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Optimizing the UI


2byts
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3d Coat is starting to get an extensive feature list, and with that comes more buttons and more mouse clicks. At this point its starting to become a hindrance.

I was just realizing while playing with the retopo tools in the latest beta that there is an uneccesary number of mouse clicks when changing tool options. One mouse click, or a modifier hotkey should be enough to change the entire behavior. Currently it is necessary to go through pull down menus every time you change a tool when doing retopo work.

I can post screen caps of ideas if you wish...but in essence things should be streamlined considerably now.

I personally think the Adobe CS3 collapsable side menus would work well for 3d coat.

Its just that when in different stages of working, the majority of the UI pallettes and tools are completely uneccessary.

It is also a worthy solution to consider a modular approach like Maya, where changing modes will change the UI. With this method the visual appearance and even the hotkeys would change wether you are in a Retopo/UV mode or brush painting mode.

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I agree that retopo tool requires some clicking... But, do you use RMB to access menu? Also you can define hotkey for any action.

I have no CS3 (trial crashes at startup), so it could be good if you will show "collapsable side menus" screenshots.

Also if you have ideas about retopo or other blease tell or make "screenshot" of idea :)

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I just want to add that 3d Coat is really starting to get impressive, and is already starting to be taken seriously by professionals in the 3d community.

If you can pull off Voxel modelling....its really going to turn some heads and once that happens the big companies start wondering where everyone went. ;)

Now that 3dcoat has a lot of tools....having a powerful and fast UI is going to keep the software from turning into Zbrush.

What I mean is....hotkeys are great, but if the right hand is on the mouse, the left hand is naturally on the left side of the keyboard...hot key options are going to be limited. When you have such a large number of tool possibilities...having context sensitive hotkeys will save a lot of space and make the software much more pleasant to use.

Marking Menus come to mind.

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Andrew - if you have a sec, do a search for the guy (Matt Gormer) who created the fake Lightwave Vx interface. It's a bit old now, but he has some really great interface design ideas. It might be worthwhile for you to consider hiring someone like him to do an interface overhaul.

http://www.creactive-design.co.uk/lightwave_vx/after.html

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Andrew - if you have a sec, do a search for the guy (Matt Gormer) who created the fake Lightwave Vx interface. It's a bit old now, but he has some really great interface design ideas. It might be worthwhile for you to consider hiring someone like him to do an interface overhaul.

http://www.creactive-design.co.uk/lightwave_vx/after.html

Yes,I quite agree too.Wish there are more and more people buy 3DC,then Andrew will have enough money to hire a designer.

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Changing the look wont actually change the essence of the UI. I am thinking more in how the user interacts with the UI. Icons and color schemes are purely superficial.

Something like that is worth having a 3d artist that knows the demands of 3d production and how other software solved these issues.

Even photoshop CS3 brought in an entirely new solution to battle the floating pallette syndrome.

But working at game studio for several years, I know the difficulty of something like this is quite demanding and is not solved in just a couple weeks.

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