New icons for Blender 2.8

Great.

For images, the plan is that there will be three types: Image Plane, Reference Image and Image Empty

Image Plane icon (Image Object) - checked!
Image Empty icon - checked!
Reference Image… image%20-%20reference_1 ?

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Sorry, I was slightly wrong. The three options will be Image Plane, Background Image, Reference Image.

Will it be a single record in the Add menu, or three different ones?

It will be like the other items.

  • Image
    • Image Plane
    • Background Image
    • Reference Image

I see… So, two more icons are pending.
I imagine, that Background image will be sticked to the View space, Image Plane will be an object and visibility of the Reference Image will be restricted to named views - top/front/side…
Correct me if I’m wrong.

I case it’s how I described it, icons could look like this (I. Plane, Background I. and Reference I.):
Image%20-%20reference_2

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I downloaded the latest version on builder.blender.org and didn’t see different icons (e.g: the new pin) so I’m not sure if I have to build blender myself to see the new icons…

Anyways, what about these UV tool icons that I mentioned a long time ago?
Are the tools still there? What about it’s icons?

Reference & background are the same. Both are Empty objects but the baclground goes behind your 3D objects.

So the Reference will be displayed in front of all 3D object, but semitransparent?

And now something completely different:
text labels use some kind of backdrop or shadow, which dramatically improoves the local contrast. Is there a possibility to get sth similar for icons, since they look dull and flat next to the text.

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I think the boucing ball ideia is great for physics.

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Weel, I guess it was a @jendrzych idea anyway, from his 2.5 work

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Perfectly agree: monochromatic icons are a trend, probably started by Apple iOS designer, are cool and elegant, but difficult to differentiate

i’m a long time Blender professional user and teacher and i think this slows the work down

in an interface i look for usability more than coolness

that’s my bit, happy blending everybody!

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monochromatic icons are a trend, probably started by Apple iOS designer, are cool and elegant, but difficult to differentiate

I am a tool developer and UI designer. Let me give you my perspective as to the benefits and reasons to this ‘trend’

  • Consistency is much easier to maintain with others or by yourself.
  • Easy to adapt for new designers or new icon needs.

Apart from the asset creation benefits there is also much more control you can do on the engineering side such as applying color themes, outlines, shadows etc. All with predictable consistency.

Most importantly though I think this new icon approach will be a lot more future proof and extendable for the community. In the future it will be much faster to extend or change icons for blender.

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I wholeheartedly agree.

I just wanted to boil this down so it’s plain and here, and not obscured by designer-talk.

What you’re saying, in each reason is essentially,
“They’re easy to make”

In other words, this ‘trend’ got adopted widely because it takes less work.
I’m not sure everyone is going to consider that a great reason.

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As one can see earlier in this thread, Antaoiz and I don’t see eye-to-eye easily… but he’s spot on with this one.

Don’t get me wrong, as a developer for mobile apps & GIS applications, I can 100% get behind anything that minimises the effort I need to put in, as a developer, regarding iconography. However, that’s not a benefit for the end-user of the application - it’s a benefit for me (the developer) and for the application owners (those paying me to develop it). And even then, when one needs to differentiate icons close together on a map - the first thing we do is to see what change we can make to hue.

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well, this is also true:

So afterall, easy to adapt and mantain, but not so easy to create

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Many of your posts are negative :frowning_face: and highly disrupting. It would be so nice to read constructive and supportive messages from you.

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Whether you like it or not, the decision-making process in designing is funded on several levels. In short, the final shape of the work is limited by:

  1. aesthetic issues,
  2. functional reasons,
  3. time possible to sacrifice for conceptual and design work,
  4. funds allocated for a given purpose,
  5. practical issues related to the functioning of the implemented project, including the ability to maintain, adapt and develop.

Time and resources are unbeatable and usually define the final shape of the project. The fact that something is done as voluntary work does not mean that time and resources are unlimited. It is just the opposite.
Practical issues in the second place affect the adopted solutions. The old set of colored icons is a great example of how a high degree of complexity affects adaptability and development opportunities.
Functional issues are extremely important but indirectly result from all of the above. Ergonomically perfect solutions do not go hand in hand with the limited availability of resources for the purpose. You get what you pay for. Well-balanced decisions are usually in the middle and are based on compromises. Good assumptions allow adaptation and development of the project, so as to minimize functional deficiencies.
Aesthetics are the least important and individual matter. The boundary conditions defining the appearance should be clearly defined by the client, and if they are not, the designer has a free hand. De gustibus non est disputandum.

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Then the answer is to just use text everywhere. Text is fast, easy and cheap to create, always looks good, and can be differentiated much more easily than mono icons.