[Bf-funboard] Blenders look and functionality

Luke Wenke bf-funboard@blender.org
Tue, 30 Sep 2003 00:17:48 +1000


Hi,
As far as fancy pop-up tool menus go, I think the spacebar toolbox would be
quite important. In Blender 2.30 they may be making it show all the
available commands when you press the spacebar (at the present it isn't
context sensitive and lists the same commands whereever you are, even if
those commands are in fact unavailable). It could also show the hotkeys by
the commands (maybe only when you hover the mouse over it) and there could
be a tooltip for the menu items to (like there are for many buttons). That
way it is very easy for people to look at all the relevant commands for the
mode they're in (e.g. edit mode). The spacebar menu would ease them into
things, so then they can gradually learnt the hotkeys for things they use a
lot. It could save beginners quite a bit of time because they would be able
to see the available commands - previously they'd have to learn a couple
through tutorials or see them in a big hotkey list (that describes the
command in one or two words, which mightn't be clear enough)
You see there can be alternative ways of doing things - the beginners can
use menus... and the power users can rely on the hotkeys, etc... that way
there isn't such a steep learning curve (which many people would agree that
Blender has).
My ctrl-t, ctrl-p, etc, posts were basically about trying to find a way of
making those commands easier for beginners to learn. I think this can be
done without making Blender less attractive for power users. (In the end my
idea is to just make some very minor changes to the on screen text, and
probably also the active item colour)
- Luke.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clinton Baldridge"
> Blender is a unique, if not unusual program.  It is and has been very
straight
> forward in it's shortcuts  and interface.  It isn't all prettied up with
> alot of fancy graphics that suck memory and speed. It just does what you
> want it to do without a lot of rubbish, clutering your workflow.  In fact
> it's simplicity and uniqueness are it's greatest strenths (aside from it
> being free).
>
> What I'm trying to say is that putting fancy pop-up  tool menus and cool
> graphics in Blender may look pretty, but they are completly unnesessary.
I
> not trying piss in anyones cornflakes, but Blender's interface is very
fast
> and very functional for modeling 3d scenes. For me, once I learned the
> Blender interface, I found it to be a lot more efficent than a typical
> Windows sort of program. For me personally the fact that it so Unix like,
> and not all like sissy Windows, is part of the reason I like to use
Blender.
>
> I'm not saying that adding new key shortcuts is bad Idea, however changing
> them changing from what they are now for a given function is
> counterproductive.  There are alot key combinations to go around, why not
> make life easy for long time Blender users everywhere.
>
> I think the only justifiable reason to change anything about the interface
> of Blender, is in the presence of new functionallity.  Otherwise it is
waste
> of time, and a damned shame really.
>
> I can see making the interface different for the 3.0 release, but it again
> there is really now point.  I believe in the K.I.S.S. method (Keep It
Simple
> Stupid).
>
> Please, do not take what I am saying  as inflammatory.  I just think we
> should worry about what we can make Blender do, not what we can make it
look
> like. Blender's interface is great the way it is and If it's not broke
don't
> fix it.