Dev:Ref/Proposals/UI/Better gui for animators
目次
Graph editor- Better Layout!
(added may 13 2015)
- The current Graph editor layout is not very intuitive. Here is a mockup to improve it!
It would make much more sense if the controls for which channels are visible are moved above the list - much in the way the Outliner is designed. Also the search channel input box should operate like the one in the outliner - in real time, without a need to hit ENTER to get search results.
It would also be very useful if we had a search filter for the Dope sheet as well!
In a similar way - above the list - and without the need to hit the "Enter" key to get search results.
For more suggestions, please see the blender artist thread I started:
Outlining the usual set up
You need to have your graph editor to control the spacing, you also need to be able to easily select controls visually - so a 3d viewport big enough for you to be able to rotate around the target character and select their controls. You need to have the N panel channel box- to see the values in their numeric form and change them. Finally- you need to have a constant look at the camera that the final render is going to use- this is particularity important not only for staging, but also the silhouette of the character. It's your end goal and as such it's what you should be constantly looking at when animating.
Now with all these things open- you need to set up your layout in something like this:
Whatever you resize will sacrifice something else. The most important screens you need to observe is the graph editor and the final render screen. When you make them too big, then its difficult to quickly and visually select controls of the character.
Picking controllers
First of all we can make selection of rig controllers much easier in blender and eliminate the need for a dedicate 3d viewport open simply to select them. Professional animation studios tend to use a "character controller picker". This is a 2d panel that is basically a button maker. It allows the animators to generate buttons that select the character controllers- lay them down visually - by moving them around in 2d space over a screenshot of the character. The picker eliminates the need to tumble and orbit around the 3d character to get to their controllers. Some times controllers get obscured because of the pose,other controls or background elements. They are too small or hard to get to. So this 2d button map makes it super easy and quick to select multiple controls and add a keyframe on them.
Blender does not have a picker. My suggestion is to get one made in a plugin form and include it in trunk. It can make use of the toolbar tabs too! It would be extremely helpfull
Graph editor- overlay mode
This is mostly a GUI issue when you have one monitor. Maya has this issue too. Blender however has a feature that can be advantageous for blender users- but it is not making use of it. It can potentially help the issue.
When you use the graph editor- you need to have more space- both vertical and horizontal. But when the graph editor is sharing it with all of the other layout windows- it gets really tiny. This creates the need to do more zooming in and out- vertically or horizontally depending on how the graph editor window has been deprived of space.
I personally have it a floating window in maya- so I can resize and move it. But then again- it obscures my visibility over the 3d viewport that way. And I find myself constantly moving it around and resizing it.
Some times (again in maya), I have it at the bottom half,with the top half being shared between controller selector on and the left and a render can on the right. This however squishes my graph editor- depriving it of vertical space.
What I figured is though- I do not need to have good visibility of my character's details while posing it and changing the spacing. All I need really is to have a good look over how the silhouette looks like. Additionally the graph editor has a lot of negative wasted space while you edit curves. I look at 1-3 or 4 curves at a time- usually close enough to have fine control.
Now this proposal might sound a bit crazy, but it is something I always wished I had in any 3d software. Its a way to have a good look over both the graph editor curves and the 3d viewport at the same time- without sacrificing size. Whats even better- the actual curves are visually close to the character- my eyes dont need to travel up and down the screen to compare their shape and placement to the way they are affecting the character's pose at the in between poses. So much less effort for me that way!
We can take advantage of using the semi transparency we currently have in order to create an overlay mode for the graph editor. What I mean by that is pretty much the ability to view your 3d viewport (with the end render cam) as a background in the graph editor! The graph editor can be like a semi-transparent overlay we can turn on and off in the 3d viewport- while we are in pose mode.
Or we can have this as an option inside the graph editor- similar to how the compositor works- the ability to show the 3d viewport behind the f-curves.
This in my opinion can be a convenient option for animators, who are sick of moving windows around and resizing layouts when working with the graph editor. No other software has done it in my knowledge so it might sound risky, but it really can be a killer feature for blender.
Graph editor- Update
(added may 13 2015)
Edit: The graph editor background feature has been implemented in the Gooseberry branch! However I would like to ad a few new suggestions:
For the background:
- Show the rotation axis (rotation widget) of selected bones -this will make it clearer to the artist which animation curve they should edit.
- Add "region overlap" support for the left and the right panels of the graph editor - so we can stretch the background image more.
-Ability to get more contrast between the character and background - so it is easier to see the silhouette. The opacity option already helps there btw.
-More shading modes - if we could enable texture shading this could be useful for facial animation.
-Ability to move, scale, fit horizontal/vertical the backdrop. (N-panel)
Design proposals and mockups by Blurymind / Todor Imreorov
