Colour coded icons

Heh… that’s what I thought about. Stop reading my mind!

1 Like

Let’s pimp up the Outliner!
The first shy attempt to tame all the info in the composition:
Pimp-up%20my%20Outliner

I found that differntiation between Selected-but-not-active Object and Data-under-edition / Editable-now-Data, is not important. I got rid of this additional state, especially because “Selected” state is limited to Objects. I bet You can point out with no effort, which data is Active, which data blocks are editable and which rows in Otliner’s grid are selected in my mockup. All is clear, informative and pleasant to look at at the same time.
Colours are quite random, but that’s not the point.

BTW - is it possible to invert (make black) icons on buttons that have been turned on (highlighted)?

5 Likes

Tried to add 2 extra pixels per row. I think it looks less crammed and also helps aiming on large monitors.

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A porposition to make rows a bit wider is superb - it makes the stack more readable IMHO.

3 Likes

I don’t think removing the lines and making the rows wider is good, the Outliner in Blender is usually quite small, as it is above the Properties Editor. So the lines are helping to know where is an object if we don’t see the parents Collections, and narrower rows help keeping maximum informations in such a small space. :confused:

@thornydre - take look three posts above. I came to conclusion, that lines are necessary, despite my previous satements.

Sorry I was talking about the hierarchy lines (seems to be missing of some of the mockups, but now I don’t know if it was on purpose :smiley: )

Slight mod of my proposal, just to make the Outliner respect selection colour codes that 3D View uses.
Pimp-up%20my%20Outliner_2

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Interesting proposal. How would you clarify which item is being edited? Ie, which meshes are in Edit Mode, for example?

This is one of our main problems currently - it’s almost impossible to see which objects are in edit mode (or sculpt mode, paint mode etc)

When in Edit Mode, we also need an easier way to add more items into your current edit session. Because 2.8 allows you to have multiple objects in Edit Mode, you can add more objects into Edit Mode. Currently, the way to do this is clumsy - you have to right click on other objects and select ‘Edit Mode Set’ or ‘Edit Mode Clear’. We could make this more visual, more immediate.

I assumed, that slight higlight is enough - higlighted Mesh Object Data means it’s under edition in Edit mode now, simply because You can’t edit Mesh ObData in Object mode. Colours of specific items define what mode user enters.

By my mind, You should go the common way, that most apps do it = Ctrl + click adds to selection/edition mode.

You can’t edit Mesh Obdata in Object mode, but that’s irrelevant. I’m talking about when in Edit Mode, how can we make it clear which item you are currently editing? This is really important to clearly see.

I’m also not talking about selection. That is something else. The item in Edit Mode is not necessarily the item that is selected in the Outliner.

The edited item has semi transparent backdrop splotch, gets 100% opacity and text is coloured the same way the icon is. In my proposal only one Mesh ObData is in Edit mode now.
But as I can see I made previous mockups wrong - the material of selected, but not active Data, shouldn’t be highlighted. Mesh ObData is underlined ina wrong way as well. My fault - here’s the fixed version depicting Mesh ObData in Edit mode:
Pimp-up%20my%20Outliner_2

And the one which shows Mesh Objects in Object mode:
Pimp-up%20my%20Outliner_3

So, everything that’s underlined can be edited in 3D View.

Which item is in Edit Mode here?

I the upper mockup - the highlighted Mesh ObData is in Edit mode. Highlight = selected data, that One can change it/modify etc.

I somehow recreated all states that the Outliner can display today.
I had hard time trying to understand what is what, but once I caught up, it clear.

Ok so this one is in Edit Mode?

450de25a3298ca3d810d436b7e83a3fc9f0aacc6

I guess that could work. However, when viewed normally, this list would not be expanded, so the only highlighted thing would be the little mesh icon next to the object. Currently this is very subtle, almost difficult to see, but at least your version is a bit stronger. We could also invert it to make it stand out even more.

Left: Normal. Right: Mesh is in Edit Mode.
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I think the item that is being edited should stand out very clearly. A tiny, faded indicator is not strong enough to stand out in a crowded Outliner view.

2 Likes

A bit too stong, but definitely works.
Pimp-up%20my%20Outliner_2b

I’m pleased, that gerenal colour codes are preserved. Even green for ObData is kinda in place, since it means “create”.

nice pimp man
this is the right way
just a straight, make sure that there is the right contrast for the texts and my eyes thank you

Maybe we aren’t quite on the same page - here you’ve highlighted everything the same way. Again, there’s a difference between something that is selected and something being edited. That’s my point. Something being in Edit Mode is not just that it is selected.

So, in other words, I don’t think we have to make everything that is selected so prominent. That was already ok in your previous mockup I think. I’m interested in how we can make the item you are currently editing stand out and be clearly visible.

Maybe like this:

Normal, Selected, Editing
outliner_states

5 Likes

I think we are. I just don’t see a reason to differentiate what’s “selected” from what’s “edited”.
First of all, You dont work only with Outliner - this window is a supplement to the rest of app, helping a user to manage complex scenes. So it hasn’t duplicate info from 3D View.
Secondly, You can edit only things that You’ve selected. Its literally imposible to Vertex Paint on unselected objects, so I assumed, that showing what’s selected in Outliner is enough.