Blender 2.82a
Addon 2.7.8
My scene contains 3 collections. In object mode, I pressed the keys 1, 2, 3 (it displayed collections sequentially).
But as soon as I clicked on the toggle checkbox (in the View QCD Slot dialog), it made Blender crash with this error in the system console:
Error : EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION
Address : 0x00007FF60B3DD8FA
Fixed it. I think it’s a small enough bug that I’m not going to release a special zip, but it’ll be included in the next update.
Update:
Collection_Manager_v2_7_12.zip (34.4 KB)
@Juso3D (and anyone else that’s interested)
Because you mentioned you’ve had objects added to unexpected collections, you might want to join in on this test and design discussion: https://developer.blender.org/T69577#913778.
It’s about how the active collection will be set in the Collection Manager popup and with QCD.
Update.
Note: You always had some control of the active collection (it was synced to the tree view selection), but it was very buggy and misleading. Now simply click the collection icon to set the active collection.
Collection_Manager_v2_7_16.zip (34.6 KB)
I am not sure about doubleclick (it will be difficult to make it so that it does not affect the current states layout), but Alt key seems to be free for such purposes.
So in theory it could be possible to make slot objects selection with Alt key, and add/remove slots objects to/from selection with Alt+Shift or something like that, because those keys are free.
Considering selections, I would like to propose same actions for collections as well, when hitting Alt+LMB on Select Active collection icon will select objects in it, and hitting Alt+Shift will add collection’s objects to selection.
This can make easier for example, to untangle filtered collections, in case if filtering revealed some problems with scene consistency.
For example, if filtering selected BMW car parts reveals that some parts are in GRASS collection as well, we will be able to select them directly from CM:
So we can probably use Alt based keys to make possible QCD and CM selections the same.
I think it deserves at least to be mentioned and maybe placed in research list)
All of this sounds possible, I’m wondering why you want to use the active collection operator instead of the move object operator in CM which would make more sense to me because it already works with this kind of thing, and the hotkeys you proposed are free on it.
Because of reliability.
Move object operator affects the scene structure, therefore, if you did not press Alt strongly enough with the Alt + shift combination, or it got stuck at some point, this will lead to changes in the scene that are difficult to track and repair.
I tried to imagine controlling selection via Setting Object buttons, and immediately felt such kind of discomfort, like playing with fate.
The active collection icon is much safer, it also highlights on pressing, so it’s all for the reliability of actions performed quickly. You can accidentally messup with the selection, but that’s okay, it’s not a problem like to accidentally messup with scene structure.
Okay, I’ll put something together to try.
Thank you!
There is also space for Alt+Ctrl nesting collections objects selection (since Alt is for selection, and Ctrl is already used for nesting control in CM), that can make able selecting/deselecting given part of hierarchy.
This way we may be able to select some parts of complex hierarchies.
Also complex action - complex shortcut behavior.
Can be useful for many cases.
How do you think?
@xan2622, @1D_Inc
Here is a test of object selection using @1D_Inc’s hotkeys, including nested selection for CM only.
I’m liking the functionality, but I don’t particularly like it attached to the active collection operator because you get no feedback from it. The QCD part works great though.
(Now that I’ve tried it I agree adding this to the set object operator is too dangerous)
A very nice functionality!
Now we can not only observe collections stucture, but also make selection operations based on observations)
I like it also solves a problem with single collection objects selection - only nesting selection is provided in Blender by default (when selecting objects of collection selects everything nesting, while hierarchical structures that are possible to create requires more flexible behavior, like we has got now)
Also love the way it interacts with filtered collections - so now you can quickly shrink selection to objects which collection assignment is questionable directly from CM =)
QCD part is also gorgeous, so we now don’t have a need to manipulate slots, loosing temporal combination to provide proper selection.
Yes, active collection operator have no feedback, because feedback is provided by move object operator (it changes icon type), so I think it is suitable solution, if to take into account how dangerous alternatives could possibly be.
What an enhancement, thank you so much for this! )
The problem solved by skew is the visual control of the nesting during operations with RTOs.
In addition, in this way the CM does not fully copy the outliner.
I have to say i have the same reaction after trying CM out - too much button disorder with this 1 field overlap. I would suggest either align it to the right of the menu (with a gap to the x button) or make the skew step smaller - 1/2 or 1/4. The association with the good features of the outliner does not necessarily have to be a bad thing.
The way it is right now disables the visual association of buttons, you have to struggle to find the button you need.
Otherwise a really good addition for the pipeline, a standard in a lot of DCC apps.
Not sure about representing hierarchical data as a flat list.
Outliner can’t afford skew because it shows objects as well, so it have to be flat at some point.
CM and outliner solves different problems with different approaches in my opinion.
Also I think that having both Alt+Ctrl+LMB and Alt+Ctrl+Shift+LMB (adding/removing hierarchical objects to selection toggle) is superfluous, since one of them is just extension of another.
I would propose to move Alt+Ctrl+Shift+LMB action it to Alt+Ctrl+LMB, replacing its functionality - It seems that such an operation will take place without loss of any kind of functionality.
Am I right?
Not sure if we understand each other - if i see @fiendish55 proposal right, he is suggesting keeping the hierarchical skew of the items to the left but aligning the buttons to the right, which i find a good solution.
If you feel the skew of the buttons to the right is also a good thing to keep (which is arguable), my suggestion is to ease the skew a bit, thus keeping the vertical flow of matching symbols and enabling the eye a fast - track to search for appropriate buttons. In current form this flow is broken.
Yes, we already tried Bookyakuno version.
We also tried that, and it makes hierarchy less perceptable, and also just doesn’t look good.
After several attempts we decided not to follow outliner design.
The problem is that CM is not about vertical flow operations, like outliner, but about perceprting hierarchical structure. So it is another approach to compensate outliner solution.
@fiendish55, @Okavango, @1D_Inc
I can see merit in both styles of display, so here’s a test with a checkbox in the filter panel that will control whether it’s skewed, or aligned to the right in a column. I’ve also added lines to mark the rows.
If you think that it’s more a “set and forget” checkbox we could move it to the preferences instead, but I thought I’d start it off somewhere more accessible.
Let me know what you all think.
edit: I also need a better name for this section, so any ideas are welcome.
Collection_Manager_multi_align_test_01.zip (35.2 KB)
I guess it depends on whether you want to quickly isolate a nested group. With your proposed replacement it takes 3 clicks to isolate nested selection as opposed to 1. But I don’t know how often anyone will want to do that.
I can easily make the switch if that’s what people want.
@xan2622 What do you think about this?
