[Bf-funboard] a call for sanity when it comes to simply selecting something...

jin choung jin.choung at gmail.com
Sun Jun 3 13:50:13 CEST 2012


(this is a repost from blendernation and they referred me here and try to
get the ear of Nathan Vegdahl)

howdy,as a professional cg generalist using maya, zbrush and lightwave and
a big fan and cheerleader for blender, i try to get into blender every now
and again - usually when i'm wooed by new, simply ridiculously advanced
features that not even the most expensive apps have yet.

but almost every time, i get repulsed at the lowest possible level - the
user mousing interface.

in particular, the fact that different buttons are used to select in
different interfaces.

WHY? for the love of god, why?

because of this, even selecting LMB select ends up simply FLIPPING selects
in different contexts so that if it was LMB select in a context, it becomes
RMB after i've chosen LMB SELECT in the preferences.

this even happens with lasso select. for some unfathomable reason, for
lasso select, it uses the NON SELECT button with CTRL. again, the mind
boggles... why would you do that???

it is JUST SELECTING... an object, a vert, a node, a graph spline... WHY
jump from one button to another???

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another issue is that sometimes, RMB is used to CANCEL operations.... but
if RMB is by default for click selecting (an "AFFIRMATIVE" operation), it
is just illogical to assign it a "NEGATION" operation too....

i desperately desperately want to use blender in my day to day work. but it
makes even simple selection a memory game that i can't afford to play when
i just need to jump in and work and jump back and forth between different
apps.

-------------------------------------------

INTERFACE PROPOSAL

(and please people, chime in if you don't think this is sensible)

1. ONE MOUSE BUTTON is used to select in ALL CONCEIVABLE CONTEXTS. it is
mapped this way in the PREFERENCES (which will probably need to be
rewritten a bit to accommodate this) so that if you change this to LMB, LMB
ALWAYS selects. if you change it to RMB, RMB ALWAYS selects. in ALL
WINDOWS, MODES, etc... whether you are simple click selecting, lasso
selecting, box selecting... you have modifier keys but the button to select
is U N I V E R S A L.

2. if a NEGATION button is needed, it is ALWAYS THE OTHER BUTTON. so if RMB
is select, then LMB is NEGATE/CANCEL. again - always, in EVERY CONCEIVABLE
CONTEXT. actually, what i'd REALLY like is that the other button is NOT
negation but simply context menu... in my mind, that's a very standardized
use and would just make everything more intuitive. if negation is needed,
just map it to ESC which is pretty standardized as well.

3. there are too many strange interdependencies right now in the user
configuration of mousing. for instance, if i choose LMB SELECT, you lose
the ability to choose the simulate 3 button mouse feature that makes the
mouse navigation like LW. also, if i make MMB set the 3d cursor, all of a
sudden i cannot rotate using the 3 button simulation mode (ALT-LMB)...
there's no reason that these buttons need to step over each other like
this. i should be able to LMB AND have simulate 3 button AND MMB place 3d
cursor with no problem... and the fact that you can't is indicative i think
of way too much unnecessary cross talk here.

does anyone think that is unreasonable in any way? not at all being
belligerent here... i'm just really curious as to whether any blender user
really thinks the way things are done now good.

------------------------------------------

if there's somebody that i can foreward or email this to to plead my case,
let me know. cuz i really really really want to add blender to my
repertoire.

regardless, i'll use blender for the mindboggling bsurfaces and "dual
contouring of hermite data" in blender's "dyanmesh" functionality but i
really want to dive in and stay in. and INTUITIVENESS at the foundational
level would go a loooooooong way to help me and other newbs.

thanks much and yeah, i'm genuinely interested in what people think of the
current state of simple selection paradigm.

jin


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