This would be awesome. I have exactly the same issue with sculpt mode on a widescreen 1920x1080 display - the icons don't fit vertically (a scrollbar gets added), but they would fit perfectly in a horizontal bar like in your mockup.
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lucaspedrajas
looks pretty cool :)
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xan2622
I noticed on the screenshot that TheRedWaxPolice posted that the N panel is hidden.
I guess the developers would have to add some code to make the toolbar (placed at the bottom or at the top) change its width according to wether the N panel is displayed or not (or being resized by the user).
Both would have to interact somehow to make sure that the N panel doesn't overlap the toolbar.
1
R
Regnas
*
@ xan2622
* Man, looking at your comments here, I think you're overthinking it. The same way it works vertically, it will be the same horizontally. When there's no room, the scrollbar shows up. There's nothing to worry about.
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xan2622
*
@Regnas
* You're probably correct. ^^
Let's wait and see if it gets implemented or not.
R
Regnas
*
@ xan2622
* I'd love to see it implemented. But like I said, it looks too good for Blender. lol.. I don't think the blender devs will be willing to implement this. They are not artists. They don't see the UI the way artist do. There's a huge difference between making something and use something. Shame.
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t
thomasmouilleron
*
@Regnas
* excuse me? The fact you sent that message shows you have no idea who the UI artists at the foundation are... maybe research a little more next time before saying something you have no idea about... would you like me to remind you the incredible artistic growth blender's UI has been going through these past years?
1
R
Regnas
*
@Thomas Paul
* You kidding right? Do you think blender would have this amount of terrible workflows and bad UI decisions if the developers were artists?
R
Regnas
Looks too good for Blender. lol
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johnpdelacruz28
Sounds good. This is almost the same with the header toolbar idea. In Bforartist, the supposed to be header toolbar functionality is not nailed permanently on the main viewport, instead it is treated as a separate editor where you can choose which side of the viewport you want it to be created.
Their implementation could use some more improvements but currently it is already a great tool to base upon and has a lot of potentials.
I only found an exaggerated sample of the program:via GIPHY
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julien.kaspar
Marking this as 'In Development' since this is essentially the goal of the new Asset Shelf region at the bottom. It will be populated with all Brush Assets. Meanwhile the Toolbar will still be on the left for any remaining 'Active Tools'.
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thinkingpolygons
BUMP!!!
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NelsonNAS
BUMP BUMP BUMP!!!!
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gilbertorodrigues
Best idea
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xan2622
Hi.
I am not against the idea (I like customisation).
But what if the user activates addons that add icons into this toolbar?
They would logically have to be added into this toolbar, but where?
On the left or on the right?
And what if there are too many of these extra icons (that are added by addons)?
How would this horizontal toolbar behave in this case?
Would there be two rows of icons?
And if there would, would only the icons that don't fit on the first row be moved into the second row (so that would mean having the first row quite wide (full of icons) + a second row that has only 1 or 2 icons (below the first one)?
Or maybe, instead, the two rows would contain the equal number of icons?
Or, instead of having two rows of icons, would you prefer Blender to display two arrow buttons [<] and [>] to slide the row horizontally?
c
ckohl_art
I haven't had my coffee yet but I think it would be the same thing as a simple transpose operation like you'd do in Excel or Google Sheets.
support.google.com/docs/answer/3094262
However the icons are arranged vertically, 'rotate' (transpose) that on its side.
Regarding cases where there are too many icons to fit in the bar, this is already a problem in Sculpt Mode in a clean install of Blender; there are too many icons to fit in a single column so the toolbar has a vertical scroll bar. The same could be done with a horizontal bar that scrolls sideways (although I seem to recall some open ticket on the issue tracker about horizontal scroll bars not being properly functional so that would need a fix first).
I do like the idea of arrow buttons appearing on the top/bottom or left/right as a prominent visual indicator that there are more tools that aren't being shown because they don't fit.
x
xan2622
*
@Chris Kohl
* tbh, I dislike the idea of arrows to unhide other available icons. IMO, it's a terrible way to quickly have access to these extra icons. The discoverability is very low with such arrow buttons.
I'd prefer to see two rows of icons, displayed in such a way that icons are equally "center-aligned" (about the same number of icons on the two rows).
Btw, on the Sculpting workspace, it's possible to re-arrange the left toolbar to display icons on two columns:
Link
.
I guess it would be possible to do the same with a horizontal toolbar at the bottom.
EDIT : I have never noticed this vertical scrollbar. Good to know, thanks. It does the job imo.
17 Comments
This would be awesome. I have exactly the same issue with sculpt mode on a widescreen 1920x1080 display - the icons don't fit vertically (a scrollbar gets added), but they would fit perfectly in a horizontal bar like in your mockup.
looks pretty cool :)
I noticed on the screenshot that TheRedWaxPolice posted that the N panel is hidden.
I guess the developers would have to add some code to make the toolbar (placed at the bottom or at the top) change its width according to wether the N panel is displayed or not (or being resized by the user).
Both would have to interact somehow to make sure that the N panel doesn't overlap the toolbar.
* @ xan2622 * Man, looking at your comments here, I think you're overthinking it. The same way it works vertically, it will be the same horizontally. When there's no room, the scrollbar shows up. There's nothing to worry about.
* @Regnas * You're probably correct. ^^
Let's wait and see if it gets implemented or not.
* @ xan2622 * I'd love to see it implemented. But like I said, it looks too good for Blender. lol.. I don't think the blender devs will be willing to implement this. They are not artists. They don't see the UI the way artist do. There's a huge difference between making something and use something. Shame.
* @Regnas * excuse me? The fact you sent that message shows you have no idea who the UI artists at the foundation are... maybe research a little more next time before saying something you have no idea about... would you like me to remind you the incredible artistic growth blender's UI has been going through these past years?
* @Thomas Paul * You kidding right? Do you think blender would have this amount of terrible workflows and bad UI decisions if the developers were artists?
Looks too good for Blender. lol
Sounds good. This is almost the same with the header toolbar idea. In Bforartist, the supposed to be header toolbar functionality is not nailed permanently on the main viewport, instead it is treated as a separate editor where you can choose which side of the viewport you want it to be created.
Their implementation could use some more improvements but currently it is already a great tool to base upon and has a lot of potentials.
I only found an exaggerated sample of the program:via GIPHY
Marking this as 'In Development' since this is essentially the goal of the new Asset Shelf region at the bottom. It will be populated with all Brush Assets. Meanwhile the Toolbar will still be on the left for any remaining 'Active Tools'.
BUMP!!!
BUMP BUMP BUMP!!!!
Best idea
Hi. I am not against the idea (I like customisation).
But what if the user activates addons that add icons into this toolbar? They would logically have to be added into this toolbar, but where? On the left or on the right?
And what if there are too many of these extra icons (that are added by addons)? How would this horizontal toolbar behave in this case?
Would there be two rows of icons? And if there would, would only the icons that don't fit on the first row be moved into the second row (so that would mean having the first row quite wide (full of icons) + a second row that has only 1 or 2 icons (below the first one)? Or maybe, instead, the two rows would contain the equal number of icons?
Or, instead of having two rows of icons, would you prefer Blender to display two arrow buttons [<] and [>] to slide the row horizontally?
I haven't had my coffee yet but I think it would be the same thing as a simple transpose operation like you'd do in Excel or Google Sheets. support.google.com/docs/answer/3094262 However the icons are arranged vertically, 'rotate' (transpose) that on its side.
Regarding cases where there are too many icons to fit in the bar, this is already a problem in Sculpt Mode in a clean install of Blender; there are too many icons to fit in a single column so the toolbar has a vertical scroll bar. The same could be done with a horizontal bar that scrolls sideways (although I seem to recall some open ticket on the issue tracker about horizontal scroll bars not being properly functional so that would need a fix first).
I do like the idea of arrow buttons appearing on the top/bottom or left/right as a prominent visual indicator that there are more tools that aren't being shown because they don't fit.
* @Chris Kohl * tbh, I dislike the idea of arrows to unhide other available icons. IMO, it's a terrible way to quickly have access to these extra icons. The discoverability is very low with such arrow buttons.
I'd prefer to see two rows of icons, displayed in such a way that icons are equally "center-aligned" (about the same number of icons on the two rows).
Btw, on the Sculpting workspace, it's possible to re-arrange the left toolbar to display icons on two columns: Link .
I guess it would be possible to do the same with a horizontal toolbar at the bottom.
EDIT : I have never noticed this vertical scrollbar. Good to know, thanks. It does the job imo.