Blender UI paper cuts

It doesn’t seem possible to select multiple object and change the materials on all of them. Only a single object (and not even a currently selected one) appears in the materials panel.

Try it:

  1. Select one object (make it active).
  2. Box select a bunch of other objects.
  3. De-select the active object.

The materials panel still shows the previously active object. :frowning:

Talk with pablo dobarro in twitter

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To be fair, some more advanced preferences could be stored in a .ini or .conf text file. In portable(non-installer) distributions it should be stored in install folder otherwise in application specific folder under userspace/user home dir. This should be a viable option.

we already have:

  • A general top bar in a per editor tool software that only updates where a tool its activated.
  • An active tool system that push towards a stardad system that “can switch” active tools using shortcuts however that require to use an “active tool bar” that its hidden because the default its playback.
  • Setting up as standard default left click select to be more compatible with standars when at the moment its not possible to do a box select in the graph/dope sheet editors so still needs an modal operator to do it.

Maybe its time to start thinking to place more option outside of the box to solve some problems,

“/blender.exe -nosavepref”
“/blender.exe -defaultactivetoolcursor3d”
“/blender.exe -fullleftclickindustrystandarnonpereditoractivetool”

Maybe a preset system, to change as much as we want but having a way to easy go back.

So until finding balance, or turning blender into a Maya/3dcoat with a lot outdated tools, there are going to be probably a few more redundant situations to deal with, probably a few more years of go back and forward a would say.

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9 posts were split to a new topic: Status bar symbols for keys

If it’s not already possible somehow, adding a preference to “box select” instead of translating/scaling/rotating in the 3D view would improve usability. I know you can specifically go into “select” mode, and it will do this, but then you’re constantly switching between modes to do anything.

Some people like the “click and drag anywhere to moving things”, so I’m not suggesting to change it for everyone. But this is counter-intuitive to most people because it’s not how other software behaves. So a preference to disable this, and always box-select instead would be helpful not only for me, but for new users as well.

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When you move objects to new collections by pressing “m” and choosing new collection it requires another click instead of being able to just type away like you can if you use “f2” to rename objects directly in the viewport.

collections

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The ability to have text fields automatically be active was only added about two days ago for the rename operator. It didn’t exist when Move to Collection was added. We should add it here too.

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Aaaand, it’s now fixed already, thanks to @ideasman42.

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Great job guys! Like… all around. Keep it up

Fantastic :smiley: Is there any possibility of making it be able to do multiple objects? Unless I am missing something, there is no easy way to rename multiple objects in blender? So I would expect objects of random names to end up as say, Cat, Cat.001, Cat,002 and so on, iterated in selection order i guess :slight_smile:

Thank you for all the brilliant work so far!

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It would be a nice feature to sure. For now this was added mainly to replace the old ‘item’ panel in 2.79, which only allowed renaming one item at a time. But, that sounds like something that could be nice to add one day.

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You can rename multiple objects the same way you’d copy any other property, Copy To Selected on the object name in the properties editor.
The order seems somewhat random.

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I have a papercut which I think could be quite easy to solve and really useful, would it be possible to make it so windows unlock when their edges are dragged with a specific modifier key?

Let me show what I mean:

dragWindows

This could be activated with a simple Alt+drag for example.

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Disadvantage/flaw - shifting of the context menu position based on the last chosen option.

This is one of my biggest annoyances when it comes to Blender’s UI. It feels like Blender is trolling me :slight_smile: .

When you use a right-click context menu in Blender at the start of your working session it appears in its default position - the topmost item under the cursor. This is good and it is also a standard behavior in just about every application:

blender2-8_papercut_context_menu_01

Say I want to duplicate an object via the Object Context Menu.
I select the 6th item Duplicate Objects (located somewhere in the middle of the menu):

blender2-8_papercut_context_menu_02

Now say I am working on other stuff … not using the Object Context Menu at all for a while.

After a while I want to apply a Flat shading to this sphere via the Object Context Menu and I am about to do it pretty quickly because I remember that it is the second option in the menu. So right-click, move a tiny bit down, click, done. Right? No!

blender2-8_papercut_context_menu_03

Blender has different idea:

blender2-8_papercut_context_menu_04

blender2-8_papercut_context_menu_05

I understand why it has been set up like that - to quickly repeat the last operation. But this behavior has a huge disadvantage if you don’t want to do that or if you don’t use the context menu every five seconds. There’s no way you can remember what your last option was in a certain context menu.

This behavior actually feels like Blender is randomly shifting the menu for you and forcing you to reorient every time. I haven’t seen this anywhere else. Other applications respect the default context menu position.

As far as quickly repeating the last operation - there are other ways to do that, for example pressing a key. In Maya I believe you just simply press the “G” key.

Please add an option to turn this behavior off if it’s not already possible. Thank you.

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UV circle select doesn’t behave like the new 3dview circle select.

It doesn’t have the same shortcuts (add /remove) and doesn’t allow to select or paint as seamlessly as the new 3dview circle select (you can’t start a new selection easily for example)

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Well, you can start new selections:

But the issue is that currently, the tool is blocking, and so you cannot go to other editors or zoom in or other things while it is active.

Should add an option to disable camera movement transitions. They are unnecessary, besides being distracting and slow. Sorry if I missed it somewhere in the settings.

If you want them gone, go to view3d_view.c and around line 200 you’ll find “if(changed)” just remove the entire block. You now have instant camera transition. You can try setting rv3d->smooth_timer to something, but as noted, it has a maximum speed so if you set to zero the camera will get stuck partway through its transition.

No more waiting for the camera to move when doing a viewselected, or spinning obnoxiously when cycling through ortho views.

Luckily you can. Preferences > Navigation > Orbit & Pan > Smooth View.

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Bahahaha I knew it, learned something anyways I guess

1 Like