GUI opinions sought

Hi All,

since the last attempt at unchaotifying the toolbar panels was somewhat of a failure, I figured I'd ask your input ahead of time.

Instead of hiding a lot of components from the toolbars, I've now created separators that visually group related components. It requires more screen estate since separators take up an additional 10 pixels each, and not all icon columns are now fully used:

It is fairly trivial to draw the icons the old-fashioned way, so I can add an option for this feature if a lot of you are appalled and disgusted by this new scheme.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Stasiuk on December 31, 2009 at 5:03am

A double-click! Well that's that, then. You learn something new every day.

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on December 31, 2009 at 5:11am

I don't think you can call the search keyword feature a true command line. For example: if I type polyline and hit return without using the arrow keys I get the Reduce component and if I type Poly line I get the Line component.

Permalink Reply by enrique soriano on December 31, 2009 at 3:09am

Hi all

I find very neat the clustering. And i don't think rhino tabs is the option
In another hand, I absolutely agree with Karthik, vvvv right click is really quick, to see both classifications.( I was about to post it and then I read it)
another option would be to use a force-based graph inside the canvas once rightclicked, to navigate throught the two, three or further steps throught the branched tree of tools (like a revision of maya gui).

best
enrique

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on December 31, 2009 at 4:18am

Hi Karthik,

I don't use vvvv often enough to (or rather, I haven't used it often enough in the past) to be aware of the GUI tricks. Can you elaborate with some screenshots what exactly it is that works well for you?

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on December 31, 2009 at 11:07am

Thanks Karthik,

I'll let it percolate for a bit.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by FrankS on December 31, 2009 at 12:08pm

this is maybe slightly OT, so ignore this if it is spoiling the thread.

david: is it possible to invoke the "GH command line" via keystroke/short cut.
using a keyboard+mouse setup (no trackpad) i find myself moving my hand from the keyboard over to the mouse to double-click and back to type, repeating this for let's say 6 components i need to create.

if i had a wish for 2010 ;-) it would be:
being able to create 10 different components in a row by keyboard input only (no clicking).

e.g. in max/msp you can type "n" for "new object" and continue typing the object's name, hit enter (object is created) and go on repeating this. i am not sure how the placement on the canvas is done... but i am sure there are some easy ways to deal with this e.g. at starting mouse point, center of canvas, following components can arrive with offsets...

i figure the fact that keys are send to rhino might be causing trouble, estimating how this can be avoided is beyond my capacities for tonite.

best wishes for 2010!,
frank