I guess it's quite a common feeling to want to redesign xNormal
I'm quite likeing m4dcow version so far and I've always imagined it quite similar to that.
Some points I wanted it to have were:
- Horizontal menu on the top side.
- Exposed maps settings and a quicker way to access meshes options (just like you have it)
- Examples, Tools and Utilities Support and About and maybe even Fine details are kind of a second nature to the main purpose of the software so I'd have them in a separate menu.
- The Start Bake button should be on the bottom right (as that's where we usually go looking for "final" stuff, mainly due to the habit of having signature and similar things on that side in paper documents)
- As Dn2 said have the Preset thing ese a drop down menu.
- The Start Bake button should be on the bottom right (as that's where we usually go looking for "final" stuff, mainly due to the habit of having signature and similar things on that side in paper documents)
- As Dn2 said have the Preset thing ese a drop down menu.
Yeh it probably should be there, but I kind of just stuck it where I had space.
I agree with a preset dropdown, would be more useful, along with a save preset button too.
Also, in the bake queue window, those items should be like xml files or whatever and not model files :P
Designing by committee is almost always a path to failure OR a terrible design. Just sayin'.
I do think they should pick someone to work with though and do a new UI for the next version. Something not rooted in ... whatever style it uses right now. Whatever it's called.
Right now xNormal is like that girl with the killer personality and stellar brains... but looks like she fell from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
Designing by committee is almost always a path to failure OR a terrible design. Just sayin'.
I do think they should pick someone to work with though and do a new UI for the next version. Something not rooted in ... whatever style it uses right now. Whatever it's called.
I could honestly care less about the style of the actual UI, would be cool if it looked nice, but its very likely that some other design style comes along that we would prefer over these mostly flat design styles that are all the rage right now.
I'm more interested in seeing xNormal easier to use/more efficient and seeing new features. My design comes from a point of view of how I might like it to work, but someone else could share some other use case that I don't know about and my design doesn't address very well.
While hopefully giving the actual author insight into ways he might improve the software for everyone.
youre using flat design on your concept yourself ?
"flat design" is going to stay, as its essentially just minimalism and which is timeless of course
Does not mean that someones execution of it is timeless, but flat design is the core of graphic design on which everything else builds upon
Cheesy gloss was just a trend, or the long shadows people using right now, the totally stereotypical sci-fi stuff look, maybe skeumorphism (although I think thats something to stay aswell as its just a diegetic interpretation of something which is universal
Well initially flat design was really just flat color but people use gradients and 1px shadows/highlights and all those things again, the term is not as strict anymore and more of a description of something overly clean I guess
Effects and graphics can date, but proportions and colors can not
youre using flat design on your concept yourself ?
"flat design" is going to stay, as its essentially just minimalism and which is timeless of course
Does not mean that someones execution of it is timeless, but flat design is the core of graphic design on which everything else builds upon
Cheesy gloss was just a trend, or the long shadows people using right now, the totally stereotypical sci-fi stuff look, maybe skeumorphism (although I think thats something to stay aswell as its just a diegetic interpretation of something which is universal
Well initially flat design was really just flat color but people use gradients and 1px shadows/highlights and all those things again, the term is not as strict anymore and more of a description of something overly clean I guess
Effects and graphics can date, but proportions and colors can not
I didn't say I wasn't using flat design just that how it is used seems pleasing to us now but may not be down the line. I find that flat design initially went way too minimalist, and like you say it is easing back since it had implications when it came to interfaces where flat design would make things more difficult for a user by being too minimalist. Specifically things that mimic real world items like buttons and knobs etc... who's dimensionality would instantly indicate that you can interact with them.
Yea its definitely the trend now, as people started with really ugly stuff in the early internet days and are now going back to what counts. I suppose the guy doing the huge paragraph would have done that huge aswell if he did a 2005 glossy apple style design.
Many designers using it because its the most classy, and it takes often less work doing a minimalist flat vector button than a 3d diegetic whatever thing, while being more tasteful and simplistic. Maybe the overly flat design is just a trend in example of your first 2 links, but flat design in terms of like pandadoc is using it is here to stay im sure
Cool, thanks. So I guess they're supposed to be two different map types but xNormal doesn't render bent normals properly, essentially making them object space normals. I'm still a bit confused after reading some of those PDFs. Valve's maps--mentioned to be similar to bent normals--look nothing like the ones xNormal creates; and the other PDF never explicitly states that AO is baked into a bent normal, rather it keeps saying "per-vertex occlusion AND bent normals," as if they are two separate things. :poly141:
Anyway, I don't want to hijack this thread, please everyone continue with your beautiful UI design!
I personally find sideways scroll bars more annoying than vertical ones. What if the big square icons of EdGaray's UI were half the size to fit all the map types on the window? It could be a highlighted toggle and RMB could open the options for that map type.
But seriously, all these designs are awesome. Does anybody know Santiago? I wonder if he'd be game to assist in a redesign. Because really, anything is better than the original, haha.
Thanks for the feedback and the love for side scroll bars I add the rest of the maps, scale the buttons, include a more option icon (3 lines on the top left corner on the Normal Button), clear button and preset section. It's a little hard to read the description of the buttons but I wouldn't be a problem on full screen if you like.
Replies
I'm quite likeing m4dcow version so far and I've always imagined it quite similar to that.
Some points I wanted it to have were:
- Horizontal menu on the top side.
- Exposed maps settings and a quicker way to access meshes options (just like you have it)
- Examples, Tools and Utilities Support and About and maybe even Fine details are kind of a second nature to the main purpose of the software so I'd have them in a separate menu.
- The Start Bake button should be on the bottom right (as that's where we usually go looking for "final" stuff, mainly due to the habit of having signature and similar things on that side in paper documents)
- As Dn2 said have the Preset thing ese a drop down menu.
Yeh it probably should be there, but I kind of just stuck it where I had space.
I agree with a preset dropdown, would be more useful, along with a save preset button too.
Also, in the bake queue window, those items should be like xml files or whatever and not model files :P
I do think they should pick someone to work with though and do a new UI for the next version. Something not rooted in ... whatever style it uses right now. Whatever it's called.
Right now xNormal is like that girl with the killer personality and stellar brains... but looks like she fell from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
(or guy if you're into that :thumbup:)
I could honestly care less about the style of the actual UI, would be cool if it looked nice, but its very likely that some other design style comes along that we would prefer over these mostly flat design styles that are all the rage right now.
I'm more interested in seeing xNormal easier to use/more efficient and seeing new features. My design comes from a point of view of how I might like it to work, but someone else could share some other use case that I don't know about and my design doesn't address very well.
While hopefully giving the actual author insight into ways he might improve the software for everyone.
"flat design" is going to stay, as its essentially just minimalism and which is timeless of course
Does not mean that someones execution of it is timeless, but flat design is the core of graphic design on which everything else builds upon
Cheesy gloss was just a trend, or the long shadows people using right now, the totally stereotypical sci-fi stuff look, maybe skeumorphism (although I think thats something to stay aswell as its just a diegetic interpretation of something which is universal
Well initially flat design was really just flat color but people use gradients and 1px shadows/highlights and all those things again, the term is not as strict anymore and more of a description of something overly clean I guess
Effects and graphics can date, but proportions and colors can not
I didn't say I wasn't using flat design just that how it is used seems pleasing to us now but may not be down the line. I find that flat design initially went way too minimalist, and like you say it is easing back since it had implications when it came to interfaces where flat design would make things more difficult for a user by being too minimalist. Specifically things that mimic real world items like buttons and knobs etc... who's dimensionality would instantly indicate that you can interact with them.
As for the flat design trend, as it is being used with websites and stuff today, what I'm talking about are these websites that have huge text where a paragraph takes up my entire fucking screen like:
http://www.brandaiddesignco.com/
http://hlkagency.com/undefined
https://www.pandadoc.com/
This sort of design is very much the trend now, essentially mimicking print ads.
Many designers using it because its the most classy, and it takes often less work doing a minimalist flat vector button than a 3d diegetic whatever thing, while being more tasteful and simplistic. Maybe the overly flat design is just a trend in example of your first 2 links, but flat design in terms of like pandadoc is using it is here to stay im sure
And there are many applications for the idea of flat design, the core applicance that is being used right now will likely switch, but the concept of it will always be , here a good example from ace combat https://hostr.co/file/JJrtDZORkDJQ/tumblr_msi1jna8WT1s3zteao1_1280.png or even wipeout which is pretty old now https://hostr.co/file/xr8x6VgfnXsa/wipeout.JPGusing the principles but going another style
It is not
okay from what i could gather bent normals in xnormal are just faulty and are identical to object space maps?
I hope I'm not wrong haha. I've visually compared object space and bent normals and they are identical down to the pixel hex code. Can anyone confirm?
On a side note, why would one need occlusion information combined with normal information? I haven't come across anything like that before.
http://eat3d.com/forum/questions-and-feedback/bent-normal-maps
Anyway, I don't want to hijack this thread, please everyone continue with your beautiful UI design!
I love this concept.
I would love this design, with the added option of being able to pull out the sections into different windows like in Make's re-design.
This is why it's important to back up your work.
*waits for the applause*....
But seriously, all these designs are awesome. Does anybody know Santiago? I wonder if he'd be game to assist in a redesign. Because really, anything is better than the original, haha.
Thanks for the feedback and the love for side scroll bars