Hello…
Finally, after some tests and more time using and learning Blender, i think i have enough experience to post some other suggestions… i’m very sure some of them have been already asked by other community members but hopefully, a couple of suggestions haven’t or at least some constructive feedback could be made here.
I’ll not bother on writing about topics that already had been discussed infinite times here in the forums… and actually there is a really good discussion at the Blender Wiki where major coders are placing their proposals on UI redesign and other Blender Functions for 2.50… and for what i’ve read, some really great proposals have been discussed.
Only a couple of tiny little things about some topics of that discussion…
1.- Implicit Focus.
i really LOVE Implicit Focus in Blender’s UI (sorry Ypoissant ;))… I’ve used only Windows and i Always hated Explicit Focus on every application! I hate in 3ds Max having to click everytime if i want to do something as simple as scroll some parameter window… With Blender i work much faster and comfortably because of implicit focus… For me (and hopefully the majority of Blender Users) Implicit Focus is by far the best and most intuitive way of working, so let’s hope Implicit Focus stays for 2.50 or at least remains as an option so the user can decide.
2.- Totally agree with Outliner and Oops Overhaul.
3.- Almost beg for Euler Rotations too.
Ok, i think i can start now with my proposals, there are in my opinion, more-or-less-small-effort-to-implement suggestions so you will not hear me asking for Micro polygon displacement or something like that.
1.- Snapping options should work on Beziers too.
Simply that, Bezier and Bezier handles should have Snapping options too.
<b>1.1.- Bezier node types.</b>
Maybe they exist but i can't find them... i mean node types like those we can find in other programs... Simetric, Corner, smooth...
One thing i have noticed in Blender is that some options are OK but very limited… In complex scenes and unusual (but still correct) cases, some parameters limit should be higher.
2.- Specular Level limit in materials Should be higher.
3.- Emmit Value in materials Should be higher. (if you use EXR or exposure control methods)
4.- AO energy limit should be higher.
This next one i’m sure everybody has asked it before but i’ll bother on writing it because is really needed in my opinion…
5.- Much better management of transparent shadows (including AO shadows).
This another one is a little more complex but is a real time saver on complex scene renderings…
6.- Lighting / Casting shadows inclusion / exclusion from lights (including AO).
I know Blender has some approach on material inclusion/exclusion from lights, but in my opinion, Blender’s implementation is really confusing and limited… again, in my opinion, inclusion/exclusion from lighting and/or shadow casting should be mainly an OBJECT inclusion/exclusion, and it should be a light parameter…
Again, i’ll take the example from 3ds max without any intention of making comparisons…
In 3ds Max, each light have a list for object inclusion/exclusion… you can use that list for including or excluding any object(s) from illumination or shadow casting or both.
Objects in the left list are all the objects in the scene and the right list is the exclusion list for the selected light.
That’s it, i think is a really simple, powerful and intuitive way to manage that situation and having the option of excluding actual objects from lighting and/or shadows calculations, can dramatically improve rendertimes in complex scenes as it happens in 3ds Max… and i repeat, this option should be present in AO/AAO too so the user can include/exclude objects from AO/AAO lighting/shadow casting and calculations.
7.- OSA threshold
Simply that, it would be good to have that option for fine tuning Oversampling quality/speed.
8.- Blender’s “groups” should be named “Collections” instead
In any other software, grouping objects simply means that you can select and manipulate a group as a single object temporarily. simply clicking the group and doing whatever you want with it almost as if you where manipulating a single object but having the option to “open” that group and access individual objects inside. (this is not the same as joining objects)
Blender’s groups are in my opinion “collections” of individual objects where you can do some manipulations and interact with other objects and situations. Is a cool feature but the general behavior is very different from the generalized concept of grouping of any other software.
I’m not saying that current Blender’s group should disappear, i’m just suggesting a different and more suitable name. The current Group name really confuses new users that in general are much more familiar with the concept of group from other software.
But this still lets Blender without the option of creating real groups as in any other software, so it would be good to develop real grouping in Blender, which is a very simple concept and probably a very easy feature to implement.
9.- Box selection shouldn’t require pressing B key first
This is one of the most annoying behaviors for me in Blender. Again, in any other software, box selection is an inherit behavior in the select option, you just click and drag and you draw your box selection, that’s it!.. is incredibly annoying and time wasting having to press B key everytime you want to draw a box selection, which of course is a natural adopted and EFFECTIVE way of working in any other software… Taking the “muscle memory” concept from the Wiki discussion, having to press B key is totally against muscle memory!
B key should only be pressed if you want to use Brush selection.
Well, that’s all i can say with my brief experience in Blender, i’m having a great time learning it and hopefully soon i’ll show a couple of projects made with Blender…
thanks
tuqueque.
