Interface and shortcuts
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:40 pm
Font Creator. I love it. I hate it.
It is such a brilliant and powerful tool, that can irritate a bit(/so much;) if you have ever entered the world of CAD and/or 3D modeling- a world in which you can be... ten times faster. Please, don't shoot the messenger- at least not before he will tell you how to make everything work perfectly;)! I'd just really love to see FC far cooler!!!
1. Zooming/paning - the ultimate (most convenient/fastest) way of doing that at the moment is using scroll wheel and middle button respectively for both functions (double-click middle mouse button to fit in window). Zooming up and down is OK for the glyph list, but not for glyph editor window.
Try: AutoCAD/Archicad- that will be the last time you'll EVER touch the keyboard to zoom/pan and after 5 minutes you'll forget that any zooming buttons have ever existed in any toolbars. In CAD packages, where everything is about speed and flexibility (zooming/panning every 5 seconds) you would have died without it!
2. Transform toolbar - what's the point of dragging it/closing it in the era of 30" (or at least ultra cheap 22") screens? Even more irritating than floating- what's the point of wasting the time clicking every 30 seconds on its tabs? Why not make it a Ribbon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_(computing)) with all the options available directly?
Try: Cinema 4D - best example (I know) of flexible, dockable tabs, where you can freely adjust nearly any size and location (i.e. top/left/right ribbon depending on screen resolution and personal preferences).
3. Numeric fields (where you have/input numeric values, i.e. X/Y position) - accepting SIMPLE mathematical patterns; connected with ribbon they should integrate "Position" and "Move" tab
(In case of multiple selection it usually gives arithmetic average and span (in adjacent numeric field)- see Cinema 4D).
Try: Cinema 4D, Lightwave etc. Do you want to move coordinate X=2359 up 473 points (or multiply by two?)? In Cinema or Lightwave you don't have to switch to calculator or jump from "Position" to "Move" tab- just type "+473" after existing "2359", hit enter and you'll see "2832" it that field.
4. Keyboard shortcuts - current tendency of making single stroke shortcuts for the most repetitive drafting tools (Glypth Edit window) is generally the best, but some are clearly missing (like adding new contour or adding points by "cutting" ridge of a contour with "knife").
Try: SketchUP, Cinema 4D, Lightwave, ArchiCAD and many more- Fully customizable shortcut system is the ultimate solution! Why not? Luckily FC doesn't have as many functions as 3D Studio MAX, so maybe it will not be so painstaking to implement?
5. Snaps - snapping to points, especially with possibility of using another glyph as a trace in the background (with greatly reduced opacity or simply different (customizable;) color would be suuuuuper!!!
Try: ArchiCAD. Please note, that my request is a fraction of CAD features...
Please, don't say that they're all very serious programs,
but just look if implementation of this functions is easy or not.
If it is- why not do it the best way?
What do you think?
Cheers,
Adam
It is such a brilliant and powerful tool, that can irritate a bit(/so much;) if you have ever entered the world of CAD and/or 3D modeling- a world in which you can be... ten times faster. Please, don't shoot the messenger- at least not before he will tell you how to make everything work perfectly;)! I'd just really love to see FC far cooler!!!
1. Zooming/paning - the ultimate (most convenient/fastest) way of doing that at the moment is using scroll wheel and middle button respectively for both functions (double-click middle mouse button to fit in window). Zooming up and down is OK for the glyph list, but not for glyph editor window.
Try: AutoCAD/Archicad- that will be the last time you'll EVER touch the keyboard to zoom/pan and after 5 minutes you'll forget that any zooming buttons have ever existed in any toolbars. In CAD packages, where everything is about speed and flexibility (zooming/panning every 5 seconds) you would have died without it!
2. Transform toolbar - what's the point of dragging it/closing it in the era of 30" (or at least ultra cheap 22") screens? Even more irritating than floating- what's the point of wasting the time clicking every 30 seconds on its tabs? Why not make it a Ribbon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_(computing)) with all the options available directly?
Try: Cinema 4D - best example (I know) of flexible, dockable tabs, where you can freely adjust nearly any size and location (i.e. top/left/right ribbon depending on screen resolution and personal preferences).
3. Numeric fields (where you have/input numeric values, i.e. X/Y position) - accepting SIMPLE mathematical patterns; connected with ribbon they should integrate "Position" and "Move" tab
(In case of multiple selection it usually gives arithmetic average and span (in adjacent numeric field)- see Cinema 4D).
Try: Cinema 4D, Lightwave etc. Do you want to move coordinate X=2359 up 473 points (or multiply by two?)? In Cinema or Lightwave you don't have to switch to calculator or jump from "Position" to "Move" tab- just type "+473" after existing "2359", hit enter and you'll see "2832" it that field.
4. Keyboard shortcuts - current tendency of making single stroke shortcuts for the most repetitive drafting tools (Glypth Edit window) is generally the best, but some are clearly missing (like adding new contour or adding points by "cutting" ridge of a contour with "knife").
Try: SketchUP, Cinema 4D, Lightwave, ArchiCAD and many more- Fully customizable shortcut system is the ultimate solution! Why not? Luckily FC doesn't have as many functions as 3D Studio MAX, so maybe it will not be so painstaking to implement?
5. Snaps - snapping to points, especially with possibility of using another glyph as a trace in the background (with greatly reduced opacity or simply different (customizable;) color would be suuuuuper!!!
Try: ArchiCAD. Please note, that my request is a fraction of CAD features...
Please, don't say that they're all very serious programs,
but just look if implementation of this functions is easy or not.
If it is- why not do it the best way?
What do you think?
Cheers,
Adam