Anyone want to make this UI?
polycounter lvl 10
I've had this idea for a while but just never got around to posting it, figured this was as good a place as any.
The UI in most everything from max to maya to zbrush is a terrible pain. Hotkeys are never what i want them to be and buttons are never where i want 'em either. Changing these things is also a total pain in the arse. Half the time i can't even find the thing i want to hotkey in the hotkey editor.
Here's the idea: There's a single hotbar that can be scaled in size to reveal any number of hotkeys. Any button or function in the program can be dragged to this hotbar easily.
Here's the important part:
There would be a very simple keystroke to change the hotkey of these buttons. While hovering the mouse over one of these buttons you would hit spacebar or something easy like that, to tell it you want to remap the hotkey for that button, or you don't have to hotkey it, and just click it from the hotbar. Common hotkeys would be combinations of shift and control with letters and numbers obviously.
The more you use the hotkey, the smaller the button gets, eventually it will disappear as it assumes you've mastered it. The more you press the button with the mouse, the opposite happens, it gets bigger and easier to find/ press. This way the UI tailors itself to you. You can over time create the perfect mix of hotkeyed things, and buttons for the stuff you don't use so much you hotkey, but still want easy access to. And the more you use it the easier it is to find. You could even have sub hotkey bars for different modes of your choosing.
You'd think this stuff would be standard by now, or that UI's would be getting easier and easier, but they're not. It's the opposite. Each year more features are added, each year the UI becomes more muddeled.
Figured i'd finally post this online, maybe someone can run with it.
The UI in most everything from max to maya to zbrush is a terrible pain. Hotkeys are never what i want them to be and buttons are never where i want 'em either. Changing these things is also a total pain in the arse. Half the time i can't even find the thing i want to hotkey in the hotkey editor.
Here's the idea: There's a single hotbar that can be scaled in size to reveal any number of hotkeys. Any button or function in the program can be dragged to this hotbar easily.
Here's the important part:
There would be a very simple keystroke to change the hotkey of these buttons. While hovering the mouse over one of these buttons you would hit spacebar or something easy like that, to tell it you want to remap the hotkey for that button, or you don't have to hotkey it, and just click it from the hotbar. Common hotkeys would be combinations of shift and control with letters and numbers obviously.
The more you use the hotkey, the smaller the button gets, eventually it will disappear as it assumes you've mastered it. The more you press the button with the mouse, the opposite happens, it gets bigger and easier to find/ press. This way the UI tailors itself to you. You can over time create the perfect mix of hotkeyed things, and buttons for the stuff you don't use so much you hotkey, but still want easy access to. And the more you use it the easier it is to find. You could even have sub hotkey bars for different modes of your choosing.
You'd think this stuff would be standard by now, or that UI's would be getting easier and easier, but they're not. It's the opposite. Each year more features are added, each year the UI becomes more muddeled.
Figured i'd finally post this online, maybe someone can run with it.
Replies
[edit] That's not to rag on your idea. People are different
I cant wait till the new blender comes out because it shouldnt be too much trouble to test and try these things out in it (hopefully).
i've made it a habit to define a hotkey for something once i have the need for it and assign one right then and there, otherwise it'll drive me crazy if i have to think about it a second time.
your icon scaling idea i would find extremely annoying. something like this would be more suited for a querky video game feature rather than a development software, imo.
Silo is a nice exception with shortcuts listed all over the visual GUI elements and menus + the ability to change the instantly - it is very powerfully. Here is a sample GUI shot from a custom Silo interface:
even looking at the picture itself it seem really to be easy to get the shortcuts and work right away. And if you dont like a shortcut in particular,- just hover with the mouse over it and press any key- combo you want.
Back in the old days when you buyed an expensive software (autodesk, discreet, adobe, macromedia...) you would usually get a card, book, flyer or cube with the most important shortcuts listed on them. But companies got more greedy and often not giving away anymore those printed xtras (including thick books) with the purchase of the software. Instead you get some download links to some PDF files.
Recently adobe slipped again on my radar with another adobe AIR 'marketing' try:
its a ugly tool that requires an adobe AIR (just flash with some xtra rights) to use it as a widget and display default shortcuts of common CS software.
Discreet once had the same build into their startup of 3dsmax where they used Flash as well to highlight on each startup a new set of grouped shortcuts to learn. And although in both cases it was not printed or something to hold in your hand,- I still liked it.
back in 2006 I wrote something similar also in flash but I never completed it:
I added smooth transition animations within the magnifier scope to illustrate where the shortcut is spotted on your keyboard- because that information is often left out of context.
in any case I would be interested in some shortcut either experience, learning or customization tool.
Maybe I should also mention that FunkyBunnies did a nice job within this thread:
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=60572
its about a tablet- shortcut mapping tool (binds application shortcuts to visual buttons). He solved it using autoIt a scripting language that seems to be easy to get into and solve such things.
I've always wondered how my workflow might improve while modeling if the software didn't waste UI space and energy on such things as animation and 3d effects. The ease of hotkeyeing and streamlined design of silo is really enticing.
I am not a fan of maya, max, modo, blender 2.5, photoshop,.... where the shortcut management is dumped into an extra application (thats how it feels), some xtra window with a big list that you have to scroll through and find word by word (even though you might not always know the key-word) and re-map it. I really hope more applications will adopt the beautiful GUI map able design of silo.
And especially Blender which is about to change its current behavior and look GUI wise (and deep down in the core) should pay attention to that. So far I only saw a big bloated list like any other application as well- I hope it will be easier than that to change stuff easier and way faster- if they would do that right they could win so many new users instantly, for sure!
It's a very quick and clean little app, great for making base meshes and retopologising. For hard surface modelling you might find it a bit lacking, mainly due to the lack of deformers and splines.