels, only a selected few commands for 
fast access (radial) and everything else in adifferent fashion (more 
linear). Better do it like in Maya: Radial menus with traditional 
linear menus below:

http://escience.anu.edu.au/lecture/cg/surfaceModeling/image/maya_menu_800.jpg

BTW, I've checked patents regarding marking menus. Far as I can see, 
only the complete Hotbox (spacebar) is patented, not single marking menus.


> A secondary stage 2 of this idea (would probably take a lot of work to 
> code) is user-configurability. So a user could right-click on a 
> 'special' entry, remove it, add new ones, or change it to whatever 
> command (that's available in that mode) the user would like. This way, 
> you could set up your own personal menu that's tailored to your 
> workflow, and have all your favourite tools one click away.
> 
> Here's a mockup right-clicking:
> http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/toolbox/toolbox_specials02.png
> 
> And how to choose the item for that button:
> http://reblended.com/www/broken/interface/toolbox/toolbox_specials03.png

The best thing to do would be to create a contextmenu so good, that 
nobody would want to customize it.


---
Thorsten