I guess this would work, unless you also loose visibility of selection modes, then we’re in the opposite situation that we’re in now, which is also bad. Something you would definitely lose with this approach is the ability to have an active tool like inset, extrude normal, or bevel enabled while also having move, rotate, or scale gizmos…unless you use the hidden gizmo check boxes. Very clicky…very hidden.
Thank you for your time. I appreciate your feedback.
This could be added, but I don’t even think it’s that much of an issue. You can already hold Shift to extend selections and Ctrl to subtract.
The solution here is that we really should add more gizmos. If all the tools have some visual way to activate them, then you could still drag to select outside of that gizmo.
I have to admit I love active tools. Especially having them alongside with modal tools which makes new and advanced users happy same time.
From another hand I find transform active tools a bit imperfect. I fully agree with @DanPool in that case. I think his proposal is closest to keep best of two worlds. Dropping transform active tools (loc, rot, scale) and switching back to buttons with gizmos (aka 2.79) plus slightly modified tweak select as @DanPool described keeps all functionality that we have now, plus adds a lot of other possibilities like box select, circle select, lasso select, all while desired transform mode is chosen without any hassle.
It sounds like this is adding more ways to select. My main complaint is that there are too many ways to do the most basic and most used functions of 3d software. It just sounds cludgy and like it will require too many clicks to make this work. If I’m in the move tool and I have to go to tool settings to change my selection mode and then go to rotate and again have to set my selection mode and the whole time there’s a big selection mode button right there taunting me from the tool bar. But I can’t use that because it takes me out of my transform mode. Having to click 3 times as much as you do in other software is one of the biggest complaints I hear about Blender. It was definitely one of the biggest issues I had switching from Autodesk software to Blender. This is an excellent opportunity to fix this perception.
I want to say this again…I really like the active tools. It opens up a whole new way of working quickly because you can mix it in with the standard operators…but it doesn’t work for transforms. It just doesn’t.
You guys are doing a great job. I’m really happy with how 2.80 has improved my quality of life. Thank you, guys.
emmm. I thought that QWER addon like this:
Right now not show Axis.
I don’t like have 3 another buttons solution on the toolbar ( M, S, R button). a little superfluous, and long distance to click .
2.Maybe xy,xz and yz handles are missing is a bug. but It’s not big issue. it’s ok right now.
Maybe the cause is Rotate have no xy, xz and yz direction. Single Move and Scale have it .
It sounds like you didn’t disable the default key assignments for g,r,s at first. Blender makes you disable existing default keys before your changes to the keymap work.
I agree that separate buttons on the toolbar are not the best approach. I’d much rather replace the move, rotate and scale icons on the toolbar with buttons that work like mine (ie don’t lock the user out of other active tools, let you enable more than one transform gizmo st a time). I’ve tried many different ways to make this change, but it appears the developers have locked out these types of changes unless you want to dig into the C code and build a separate branch.
No, I didn’t disable it , I don’t know how and I think no need to do.
Sorry , I have to say that QWER Addon not useful , not solve important problem.
I think the important problem is not default opened “Move” Axis in Gizmos. Especially for new users of blender or from other 3d software users. They don’t know where open it, because maya, c4d default have “Move” Axis . but this problem will be solved not by add-on.
QWER Add-on made more confused and mess . 9 buttons + 3 buttons = 12 buttons.
Right now, I just need Press R to show Rotate Axis. but it’s also no need. because click Rotate icon on the T-plane will show rotate axis. When click selection icon, Move and Scale Axis will back.
Because most of modeling just need move and scale by default.
But the issue is Axis is too small, the distance is really close.
I don’t think the tool settings is meant for day-to-day use with the transforms, but more like a visual aide. Some people will use it that way because it is there, but most would do one of 3 things, use the modal keymap, use the gizmo keymap, or modify the keymap to do both.
Fortunately you came up with the tweakbetter operator where you can easily hide the gizmos and modal move without leaving your selection tool of choice
Use the panel to remap to whatever shortcut and selection tool you want and then get rid of it. Not meant for actually using the addon
For the move scale combination gizmo you’d probably have to modify source to change it
I read through your whole post instead of skimming it like earlier and I get that you don’t see the point of the addon so I’ll explain why I am using it.
I like to use gizmos and modal for transform. Before I was modifying keymap to enable box select for move scale and rotate operators. Now that you can show hide gizmos with a popover it is possible to make a custom operator and map this to a shortcut instead of moving your mouse all over the screen and clicking a button /checkbox.
The addon takes advantage of this, so already you can get a clear view of your work by hiding the transform gizmos, show them again, and get back to work by hitting GRS or WER.
For people like me the
tweakbetter operator allows you to modal move inside of whatever operator you assign it to without making a separate shortcut for move scale and rotate because it checks what gizmo(s) are enabled, favoring move if none or 2+ are there.
From your screen shot it looks like the addons been updated so I’m gonna check it out maybe some other nice stuff is there now
It’s a nice addon but there’s no reason to get rid of active transform tools when there’s no conflict
Steve…I think you’re missing the point here. The buttons only activate what is already available in the interface, but require too many clicks to activate. I didn’t create the gizmos. They are built in to Blender. I simply made it so they require less clicks. The buttons in the QWER Panel are only there to make it easier to set the shortcuts. MRS buttons in the top bar are very usefull if you just want buttons to enable the gizmos, but the 10 buttons in the QWER Panel are only for quickly setting the shortcut keys. You will need to go to the keymap and search for the G, R, and S key key-bindings and disable them for the 3d View category. Then you can reassign these. To anything you want to.
The main thing that is the focus of this addon that is not already available:
With the active tools, as you say, you can only have one transform tool active at a time. Like you I want the move and scale tools active when modelling, but if you switch to the extrude tool, the move and scale gizmos disappear if you’re using the active tools, but these can remain on screen if you use the transform gizmos that are in the gizmo display menu.
Thanks your explanation.
But sorry for that . It’s really complex for disabling, enabling, learning and changing keymap(shortcut conflict) for the little unimportant stuff.
I don’t need frequently switch from one transform gizmo to another . Keep move and scale axis as default is good.
Right now, I think don’t need to press G,S,R to show axis that is clever than Maya, C4D.
In C4D, just can only show one axis, rotate axis or move axis or scale axis . it can not show 2 or 3 axis( can not show that move and rotate , move and scale, move and scale and rotate).
In C4D, If I want to rotate an object, We have to press r to show rotate axis, select y axis and rotate it.
But in blender, press shortcut R for immediately rotating is better way .
In blender, I don’t need always show axis when use extrude tool. because, it has a blue line. it’s very clean , clear interface. I like it.
.
But in C4D, it always show axis when use extrude tool or press D. because, it has no a blue line .
Maybe your add-on is good for C4D, Maya. 
In the beginning of learning blender ,I also have complained something, Why so many shortcuts, why not show axis, why … it’s so stupid way. Why don’t like maya balalall, Why don’t like C4D babalalala. After that, I have claim down to use blender .But found that some default stuffs and add-ons are better than C4D and Maya. Yes, another stuffs is not quite good , such as Localization , add-on online market, lessons, icons, daily version update, ecosystem, etc. but it’s okay. I can find solution to solve it , it’s not big problem right now.
Hi.
I am a new blender 2.8 user, I like the new UI (more user-friendly than in previous versions) and I like the useful features like gizmos.
But it’s a bit annoying that it is currently not possible to Select and use the Transform tools at the same time.
When gizmos are enabled/displayed (thanks to the Object Gizmos dropdown menu), maybe developers could add the possibility to use both (selection and transform tools) at the same time.
Here is a mock-up animation that I made to illustrate my suggestion:
What do you think ?
Suggestion also posted on RightClickSelect: https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/qqdbbc/
Yep. That would be the best way for this to work, for sure. If only those three buttons could work in a slightly different way, the new UI would make a lot more sense. I did modify my QWER addon to have the MRS buttons just above the active toolbar, which makes it a lot more handy, but the Move, Rotate and Scale buttons on the toolbar remain, taking up space.
The point is to be able to do that by toggling Transform buttons status from the toolbar (on the left), and not having to constantly go to the Objects Gizmos dropdown menu to switch from Move to Rotate (for example).
Some might tell me that there is still the B hotkey to select while the Move Transform tool is enabled. Yes, but goal of blender 2.8 is to enhance the ease of use of the whole software (and its interface too, not only the user experience as a whole).
Btw, I am sure there are some users who prefer to model without using hotkeys (people who discover blender for the first time). Who are we to tell them what or how they should to do this or that? Of course using hotkeys makes modeling faster but it’s up to every blender user to decide. And my suggestion was about making the tools (on the interface) easier to use.
You can assign hotkey to those
Selecting transform tool and border select tool at same time on other hand create overlap since both are left click and drag…
In this case it is better to have object gizmo not hidden in drop down menu, but how it was in 2.79.
Guess if transform tools behaviour can be change to object gizmo while other tools active that will be possible, which also removes need of object gizmo being in drop down or anywhere else…
Not only beginners personally I’m using blender for few years now and I almost everytime use the gizmo. It is much faster and more intuitive because you instantly see the axis and you don’t have to move your hands on the keyboard.
Now that we can select through the gizmo it is perfect! So why not removing the active tools on the left and replace them by the ones in the dropdown menu ? What is different with these active tools ?
It just gets exhausting to have to do a key press with everything you do. If you haven’t tried my addon, you should. It was initially made because for a couple of weeks, you couldn’t assign the gizmos in the drop down to shortcut keys.
It has evolved to do several extra things though. For instance I put buttons on top of the active tool bar, so they are right there with the other tools. Also, clicking the move button while the rotate button is active activates only move, but if you hold shift and click move, they are both active. In other words this works just like the 2.79 gizmo buttons and works exactly the way the Move Rotate and Scale buttons should work in the active tool bar.
This has been addressed with my addon. If you choose the select active tool, you get the drag to tweak behavior of the current transform active tools. The current drag behavior of the select tool without my addon is always move regardless of what gizmos you have visible.
Exactly. There is no reason to have both…except that the active tools are inferior, but are the most prominent transform tools in the interface.
The problem with just assigning shortcuts to those is that the other transform tools remain active. For instance if the rotate tool is active, you have to hit your hotkey for rotate again to toggle it off and then hit your hotkey for the move. If you just hit the move hotkey, you have both active.
Coming from 11 years of 3ds Max, I agree. Selecting ‘G’ and then going into an auto-transform state locked on two axis based on your view seems foreign and more difficult then selecting G and getting the move transform gizmo.
Yes you can change and tweak all these things… but it should behave in a more controlled manner as a default. If the user is a view such as “left orthographic” or “top orthographic” then locking two the relevant axis makes sense.
