Long post.
Gustav Göransson wrote:Ooo a UI thread with something constructive for once, I wonder how long it will last.
This ofcourse also depends on you.
Gustav Göransson wrote:In my opinion a quick menu, (like the one you get when hit space in blender) should have "one level" or at least have a place for for favorite/recent used tools at the top level.
Nothing new, discussed 100 times. Blender needs event refactoring to make this possible, is worked on. Matt showed action history demo a year ago. I think most 3d developers seen maya and the maya Gkey. Posing this on a developers forum as a feature request without any ideas on how to implement this in the current code does not make much sense.
quote: "I could probably name a 100 things that I want to change in Blender UI"
Interesting..., or is it? No not really, any reason why somebody should, as a hobby, spend 100 hours on a sentence you've typed down in 5 seconds?
Not surprised that you don't agree with me =), but you missed my whole point, what I meant that no application is perfect, there's always thing to improve, whether we talking maya or blender.
Really? Is that why there is photoshop elements, because photoshop is not perfect? Is Photoshop CS3 going to be as big a leap as Photoshop4 ?
What suggestions do you have for word? More clipart?
Most suggested changes have nothing to do with perfectness but personal fit. What lots of people don't understand is that for personal fit you need a lot of knowledge of what makes things fit. Knowledge that is not common amongst blender users. Have you've got any idea how much people at my office have changed their word toolbar? Close to zero. 100% customizable word and outlook means nothing to them.
But I love interesting ideas on improvement. I just don't see them very often. They are mostly about interface without knowing where it should interface with.
because blender is so lightning fast
Compared to what? =)
All other 3d apps. See elephants dream production schema.
In general all 3d applications are very similar, they have a extrude tool, a XYZ-gizmo and so on, and the modeling techniques are the same an all applications have hot keys. So I'dont think you can say that there's a huge time difference between different application, at least that my personal experience.
In general, all cars are the same... but racing cars... etc.
Using mouse as tool selector and creation device slows you down.
Learning hotkeys is a must. Working in modes slows you down.
Working in sequencial workflow (first model, then texture, then rig, then animate, then light, then set, then render, then composite) slows you down, blender (hence the name) tries to give a mixed workflow, and gives you speed.
My point, the application of use have very little influence on the time it takes to do something compared to the skills of the man or woman sitting in front of the computer.
Not completely true. The tool used needs to fit the job to be done.
You can't harvest a 1000ha cornfield with a handplaw. And it's silly to harvest your 1 square feet garden with a combiner.
Can blender be everything? And easy to learn by looking at the interface and lightning fast in the hands of a blenderhead? And what is this blenderhead doing? Games modeling, Still rendering, Character animation or Realtime dynamic fluids simulation?
This is what modern gui guru call "context sensitive" interface or "task sensitive" gui. Interface oriented on the task forehand.
But,... there is the difficulty, there are no descriptions of those tasks, and the tools needed specific for that task. Ideas, Improvements, Suggestions and Requests come in form of directions, not as problems or issues.
Hobbiest developers don't need directions, they want to solve problems.
It's almost like comparing which application you write fastest in Word or OpenOffice (okey, now I'm exaggerating =)
I will use 100% of my hardware resources so also 100% of my software using this resources. I can notice a 10% slowdown of my gfx board. The more wireframes my application can handle to more detail my model will have. The faster I get a rendering result the more options I'll try in my materials... Not really issues with a modern wordprocessor. Although, funny you mention this, lots of people still use vi; they don't want to wait 15 seconds on their 3Gh dual core for their notepad to start or their output to be as cluthered
I'm sorry, you are talking about a hobbiest, not a professional. Just think about mechanical typewriters and secretaries, and tell me again it's all about the man (woman). This only goes up for the 2 finger system typers, not the profesional 76keys p/s persons. Same goes with todays 3d app. It's still not an easy task within the machine to get all the 3d done. The interface towards that machine therefore is not as important as ideas about improving that machine.
My thoughts on the subject.