[Bf-funboard] clean up cluttered shelves,please?

[Bol Bib]

@Campbell

prefer not to make this something the user has to configure and manage
> since IMHO this is overhead when using the application.

what do you mean it's overhead I don't understand?




well I'd already be quite happy with categories that blender provides

keep it logical and with stuff you normally wouldn't see/need together 
Addons can even get it's own category? Or maybe a place scripted by their makers?

But I do think you should not stop with the blender provided categories.
 Some people think differently,they might think: "oh no I want this together with that particular add on or panel ,because I use those together all the time",maybe even only for the task at hand.
I think this is no different then managing your windows,and naming them. Which Blender does already and it's the most awesome feature because of it. 

Provide default categories,by any means. But provide also a way (maybe a bit hidden?) to let people customize their shelves.
 In essence you can already have different custom shelves,you just don't have power over them.









Here is another mockup for something slightly different but also a means to have slightly less cluttered shelves

A lot of people want custom toolbars but mostly they want something that saves space.
I thought about it and made this, mostly based on existing UI choices and paradigms again.

http://postimage.org/image/ep3duft57/
http://postimage.org/image/qmf2yxwi9/   (no vertical text,that was a bad choice.)


The idea is when you minimize the shelves to the point they become an unreadable mess-> why don't the panels themselves become buttons to click on and see the panel briefly till you click away.
This effectively transforms the shelves in a toolbar without much work. 
The buttons are the size of the panel,ofcourse,so it doesn't change behaviour too much. Bigger Panels=Bigger buttons. 
But if a panel is minimized->an Icon and tooltip should do the trick.


For experiments' sake I also put in a horizonal shelve. People have been asking for that as well. This seems to me one of the few ways a horizontal shelf could work.






this could very well be combined with my previous idea to save and call saved states of the shelves.





http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?255753-GSoC-User-Interface-Tasklist&p=2166596&viewfull=1#post2166596

Here is some discussion about it with other users if you want more/other ideas and insight.




Just providing ideas. I just want Blender to improve.










> Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:52:59 +0200
> From: ideasman42 at gmail.com
> To: bf-funboard at blender.org
> Subject: Re: [Bf-funboard] clean up cluttered shelves,please?
> 
> In general I agree that we have too much clutter in the panels,
> 
> You're suggestion reminds of of the way gimp manages panels - where
> you can configure them and move them around (even in new single window
> mode they kept this).
> 
> The toolbar is nice in principle but it quickly gets clogged up with
> many tools :S (especially with addons!)
> 
> 
> So I do like the idea of having some kind of category, but would
> prefer not to make this something the user has to configure and manage
> since IMHO this is overhead when using the application.
> 
> So for me, your proposal as it stands is too configurable and I would
> prefer to see some a well thought through layout, rather then having
> the ability to move panels about.
> 
> 
> Note that you could do some testing in this area with python-only
> changes, if nobody else does I might have a shot one day.
> 
> On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 4:23 PM, Bol Bib <bollebib at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > this is my own little mockup of how I think the shelves could be cleaned quickly with mostly  existing functionality.
> >
> >
> >
> > http://s16.postimage.org/cns0xjsrp/Tool_Panel_4_move.png
> >
> >
> >
> > Basicly it's a save view state function:
> >
> > Step1) add/remove panels to a shelve you want,save the state by naming
> > it (example: display settings,general settings,or camera tracker,or
> > brushes in texture mode,or texture layers addon...)
> >
> > Step 2) click to chose between several states (instant success!)
> >
> >
> >
> > optional step 3) move/remove panels from rightclicking or pushing a
> > shorcut to bring up move dialog (second dialog popup on picture)
> >
> >
> >
> > This would be one of the few options to reduce clutter,and provide some tools for customization of the shelves,for different processes in the workflow of a project.
> >
> >
> > Right now,blender saves a tool shelf state with every new 3D view
> > This would limit that AND give you more power over it really quickly.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > extra icon toolbars and whatnot is for a later stage,imo. First fix what's there!
> > _______________________________________________
> > Bf-funboard mailing list
> > Bf-funboard at blender.org
> > http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-funboard
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> - Campbell
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