Show positive and negative directions during transform (grab, rotate)
The main purpose of this would be to end the guessing game when entering numeric inputs during a transform. With the current Blender setup there is no easy way to determine whether, say, a positive value will rotate a selected object clockwise or counter clockwise in the 3D view. This can usually be corrected by hitting the negative numpad key, but it slows down numeric heavy workflows.
3 Comments
This is understandable for rotation manipulators, but with grab and scale, the handles are already indicating the positive direction. Doesn't seem all that hard to infer the negative direction is opposite that.
@Jason van Gumster: I agree to an extent, but if you don't have the transform tool active, and instead just use the g key to start the move it could be useful. You're getting feedback from the interface elsewhere, but I don think this would be useful. Also the gizmo disappears when dragging when you are using the grab tool.
My votes are for v3 for rotation and v2 for grab. They fit in with the current manipulator scheme a little better in my opinion.
@Jason van Gumster: The translate tool is not as much as an issue as rotate, but as mentioned the gizmo disappears if you use the 'G' key to do the transform. If you have to look away from the 3D view during the transform (which I often do to double check a reference or make sure I'm hitting the right number keys) the 'polarity' reference is gone. Having these aids next to the transform can also help to minimize eye travel which can beneficial when working on larger displays.
@dpdpforlife: Aside from the "nike swoosh" looking ones, all the proposals were based on either existing Blender UI designs or the proposals made by William Reynish. The 2 you chose are my preference as well. The grab one has the added bonus of providing a visual reference showing where you started the transform at.