[Bf-funboard] Reworking of ctrl-t, ctrl-p, ctrl-c, etc....

[Luke Wenke]

This is a summary of related things I've written in the Blender 2.3 UI
redesign Blender.org news thread so far.....

=======================
I've got an idea to make things like ctrl-t, ctrl-p and ctrl-c much easier
for people to learn how to use. Also, in most cases it involves less
mouseclicks/keypresses.
The problem is ctrl-t, ctrl-p, ctrl-c is that they currently depend on what
thing was selected last (the "active selection") before the hotkey is
pressed. But blender doesn't tell you that. Blender doesn't even tell you
that at least two objects must be selected... (I thought "Copy" just
involved one selection, and there would be a corresponding "Paste" hotkey...
but after looking through lots of hotkey lists I eventually worked out that
only the "Copy" hotkey is used somehow...)

e.g.
to make objects a and b track object c....

Old method:
1) right-click a
2) right-click b
3) right-click c
4) ctrl-T
5) left-click

New method:
1) right-click a
2) right-click b
3) ctrl-T
4) esc or right-click c

=======================
to copy an attribute from c to a and b...
Old method:
1) right-click a
2) right-click b
3) right-click c
4) ctrl-C
5) left-click on attribute to copy

New method:
1) right-click a
2) right-click b
3) ctrl-C
4) left-click on attribute to copy
5) esc or right-click c

=======================
to make c the parent of objects a and b

Old method:
1) right-click a
2) right-click b
3) right-click c
4) ctrl-P
5) left-click

New method:
1) right-click a
2) right-click b
3) ctrl-P
4) esc or right-click c
============================================

As far as the text displayed on the screen goes, during this process:

In the spacebar toolbox, the hotkeys could have the following descriptions:
(stars mean bold font, also notice the dots)

*Track*...
*Copy Attribute*... from... (or *Copy*... from...)
Make *Parent* from... (that's probably better than *Parent* to...)

As far as the "*Copy Attribute*... from..." (or *Copy*... from...) item
goes, you would either click on it to see the attribute menu, or it would
pop out automatically when you hover on it, without you having to click...
so it may involve an additional click, but if you use the ctrl-c hotkey,
there is no additional click (see earlier).
============================================

After the hotkey or spacebar toolbox is used, I think the header bar for the
current window should say: (stars mean bold font, also notice the dots...)

Choose object to *track*.... or Esc
or
Select object to *track*.... or Esc
or
Choose object for previous selection to *track*.... or Esc

So the user can see how to abort the operation.

*Copy Loc* from... or Esc
or
*Copy Rot* from... or Esc
(depending on what attribute was selected in the copy menu)

This text would appear in the same place as the rotation or location of
things appears while you are using r or g... also, the header can be removed
from windows for power-users (you probably knew that).
==============================================
If no objects are selected, when you use the hotkeys or spacebar toolbox it
should say: "Error: No objects selected" (or something- the "error" makes
the user aware that there is a problem)

- Luke