Viewport Axis Visuals (XYZ)

Maybe having the letters each one having its own color they can be at the edge of the circle as you proposed before.

@zebus3d That actually makes sense

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Iteration based on @zebus3d feedback

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@zebus3d I responded with updated visual

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Since the new orbiter was introduced, I also hoped it was just a work in progress. So I strongly support this options. I think the first post options are good because the style matches the objects manipulators (translate, rotate, scale)

For me it’s really important that the negative and positive direction of the axis are visually recognizable at a glance.

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@sauna.monster

Thank you for your positive feedback! :slight_smile:

I’m new to this process, so I don’t know how the Blender UI team makes decisions or how the approval process even works.

Essentially, I don’t know if these designs will even been seen by the Blender team.

But I wanted to try and put some options out there just in case the Blender team was interested in some alternatives. I have a pretty busy schedule, so I tried to squeeze in some ideas while I had the chance.

cc @zebus3d

Hi.
I like the design of those circles, but maybe only for negative part of axes as another had proposed.
In blenderartists there are other discussions about Gizmo. Your design is also applicable for my proposal :slight_smile:

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@YAFU I didn’t know there was a parallel thread to this proposal either. Thanks.

I think Alternate Version 4 works best, since the axis letter is easier to see.

What’s the purpose of the inner circle?

Hi @pablovazquez,

Originally, it was part of a working mental model I had in my head.

As of now, it no longer serves any real value, thus it should be ignored.

Thank you for the feedback!

Alternate version 4 looks good to me too, although I think we should color code the axis titles if they are not placed inside the circle itself, as you did in version 5. Otherwise, the connection is not clear enough at all angles.
Also, we may have to adjust the sizes of the ‘balls’ to make them easy enough to hit. Even if the hit zone is larger than the visual circles, it could still be an issue when two circles are close or overlapping.

Other related design topic are the four navigation icons next to the viewport gizmo. These are just programmer-art temporary icons. They are too busy, and too big, esp if we include them in other editors too. So, anyone in here want to give them a go?

Other related design topic are the four navigation icons next to the viewport gizmo. These are just programmer-art temporary icons. They are too busy, and too big, esp if we include them in other editors too. So, anyone in here want to give them a go?

I’d simply use the Blender icons we already have for the moment, until we can replace them with better ones. (the cube in perspective for ortho/perspective switch, camera icon for camera view, magnifying glass for zoom, hand/grab for pan)

We could, though the current shaded and outlined icons would not be a good fit. Also, it’d be good not to mix meanings. Search means something quite different from zoom, for example.

Hi @billrey,

You, I and several others have all shared the same concern for the axis titles; that it gets confusing if they are all the same color (white). Three other people mentioned that having the axis titles having matching colors (version 5) has a lot of merit and value as well.

Agree that the “balls” could be bigger.

cc @pablovazquez @zebus3d

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@billrey @pablovazquez

So, do try and design some icons? I have some bandwidth today and might be able to suggest some ideas if you are interested. Your call.

You are very welcome to contribute ideas on how to design those icons.

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So here, I’ve taken your design tweaks and also added a clearer indication of the negative axis direction. This is a problem in the current design, where it’s almost impossible to see if the axes are pointing towards you or away from you.

In this design, it only shows the axis that is pointing in your direction, otherwise it gets quite visually noisy.

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@billrey

Yessir, that looks perfect!

Come to think of it, I can’t actually see how putting the axis outside the circle can work in practice. How would you handle the case where the axis is pointing directly towards the user? This is often the case when in front, side or top view, eg:

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As a test, I tried to visualise how it could look with the proposed changes:

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Unfortunately, I don’t think it works well here, and this is a case that happens almost all the time.

So…

Another solution is to go back a step to something closer to the current design, while still keeping these changes:

  • We display a line all the way across from positive to negative axis
  • We change the color of the axis text to be easier to read
  • We hide the light grey circle behind the gizmo unless the user mouses over the area
  • Axes pointing away are displayed differently from the ones pointing towards you
  • We display negative axis text, but only the axis text on the axis pointing towards you

Would look like this:

@billrey

I was asked this by several people and have a semi-thought out mental model in my head. This question is brought up early in the thread by @AndrewC and few others on July 18th.

My first, or immediate solution would be to have some kind of background element (circle?) behind the titles, that becomes more visible the closer the titles become in proximity to an overlap scenario. Otherwise, you will have a very strange overlap.

I probably need to mockup what I’m talking about if you are having trouble with my explanation.

And, I don’t know how much effort is involved with the level of programming required to make this happen.

I’ve done similar programming in the past, but I don’t know how your setup works.