Hi, I love blender but as a mac user there are some parts of it that aren’t imho to user friendly. I’m looking for a good programmer that could implement my ideas of course for money and still open source for everyone. For example I would love to see blender menubar moved outside blender as this is standard in native osx apps. Open “save as…” in new smaller window with remembering last position on screen same for the preferences pane (it’s so annoying that every time I open them they are sticked in left top corner.).
Yeah, see that would make the trunk really complicated, or at least much more complicated than it needs to be. As both a Mac and PC user, but natively a PC all the things I see you point out are Mac OSX stuff, if you really want a more user friendly experience then simply use boot camp or a similar software that allows you to use Windows as this is what Blender is natively built for and most external addons and features are available on. I hate to say it but in terms of Blender, Windows is a much better fit.
you could just go to blender.org/forum and make a new thread and mention all those things that you want in blender. If lucky someone will write scripts or tell you how to do it for free…and you can donate to blender foundation, what ever you had set aside originally to pay.
If you’re slightly less lucky, some blender developer may take a look at your requests and take it seriously and make the requested changes in the next release…the window thing btw is a minor change in terms of programming. it may be fixed with a small script or something from someone at blender.org/forum.
actually, i am a mac user, and what you suggest is less freindly to a user than as it is now. i like actually blender interface, after i learned how it is organized… you have in all softwares this learning curve. look at zbrush, for example. users who know zbrush say its easy interface, new users say no, until they digest the ideas… same goes with blender…
I recommend you talking with Jens Verwiebe (jensverwiebe on IRC #blendercoders channel).
He’s been taking care of the OSX support for Blender, and it may be the most appropriate person to tackle your needs.
That and Mac’s way of having a universal “file” bar with a bunch of floating overlapping windows has always been stupid and inefficient. I always hated working at college with the Adobe suite on their macs simply because Adobe did exactly what you are suggesting and it ruined their interface, Adobe suite was much more intuitive and easy to use on Windows…
Just because other programs use it doesn’t make it the best way…
FYI the above is my OPINION, I’m not trying to start an argument…
@afalldorf
Yes, you do try to start an argument. I really don’t care about your experiences on colleges and on macs.
If you find OSX stupid this is your problem. Now, as a good Windows user, go back and fight with the hidden ntuser.dat.
However, back on topic.
I love the blender UI as it is.
If I had the money I could hire a programer to change Finder and make it like the file browser in blender. LOL (no jokes, really)
Funny that macusers are so familiar with drag and drop but not many know that you can still drag and drop texture files into blender LOL
But, never forget:
Most of professional apps, 3d, sound, video etc use custom menus and windows. Even the only OSX-apple apps. See logic for instance.
The only I could ask is to have back the fullscreen button. Not a big deal, it was just nice to have it.
I don’t know about the universal menubar thing, but…
I wouldn’t mind seeing things like the file open/save dialogs open in modal windows on Windows as well. In fact, since that’s something that can be done across all platforms, it would at least be nice to see that behaviour available as an option for everyone. That whole ‘take over the entire screen to open a file’ thing seems really out-of-date to me and it really doesn’t fit the current overall Blender paradigm. No other part of Blender does this.
As with any software, there are times when I’d like to be able to see the file I already have open when I’m selecting a new file to open. At the moment, I have to close the File dialog to do that, then reopen it.
No you don’t. You can use Shift+Spacebar (or Ctrl+Up/Down) to “unfullscreen” the File Browser. Granted, like rendering, the File Browser lives in your largest editor area, but you can absolutely still see your file when opening/saving.
Back to the OP, you may get some more developer response if you share your budget for this project.
Thanks for the response, Fweeb. Very much appreciated.
I did find, upon trying this, that both techniques replace the hidden Info window at the top of the Blender interface with the File Browser, meaning that the browser has to be expanded to see that it’s there. And even expanding is limited. I can only get it to open far enough to see the menubar plus about three lines from the browser itself.
Thanks, though. It’s a step in the right direction.
I guess I could always open a second Blender interface window on my second monitor and use that for opening files under those circumstances. It would be far simpler, though, to have a modal dialog.
