[Bf-funboard] Bcon2006 session: What i wish to have in Blender - screens

Roland Hess rolandh at reed-witting.com
Wed Oct 25 13:46:52 CEST 2006


On Oct 25, 2006, at 6:00 AM, bf-funboard-request at projects.blender.org  
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> in the "What i wish to have in Blender" session
> Roland and Bassam wished there where named layers in Blender.
> I thought about it and made some screens:
>
It's funny to see my name mentioned somewhere I've never been! ;)
> Layer name and color (for wireframe mode in 3d view) setup in the draw
> panel:
> http://www.neeneenee.de/blender/features/layer01.png
>
> Layer names when moving objects from one layer to another:
> http://www.neeneenee.de/blender/features/layer02.png
>
> Layer names in the headerbar of the 3d view:
> http://www.neeneenee.de/blender/features/layer02.png
>

I'll comment on this, because even though it wasn't me at BConf (I  
think), I've always wanted better layer information. I know that Ton  
has always said it needs a better overall integrated solution, but  
simply adding names would be a great help to artists. How many times  
have you made a complex .blend file, only to revisit it a year later  
and have NO idea how it was organized?

I like the way that the main interface doesn't change in these  
examples -- it only adds the layer name in the tooltip. That's a  
compact way of getting at the information. I don't think that the  
place where you actually name the layer would work in the object  
buttons, though. Layer naming is a global thing, and those panels  
deal with information from the active object. It COULD be done there,  
but I think it's better to avoid putting global settings widgets in  
object-specific control sets.

 From an interface consistency standpoint, I would think you'd put a  
layer naming panel in a new Scene buttons subcontext, as layer  
information is per-scene. The panel would have individual slots for  
all layers visible at once. that way, if you wanted, you could make a  
little buttons window off to the side of your workspace and always  
have the layer names up in their panel for reference if you wanted.

This whole thing would be relatively easy to code. If fact, if  
someone can mock this up and get agreement, then get Ton to give it a  
thumbs up, I'll code it.

Roland Hess
harkyman


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