Grasshopper VS. Houdini , Maya Hypergraph

I've been writing some custom components for Grasshopper for several days.

Something is bugging me.

And I start to comparing GH to some other Node Based softwares.

Sometimes, a component in GH contains a lot of inputs, which is like the meshing setting component below.

1.Users may rarely link some outputs of other components to the inputs of the "Min", "Max",or "Refine".....so the component is kind of taking too much space of the canvas. Some inputs don't have to be inputs, maybe they can be some attributes of the component.

2.And if users want to change the parameter of one of the inputs, they can right click on it, then type something or maye click some more buttons, and "commit change". Once you click "commit change",the menu's gone. This only changes one parameter for one time. More param to change ,more "loops".

If they want to save some clicks, take the "Max" param for example,they can drop a slider and connect it to "Max",or can right-click on "max" then click "extract param". It is easier for user to change param through a slider, but the slider will take room of the canvas, it's contradictory.

Houdini and Maya have attribute windows of their Nodes, which is really handy and simplifies the canvas. Changing param is so convenient inside the attr window, as the param are all inside, and "middle click slider"as well.

3.Houdini and Maya offer parent-children relationships of Nodes.

4.Users are able to group Nodes together in Houdini and GH. And Houdini offers a double-click action for users to collapse the group,or to expand it.

gotta go

I'll keep posting.

Let's let the little Grasshopper grow, guys

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on August 10, 2010 at 1:55pm

1. Yes, some components do add additional items into the menu. However I feel these are difficult to discover and therefore a poor UI strategy. I'd much rather try to make Simple/Advanced or (Clean/Expert if that sounds better) modes for components, so that obscure inputs are usually not shown.

I'm not sure yet how to tackle this problem.

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

Permalink Reply by taz on August 10, 2010 at 2:42pm

Is not [Loft] and [Loft Options] a dual-part example?

Default settings with the base component and customizable properties as an add-on component?

I think that approach works to keep most components tiny/tidy, but the end result is more components...

Permalink Reply by Paul N Jeffries on August 12, 2010 at 3:40am

Might a solution be to have 'advanced' options hidden but accessible though a little drop-down-arrow button at the bottom of the component itself? i.e. clicking on the arrow would expand the component with the additional options. Clicking again would 'roll them up' again and so on. It would save space if you didn't need those options but be pretty obvious just from glancing at the component that there were extra options available.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on August 12, 2010 at 5:41am

Good idea. I like it.

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

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on August 10, 2010 at 2:09pm

2. Can you post an image of these Attribute Managers? Or a link to a good YouTube video or something? Something that really shows off the power of this approach.

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

Permalink Reply by Ian Chan on August 11, 2010 at 8:37am

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&am...

check out some official videos.
I'm unable to access Youtube because of the Chinese goverment.

I'll upload some screenshot later.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on August 10, 2010 at 2:09pm

3. What is a Parent-Child relationship for nodes? Is it having networks inside networks?

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

Permalink Reply by Ian Chan on August 11, 2010 at 5:46am

excactly
networks inside networks

Permalink Reply by Ian Chan on August 11, 2010 at 8:54am

http://www.sidefx.com/images/stories/tutorials/surface_operations/1...

Permalink Reply by Ian Chan on August 15, 2010 at 11:58am

Finally, I can access Youtube with some tools

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxpSFwCjezI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90h8l4OnIt4

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on August 10, 2010 at 2:10pm

4. This is pretty high on the list. It's a big project though so it will take some time to get it right.

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

Permalink Reply by Jonathon Broughton on August 10, 2010 at 2:27pm

I prefer everything there up front and explicit. The more inputs the more it leads to the understanding that every parameter can itself be driven by some other input.

The canvas (while i spend too long making it so) is not a thing of beauty. That is not to say it isn't well designed, but it is a functional tool. The simplicity should come from the output not necessarily from the construct.