[tuhopuu-devel] Constraints UI
Martin Poirier
tuhopuu-devel@blender.org
Sat, 18 Oct 2003 10:17:12 -0700 (PDT)
You're right about the influence sliders. I thought
about it again, and he's what I have in mind now:
http://clubinfo.bdeb.qc.ca/~theeth/Temp/Constraints.jpg
This would better fit in the panel layout of 2.3 too
What do you think?
Martin
PS: Regarding the quit message, I think what people
where complaining about mainly is when you press the
[X] to close the whole window, not only the quit
hotkey. A good start though.
--- Matt Ebb <matt@mke3.net> wrote:
> Great! just committed - let us know if there are any
> probs.
>
> The other things you mention (also in that other
> email) sound really good
> too.
>
> I'd definitely agree about seeing all constraints at
> a time! It may be nice
> though to keep one influence slider per (collapsed
> or not) constraint. The
> thing about influence IPOs is that it makes it easy
> to blend from one
> constraint to another (like in the 2.25 demo of the
> hand picking up the ball
> using influences on copy location constraints). It'd
> be much easier to tweak
> if you had access to the influence sliders of all
> the constraints that you
> are blending between.
>
> Matt
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Martin Poirier" <theeth@yahoo.com>
> To: <tuhopuu-devel@blender.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 6:53 AM
> Subject: Re: [tuhopuu-devel] Constraints UI
>
>
> > I think all these would be perfect addition to the
> > constraint system.
> > For one thing, adding a paramter to the
> > add_new_constraint function would make it more
> useable
> > but auto-constraint function. This could be pushed
> > further by creating a "add_constraint_to_object"
> > function that would take a constraint and an
> object
> > and add the constraint to the object (instead of
> > having to add it to the listbase object manually
> each
> > time).
> >
> > In fact, I just did that during my prog course
> *cough*
> >
> > commiting soon.
> >
> > Martin
> > PS: Also regarding the constraint UI, Ton asked
> Hos
> > and myself for opinions, so I'll forward my reply
> to
> > you too. That would probably save some repetition.
> >
> > --- Matt Ebb <matt@mke3.net> wrote:
> > > Hi there,
> > >
> > > I'm sending this out first rather than just
> going
> > > ahead and doing it because
> > > I wanted to check with contraint guru theeth
> that it
> > > wouldn't break
> > > anything, and see if there are any problems I
> may
> > > have overlooked.
> > >
> > > I think the UI/workflow for adding constraints
> is
> > > backwards and I want to
> > > fix it. It's nothing complex, but last week
> after
> > > going through the
> > > frustration of rigging a character and adding 30
> > > action constraints to just
> > > finger bones I realised it could be improved.
> > >
> > > Rather than 'adding a constraint', getting a
> default
> > > of Track To, then
> > > changing it to what you want, you should be able
> to
> > > choose the constraint at
> > > the time of adding it. Reasoning: Users don't
> want
> > > to 'add some abstract
> > > notion called a constraint', they want their
> objects
> > > to track others, or to
> > > follow paths or whatever. Imagine if when you
> added
> > > a 3D object you had to
> > > do 'add object' then go change it to a mesh,
> camera,
> > > lamp, whatever, in a
> > > menu somewhere.. yuck. It's also nice to be able
> to
> > > see all the choices
> > > there before you add it. A bit more explorable.
> > >
> > > Also for efficiency reasons - to add action
> > > constraints to my fingers, I had
> > > to click on add - move mouse to the menu on the
> > > constraint - click, drag to
> > > change from Track To to Action. I should have
> just
> > > clicked on add
> > > constraint - drag across a menu - release mouse
> on
> > > 'Action'. It's also much
> > > more understandable when the constraints seem
> more
> > > concrete: "this is my
> > > copy location", rather than "this is a variable
> > > thing that can change
> > > between all sorts of tangentially related
> > > functions".
> > >
> > > The idea of having these amorphous abstract
> > > constraints that can be changed
> > > from one type to another is silly anyway since
> > > between themselves, the
> > > constraints are functionally very different. How
> > > many people add a
> > > constraint to make their object copy another's
> > > location, then later on
> > > change their mind and realise "no, actually I
> want
> > > this object to be an IK
> > > solver for a chain!"...? Not many. Besides, when
> you
> > > change a constraint
> > > type, none of the settings persist anyway.
> > >
> > > So my proposal:
> > > * Change the add_new_constraint function in
> > > editconstraint.c to accept an
> > > argument describing the constraint type, for
> example
> > > int constraint_type or
> > > whatever it needs to be.
> > > * Change the line con->type =
> > > CONSTRAINT_TYPE_TRACKTO;
> > > to con->type = constraint_type;
> > > * Change the 'Add' button into 'Add Constraint'
> > > (clearer) and when clicked,
> > > make it fold out a menu with the different
> > > constraint types listed. This can
> > > work in a similar way to the pulldown menus, for
> > > speed - click+hold on add
> > > constraint, drag mouse right over the menu,
> release
> > > on the entry you want.
> > > The menu entries will just use
> > > add_constraint(*relevant constraint type*) or
> > > whatever is necessary.
> > > * Remove the 'constraint type chooser' menu from
> the
> > > constraint panels, to
> > > simplify, streamline, make the UI more
> 'concrete'.
> > > (If people really do want
> > > to change their constraint type for some obscure
> > > reason, it's only one more
> > > click to delete it and add a new one).
> > >
> > > I mention this now, because I think it would be
> nice
> > > to go along with the
> > > new constraints when they get ported over to bf.
> > >
> > > So, any issues or gotchas I should worry about?
> Or
> > > just get in there and do
> > > it?
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > >
> > > Matt
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > tuhopuu-devel mailing list
> > > tuhopuu-devel@blender.org
> > >
> >
>
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> >
> >
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