Interface suggestion - Obsessive labeling

I've gotten into the habit of grouping individual components in order to use the group name to label the components. I wonder is it possible to use this kind of overhead label based on the name of the component? (but only do so if name has been changed from default value) We can see the change in the name of the component only when not using Draw Icons option. Problem is I like using the naming of components, but like using Draw Icons more, hence the using of groups for labeling things...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on April 4, 2011 at 1:36pm

Why couldn't she be the other type of mermaid? With the fish part on top and the lady part on the bottom.

(Same episode, I think.)

Permalink Reply by kleerkoat on April 4, 2011 at 10:40am

that's a good idea.

i do the same thing with groups, I'll group an individual object just to add a visible descriptor.

can we change the default font for scribble though? comic sans kills me. ;-)

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 5, 2011 at 5:47am

I just removed all hard-coded font names from the Grasshopper source. No more Arial, Courier New, Comic Sans etc. (except in the Text Panel presents, I may change those as well). Instead I'm now using OS default fonts. This means that Scribbles now use Microsoft Sans Serif instead of Comic Sans.

I can eventually make all fonts customizable, but that won't happen for the next release.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on April 5, 2011 at 6:01am

I know you cannot please everyone all of the time but I think its a shame that you sided with the "Ban Comic Sans" movement.

The component is named scribble and I felt that your choice of Comic Sans was justified. The original complaint against the use of Comic Sans is that a typeface should match the tone of its text. Even though it was to be used for a children's museum exhibit and children have a better understanding of the Comic Sans font than any other because of the shapes used, the designer felt it was beneath him.

Permalink Reply by Holger on April 5, 2011 at 2:52am

David are you by chance familiar with the free Mind-Mapping Tool Xmind?

I like its dual Annotation-Concept. One can either attach permanenty visible Text and also custom Icons and/or add longer Notes which only get visible at Mouseover on a hotspot of a respective Component.

In a possible Grasshopper-Implementation one might use a Mouse+Key-Combination instead as one needs to access Components too often.Annotation-Panels popping up when one actually wants to edit some paramaters could get badly in the way.

I've also thought of switchable Canvas Display-Modes:

One slim Editmode to set up the Definiton quickly and one with lots of Documentation going on and even different Layout for Teachers to explain it to others (or for own references when re-opening a definition after some months). I've atttached other aspects of Xmind which might have sense in a Grasshopper-Adaptation.

Holger

Attachments:

notes.gif, 64 KB
alsoHandy.gif, 91 KB
screenshot_23.png, 107 KB

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 5, 2011 at 5:58am

That's some really nice ideas there Holger. Let me think about it for a bit.

Canvas modes wouldn't really work I think, the components would be either spaced very far apart in Slim mode or the additional info would overlap existing components in Documentation mode.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Holger on April 5, 2011 at 8:05am

Glad that you like them!

I can imagine that Canvas Modes was tough to implement properly on the other hand I can't help to see this as the most attractive Solution by far.

When one could hook this up as a Sandbox for checking things out...

Simply leave a mess and hop over to the more sober environment and go on constructing!

Also having such a Documentation/Presentation-Mode might be a great foundation to at some point go even a lot further. Just dreaming aloud here:

What about recording Life-Presentations and Tutorials without confusing permanent Switches between Rhino and Grasshopper Canvas... Explorations and Drilling Down freed from all hectic Zooming and Panning but instead with soft Tweening. Effects inside the Rhino-Viewport obviously had to be "somehow" visible at any time.

The brilliant Prezi-Presentation Software might give you a certain sense of what I'm after; connections get Animation-Paths - good that everything is vector-based already.

Richer Presentation Options (without getting too playful obviously) I believe would make teaching and learning Grasshopper an even more enjoyable experience and would suit the overall Elegance of Grasshopper-Software extremely well.

Permalink Reply by Garcia del Castillo on April 5, 2011 at 4:21am

I agree with people here: I also use individual components grouping to label stuff for further remembering or for teaching purposes. Scribble just seems to loose and time consuming to use, compared to the Ctrl+G feat. However, I guess it could be improved by:

- Having the possibility of labeling single components without having to label them or lose the icon on them, just as suggested by Chris. I would go for adding a Ctrl+(whateverkey) to have a label appear on top of the selected component, and then simple doubleclick edit. It needs to be fast and shortkeyed. And the label could be dragged and attached to any other component.

- Making groups editable in order to add/subtract components from them. It is a pain in the ass to have to delete the group with a nice long description, redo it and paste the label text again. Maybe this floating labels could also be attached to big groups?

Just trying to be creative...

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on April 5, 2011 at 4:36am

I use the scribble a lot as I find it very easy to implement using the Keyword Search Field. Double Click on the Canvas and Type Scribble=Hello World! and hey presto. What would be nice is a GH_SettingsBrowser method to change the default size as I usually move it down to 18pts.

The only draw back to the scribble that I find is you cannot Click+Drag+Alt to copy it because of the way it handles mouse clicks differently.

Permalink Reply by Chris Wilkins on April 5, 2011 at 5:03am