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3dCoat does what it needs to do and provides the necessary tools to work with layers and other tools, which is great, and it is an amazing software, however, the design should not only work well, it should also be easy to understand and visually appealing so that users enjoy it. This can motivate people to use 3dcoat more frequently. This is my analysis of User Interface and User Experience specifically in the layer system. The comparison between the two presented images, highlights significant differences in terms of User Interface design and User Experience. While both systems are functional and allow for layer management, the visual design and organization of each interface directly impact user clarity, accessibility and satisfaction. Both interfaces enable basic layer management tasks, such as organizing, grouping and applying specific properties. This demonstrates that, from a functional perspective, the programs achieve their primary purpose. The first interface stands out due to its design, which prioritizes visual clarity and hierarchical organization, Its main strengths include: * Use of Iconography: Icons make it easy to quickly identify the purpose of each layer or adjustment without needing to read excessive text. * Visual Differentiation: Colors, effects, and specific labels help distinguish layers and their properties, improving navigation. * Clear Hierarchy: Grouped layers are represented with indentations and visual elements that reinforce their logical relationship, enhancing the understanding of project structure. * Visual Appeal: The interface is modern and pleasant, contributing to a better perception of the program and a more satisfying user experience. The second interface (3dcoat), while functional, presents shortcomings that negatively affect the user experience: * Excessive Plain Text: The lack of icons and colors forces users to rely solely on reading to understand each element, which can be tiring and less efficient. * Lack of Visual Hierarchy: Layer groups are visually indistinguishable from individual layers, creating confusion and making the project structure harder to follow. As a programmer imagine that the code does not have indentation, in some languages this is permitted, but programmers generates this indentation to read the lines of code easily. * Monotonous Design: The absence of visually appealing elements makes the interface feel "dry" and uninviting, which could discourage users. The first interface delivers a positive experience by being intuitive, clear and visually appealing, reducing the user's cognitive load and speeding up workflow. In contrast, the second interface, though functional, may frustrate users due to its flat design and lack of visual differentiation, requiring more effort to complete the same tasks. In the third image, the left panel is overcrowded with tightly packed options, lacking visual hierarchy or grouping, which overwhelms users and makes navigation challenging. Some parameters names, like "Gloss modulator" or "Use as Weight M", are unclear, requiring additional effort to understand their purpose. The overall monotony of gray text on a dark background further detracts from usability. Improvements such as better grouping, intuitive naming, consistent design, and the use of colors, icons, and spacing could significantly enhance clarity, accessibility and user satisfaction. That's what I want to say about the 3dcoat user experience in general. I work creating shotgrid tools using PySide6 in a vfx/anim studio integrating user experience to give to the artists an easy understanding of the functionality of the tools.

I like the recent UI and UX changes, still there is much discussion about improving UI In this thread, would like to present some ideas for what can essentially be implemented on top of everything UI in 3DCoat right now, but also invite in some discussion on them Basis: I think a problem is not so much the UI layout honestly but it's choice paralysis from being presented with very many options, which are tough sometimes to find again, or even lose awareness of menus tools are grouped by relation and feature which is practical, but it results in these 20+ options menus which steal a lot of energy Anecdotally, I forget many times for example that it's possible to make the contours of a freeze mask into curves because it's the 31st option in the Curves menu, so it leaves my mind many times it would be handy Here are three suggestions for UX / UI which, I think all can be implemented on top of what's in UI now, and will grant some facility to alleviate this problem: Search Everywhere, Title bar navigation and/or Favorites menu 1. 'search everywhere / Quick Search' Present in a good deal of softwares like: 3ds Max Blender IDEs/ code editors, visual studio, jetbrains, vs code On a hotkey press, one is presented with search bar in which one can type directly starting typing, it will find commands named similar, increasingly filtering it down as one types in more I think this would be very welcome in 3DCoat, where there are so many tools and options pr tool Example visual studio: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/visual-studio-search The search is Ctrl+Q, can type immediately to search for commands or other things. In 3DCoat this could be, • operations • toolbars • settings • tools et cetera 2. Title bar navigation Common in many softwares, it's pressing Alt followed by a mnemonic character to navigate the title bar menus (In case of 3DCoat Sculpt room this would be File, Edit, View, Symmetry... etc.) For example it is part of Win32 API https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/menurc/using-menus Would have to use another button in place of ALT since it's so integrated in Viewport operations This facilitates making many options keyboard accessible, and possible to simply train muscle memory instead of click, read many options, click Example paint tool sai. Alt+E brings up "Edit", subsequent press of A will perform "Select All". 3. "Favorites/Bookmark Menu" - Like the Quick Menu in Blender - It is empty to start with, but one can add any one command to it, and only be presented with one's "most common tools" in a menu every time - Active a menu on hotkey, it contains your favorited commands - I suggest, any one thing that can be keybound, can also be quickly added to this menu - Can be context sensitive pr room so only one for sculpt room, one for painting, etc Example Blender Sculpt Room. Hotkey press 'Q' brings up Quick menu, in which I've added some common operations so I don't need to locate them in UI each time or assign hotkey to each. I would like to mention, a compromise that anybody can use today is a software like AutoHotPie which presents you with pie menus that can send keys to 3DCoat for commands Thanks for any consideration and please reply if you have any thoughts

Small pet peeve of mine, but there is a reason export geometry has a standard search window and textures has this legacy format: It would be nice to have both as the first standard search window.