Thanks Michael. I didn't know that it would be a lot of work. Something else like creating a custom palette will work just as fine. The tools I find myself using most frequently after edge tools are boolean operations and surface creation tools in one tab and then scale and mirror on the other. I got some hot keys set up, but the problem with scale is that it has more options and the hot key will use the last used setting, so it is necessary to switch sometimes.

Thanks!
Val

Hi Val,

> I got some hot keys set up, but the problem with scale is
> that it has more options and the hot key will use the last
> used setting, so it is necessary to switch sometimes.

Could you please elaborate a bit on this one - for the regular Scale command there is just one "Make copies" option... Is that the option you are referring to here? Or are you talking about the difference between the 3D / 2D / 1D scaling commands?

If that "Make copies" option gets in your way, you can actually skip setting it by instead holding down the Ctrl key when you click the final point for the scale, that is an alternate way to drop a copy without setting the check-box.


But definitely simple scaling and rotating are things that I want to enable by a kind of "in viewport" type grips which should really reduce needing to open up the Transform tab so much.

You can get a feel for how I think these will work by using the current View/Image command to insert a background image - while you are in that Image command it will have grips just outside the corners of it for scaling, and also one for rotation as well.

- Michael

> But definitely simple scaling and rotating are things that I want to enable by a kind of "in viewport"
> type grips which should really reduce needing to
> open up the Transform tab so much.

I hope you plan to leave the existing scale commands as well. I love the way they work.

Me too !
i like the way they work !
Much better then the eyeballing in some other programs !
Peter

Hi Tony,

> I hope you plan to leave the existing scale commands as well.
> I love the way they work.

Yup, that is the plan - the existing scale and rotate commands will stay exactly as they are. The existing ones will have some advantages for precision work since they can snap on to reference points in the model for exact measurements and also take specific numeric input.

The idea for the other ones will be for doing quicker more just mouse-driven type manipulation.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

>>>But definitely simple scaling and rotating are things that I want to enable by a kind of "in viewport" type grips....

I would agree with Tony,....... but think you would leave current scaling (and move/ rotate) in place anyway.

I know having onscreen (widgets) manipulators can be good and save some time if they are implemented well. I see the "widgets" in many 3d poly modelers and they can be a complete pain at times, as they can become hidden/ off screen, I usually end up disabling them.

So if you do implement such a feature, could you please make it an option, so I can disable if wanted.


- Steve

edit:

Sorry Michael, you replied already.

Great, thanks Michael

Hi Steve,

> So if you do implement such a feature, could you please make
> it an option, so I can disable if wanted.

I will also make it possible to disable it entirely if you want.

But I will be putting quite a bit of effort into making it as unobtrusive as possible.

To start with it will probably only be applied to 2D shapes and function more like a 2D illustration kind of bounding-frame widget rather than the poly-modeler type manipulators.

- Michael

Yes, I am talking about the 2D, 3D scale options. And what a adding a viewport navigator would be good for basic stuff, but I am not sure how you can make it more advanced, like for example I use a lot the guide lines to find centers, coordinates, and so on to scale or rotate about, or to move objects to some relative point in space and so on.

Hi Val,

> but I am not sure how you can make it more advanced <...>

I have a few ideas... It may be possible to do something like bring up extra options or controls for certain actions like a click and release on a grip instead of a click and drag.

That might flip it between some different kinds of modes that have more draggable points within in the widget (like for an origin point for example). It's a possibility anyway.

You can see an example of this in the Image widget frame currently - if you click and release on the rotation grip there, it will switch to a tri-ball rotation widget that lets you rotate around any of 3 different axes instead of only rotating in the plane which is what happens when you drag directly on that rotation grip instead of click on it.

But I don't really have all that completely nailed down yet though.

At first the primary focus of this will be just for simple stuff, since the Transform commands cover the precision stuff well already. But it would certainly be nice if it could incorporate more advanced transforms as well.

- Michael

Although I only purchased MOI about a week ago (and am delighted with it by the way!), I have been intrigued by this thread, and being a bit of a 'fiddler' have been having a go at making my own changes.

Modo is my other favourite 3d app and I like its darker theme, so here is my attempt at producing something similar. I've based it on the UI provided by Tony (aka Ash) in this thread as I like its layout and the additional tools, but have darkened it down some what. I have attached a screen grab ... What do you think?

The modified files are in the second attachment.

Oops! ... just noticed that there in not enough contrast in the numeric input panel. This replacement UI zip fixes it .

Hi barney,

Looking good there, it is good that the UI can be changed easily, as I think a lot do like to customize.

To All,
I was looking at working in full screen mode. I can easily bring up all controls via shortcut keys into floating windows, but I cannot find a way to re-direct/show the options panel. Is there a way to do that?

- Steve

> but I cannot find a way to re-direct/show the options panel.
> Is there a way to do that?

Hi Steve, the key things for this are the <moi:CommandUIContainer> elements in the side pane.

The way that these currently work is that it really expects to only find one of these (of each type, command set and command UI) and the first one of these that is created will be remembered by the internal infrastructure as being the spot to funnel command option into.

It's not really expecting for that UI to come and go, so if you put it on a dialog and then close the dialog, the element on the closed dialog is still being targeted as the place to send the options into, which won't work very well because the dialog is not displayed and basically zombied at that point.


I think it would work if you removed it from where it currently is on the side pane, then I think it could go on a dialog as long as you didn't close that particular dialog after its initial display. Does that seem to work?

It would probably not be too difficult for me to tune this up in v2 to work a bit better and allow that to be closed and opened as a new instance later.

- Michael

I like the darker themed UI (except I would want somewhat lighter for the grid area perhaps). Many drawing programs like Paint Shop Pro have switched to a darker UI - easier on the eyes after a long session.

Ed

Hi Michael,

Sorry, I dont mean to take your time on such.

I dont mind that the options panel will show in the same area/place, but I am unable to make this show when in full screen mode. I would not mind the top flyout staying in same place/position as is, just as long as it will show/hide as it does now.

Any info/help (when you have time) would certainly be appreciated.

Regards,

Steve

Definitely the darker style UI is a lot more "in vogue" these days. There has been kind of a trend towards that for the past several years now.

But personally I don't really like it that much, it just gives me a rather gloomy feel.

But certainly tastes vary and there is no one single color scheme that is perfect for everybody. That's why it is nice to be able to change things around if you like.

- Michael

Hi Steve, re: floating command options.

I've attached an example here - it is a little fussy to set up.

This has just one CommandUIContainer removed from sidepane.htm (the one with id="CommandUIContainer") and then a CommandOptionsFloating.htm dialog that has the command options inside of it.

There are a couple of styles inside a <style> section at the top of SidePane.htm which need to be brought along, these might have been easy to miss when cutting/pasting stuff to another spot.

Also the dialog won't be happy starting out totally blank, I had to add at least one visible line of text inside of it to get its initial size to work right.


This is still not really very good though - like I mentioned before, you have to open it only once and leave it open. Also many commands will expect to be able to talk to the UI inside of the options area, and if you try to run a command like that before you have opened the dialog, it will put up a script error.


Have you seen the other style full screen method? That's one that goes full screen by temporarily hiding the UI instead of trying to float it in dialog boxes. That's available here: http://kyticka.webzdarma.cz/3d/moi/#FullScreen - that method generally fits in better right now.

- Michael

hi all this is my MOI UI tuned up

i added togllelight , shadeview, ghosteview ,fullscreen, inverteselection in viewporte
removed transform tab added the tools to edit
( draw,edit,consturct,tarnsform i use them a lot now they are open all time idont have to switsh tabs)
removed viewtab added image to edit
removed selecttab added invertselect to viewport
moved copy paste to commandbar fo space (dont use it much)
new icon fo plugin( i have got short memory i dont remember shortcuts)

befor install rename command and ui folders in moi directory (if you want to go back to original later)
install: extract to moi folder

Been away for a holiday and just catching up here.

Hi, Barney - glad you found a use for my UI. MoI is great for tweaking!