GSoC 2021: Knife Tool Improvements: Feedback

Nice presentation)
We solved this with Polyedge tool that retrieves edges selection of connected faces.
Now it is available by default with ctrl+2 shortcut (switching from faces to edges), so you can retrieve such an edges and split it with regular Subdivide from Edges Context menu.

you can just ctrl+alt+click on edge and it selects all parallel edges in a loop.

But back to the knife tool.
It already have a huge list of modal keys, and without refactoring a UI, there is place for only one additional key


just look at this list, it’s already hard to search a proper key for your action…

So we need a checkbox somewhere in the properties - interface to see modal keys on screen in the corner of 3dView or as default under, something like this

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Well, first, redesign never took into account expandability - as far as I remember, the only goal was to lower entry threshold (the same issue, for example, is about T panel, which was limited only to primitive single button tools).

Second, flooding screen with text already doesnot work because of a bad readability.
The same problem faced onscreen statistics, which is only suitable for limited cases with tiny objects in the center of a screen, for example, character/asset creation, not for editing massive scenes with lots of geometry or interior modeling.

Both cases are nice examples of insufficient design, so it should not limit covering essential demands.
It should take them into account.

ctrl+alt+click.

It is different, and based on quad loops while ctrl+2 is based on polygonal selection.

Yes! I am also annoyed by these problems. One thing I don’t understand is why the Knife tool in the T-bar is one thing, but the K hotkey is another.
Isn’t it logical that when you activate a tool on K, the tool in the T-panel is automatically activated? And so are most of the tools. They have a different code ???
test

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Indeed.
Devs removed background images because of doubling code, so now you loose your reference every time when entering isolation mode or navigate collections, however all the other tools was duplicated during redesign because of… hard to say, Blender was designed like that.

Maybe because of adding widgets, which are easier to learn, but bring a lot of limitations, so you have to stop using them at some point in order to work faster to satisfy production speed requirements.

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The final report is now up on my weekly reports thread. I will likely still post there in the future to update everyone on the current status of the project, this is just the final report of the GSOC period.

Also:

@CybranM You’ll notice I was not able to expose more settings in the knife tool modal map. I tried it but it appeared to break a few things and so I will have to look into this further in the future.

@DotBow I also tried making middle-mouse + alt panning work but was unsuccesful, I will look into it more in the future as well.

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As far as I am aware the code that causes this is related to blender core module more so than what I am working on. I will have to ask around to see if this is something that can be fixed as I was unable to fix it from within the knife tool code itself.

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@HobbesOS
Hello,
tested latest build.

  1. Modal keys very nice organized for my taste.

  2. Strange behavior If you use knife with Relative constraint to the edge where adjoined face is hidden from view, clicked point can be added in space without snap to edge.

  3. Still issue if you use Relative constraint , click on same edge - constrained cut disappear to the nearest vertex. Also first cut Cut Through even if it OFF


    added:
    even screen constraint have same issue

  4. Additional notes for 3th: you always cut through if top faces hidden from view

  5. Relative constraint cant cut through multiple edges without losing constraint line, but Screen constraint can.

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Tools are basically wrappers for operators, they were introduced with 2.80. “Knife” always existed as an operator, and that’s what you call when hitting K. Some of these actions, such as knife or bisect, really benefit from being turned into tools, because they can have a gizmo, and they can listen to regular hotkeys, whereas “modal” operators kind of just lock Blender into a state where the user can’t do anything else but use that operator, and exit. I agree that some of these hotkeys should activate the tool instead of the operator (but I suspect that’s probably outside of scope for the GSOC).
There was a discussion about it here : ⚙ D4603 Keymap Preferences: Use Shortcuts for Tools

@IIIFGIII your ideas are good, but you seem to suffer from the old “I-am-the-only-pro-in-here-itis”. Fortunately it is curable with a healthy dose of “wording your messages nicely”

I’m not the only pro of course. Problem is that all others pros around talk about anything but this, like if this general snapping issue not exist. No one want to criticize and become “bad person”… If ideas are good - all those “buts” about personaly me does not matter. Only goal is to bring good ideas alive, I don’t care if people will treat me like a shit because they don’t like something in way how I criticize.

I said what someone have to say. Cheers.

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This menu is :ok_hand:

  1. While trying the updated tool I ran into the same issue (or similar to) APECs #3:
    It seems like it does create a vert but then it takes it away when I click another edge
  1. If I have angle snapping on but the mouse on the other side of an edge the snapping turns off, not a major issue but a bit annoying

Love what you’ve done with the knife tool, going to be great when 3.0 releases! :smiley:

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I would say it’s a major issue, cos you not able cut multiple edges with Relative constraint,
while Screen constraint do not lose constraint line.

Thank you for your work here, and congratulations on achieving the GSoC goal. I hope that in the future you can continue working on Blender modeling tools.
For me the ideal would be to be able to achieve an All in One modeling tool, where the tool can not only do what Knife tool can but also can create vertices and edges even in empty areas where there are no faces (So not just cut, but draw too). So this all-in-one new tool can also be used for modeling from scratch or even retopology jobs.

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Congrats and Great improvements, hopefully the review process goes smooth.
My only complain is it’s time to change the default ugly color scheme from the 90s.

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Yeah, that’s why I like Maya’s multicut tool. It not only has the Knife tool but also slice XYZ, loopcut and the edge flow… which I believe there is an addon for it.
Having All in one tool speeds up the workflow a lot.

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I understand. I just wish that regardless of the chosen method, the tools worked same. Now the T-bar appears to be detached. It has a handy feature, but it’s still confusing.

The cutter k limit angle would like to change to direct x y z direct input and also precise numeric input, similar to the rotation r axis direction numeric set of shortcut keys.

Hey all, I have returned from my holiday and will start taking a look at all the feedback since last week.

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Thank you for the very detailed feedback. I will investigate and fix all of these things as soon as possible.

I suspect the cut-through bugs you show are caused by my new BVH code. I will be working on this more so should be fixed soon.