[Bf-funboard] Default Camera Orientation

[Matt Ebb]

On 09/12/2007, at 9:13 AM, Martin Poirier wrote:

> I think we might be going a bit too far with all those
> complex options, per objects defaults and whatnot.
>
> A simple "Align with View" function (like "Align
> Camera to View", but just rotation, not location
> change) would probably do the trick AND would be a
> more generally useful option (what if the object is
> already there and you want to realign it, ...)
> Also, like I said earlier, I often use the aligned to
> view addition to add and align lamps at the same time,
> so a function to realign with view would be equally
> useful to realign lamps later: just rotate the view
> around and align.

Yes, this is the right thing to do. Adding preferences per object is  
overcomplicating things, and those icons in the menu are non-standard  
(in the same location as checkmarks, which don't do anything when  
clicked on) and aren't obvious as to what they do. An actual command  
to would be useful in more situations, too, especially if it worked on  
multiple selected objects.

I agree that adding the Camera totally strictly to worldspace is not  
so convenient. I think a good little additional tweak would be to add  
it pointing along the Y axis by default (straight ahead in front  
view), rather than along the -Z axis, but still not dependent on view  
(which would be a lot more inconsistent and confusing, in conjunction  
with the view-independent behaviour of other objects). Then it's  
likely that a simple rotation on Z would get it pointing where you want.

There is already a tweak like this for armature objects, and we can  
also do the same for suzanne, rotate her obdata so she's facing forward.

> Perhaps 3Dview header is not the right place for it. but do people use
> menus?
>
> The location of the button should be in line with the users "workflow"
> not in a location that needs to be remembered.  Wherever it is located
> it should be "just there when I need it".
>
> I think its a great idea to have a single button for the aligning
> process, but at the same time I think obscuring it in a menu that
> already has 23, then 14 other options might make it less useful than
> intended.

Sorry but this is quite a wrong approach to organisation and  
usability, and I'm surprised you're saying it, actually. You could  
argue that for 99% of features in Blender, that things should be 'just  
where you need it', which would give you a header that's a grid of  
5x10 little icon buttons (hello Truespace!) Any location needs to be  
remembered, and just shoving things in front of users because it's a  
current topic of discussion regardless of how relatively important it  
is, the hierarchy of information and existing information design  
structure is not the right thing to do. Headers in Blender as used for  
space-specific controls, to manipulate and change the state of the  
space itself, not the data within it. You don't stop putting things in  
an organised location because there's other similar options there -  
that's the point of it!

What you're talking about is in the realm of a customisable toolbar/ 
shelf, so that people who do want to be clicking that all the time,  
have the option to.

Anyway, of course for convenience, it would be good to have this on a  
hotkey as well (especially when used as a general transformation tool,  
not just when adding objects). We already have Shift V in edit mode,  
which lets you align the view to either of the selected elements'  
axes, perhaps we could just extend that to object mode, and also have  
the reverse, so you'd have something like:

Align View/Objects:
-------------------
View -> Object X Axis
View -> Object Y Axis
View -> Object Z Axis
-------------------
Object X Axis -> View
Object Y Axis -> View
Object Z Axis -> View


(The repetition really doesn't look good there and makes it harder to  
read, there's probably a better way to write that...)

cheers

Matt