[Bf-taskforce25] Modifier Layout Proposal

[Rob Cozzens]

+1 +1 +1!

On May 25, 2009 12:20 PM, "Wahooney" <wahooney at wahooney.net> wrote:

 Some ideas were kicked about on IRC about a few changes that could be made
to the way the modifier panel works.

= Keep modifier settings in the modifier panel =

Thomas added the beginnings of the cloth settings tonight, and although it's
looking cool so far it pointed out a fundamental flaw. You are adding the
modifier in one panel in Blender and you're changing it's settings in
another?! That is quite counter intuitive to a new user and most probably a
break in workflow for experienced users (I'm somewhere in between those
extremes and it's grinding my goat already ;) )

= Compact the modifier stack =

The modifier stack can be reduced in total size by quite a bit actually. If
the stack were represented as a list it can take up far less space and it
can allow for a helpful mechanic: The user selects a modifier from the list
and only those settings are shown, saving space and reducing some clutter,
but we can also leverage the current advantage of having multiple modifiers'
settings visible by allowing the user to select multiple modifiers from the
list. The visible modifier's settings can be drawn in the order that they
appear in the stack and that selection can even be locked by the user and
saved into the *NA (DNA,RNA I'm not sure which :P), so a user can set up
their environment to modify a particular object in the way that they need
for the given object, ie. A setup with consecutive SimpleMods and SubSurfs,
chances are if a user were going to animate that object the SubSurfs
probably won't be touched and their settings should probably be hidden.

Note: I know that a stack item can be collapsed into a smaller size, but
sometimes that's not small enough ;)

The list that holds the items can also perhaps have drag 'n drop reordering
(allowing the reordering buttons in the current modifier system to take the
boot) and display the Show/Hide buttons for Render/Viewport/Editing/Cage
that currently reside in the modifier settings.

That's all from me for now.

Keith.

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