Nodes manual resize proposal
I had to post this because I am tired of resizing the nodes by mistake when pulling noodles from the nodes. I bet I am not the only one especially when you don't want to zoom in/out 1000 times. The resize should just be on the corner and not in between the node inputs/outputs in my opinion because no one goes there for resizing the node as you can by mistake pull a node which is the exact opposite problem of what I normally encounter.
15 Comments
Some say things in the past were better :)
In the early days of the node editor (Blender 2.4), nodes could only be dragged from the bottom-right corner like in your mockup, it was even hinted by a nice square corner with lines which I think it's a better design.
Back then the nodes even had icons in their header to hide/show sockets, previews and options. These were moved to the Node menu (or Ctrl/Shift H).
To be honest I prefer it like it was in the past, and I'd add resizing with the <kbd>S</kbd> key when a single node is selected.
Sounds like a nice small thing to do for a new developer to get familiar with the code! 🚀
@Pablo Vazquez: Hey Pablo. Sometimes we spin around ideas that come and go. It's hard to see the corner marks in the old version but I can see it was there. Using S is ok but I think the visual aspect would be very important as the new additions to the viewport tool icons. For new users is always positive and probably more consistent if there is always an option that does not require a shortcut. Whos up for it!? 🚀
@luisburdallo: or both forms, shortcut and visual!
@Pablo Vazquez: The previews in the nodes sure were nice. Too bad that would be super expensive on Cycles nodes.
I personally would be happy with S key only scaling except for one thing. Right now, if you have multiple nodes selected, S key scaling spreads the nodes away from each other without making the individual nodes bigger, almost like the manipulate center points button in object mode.
I use this all the time to make room for ramps and math nodes that I may need to manipulate textures.
edit: Maybe alt+s spreads the nodes and s scales them?
@dpdpforlife: I did have another post regarding the resizing of the individual nodes but no one seemed to really care about it so I deleted it but yeah, I still believe the nodes should have a way to be resized instead of spreading them apart.
@Salvador Garcia: Always. That's what I meant. We always want to have shortcuts for experienced users and visual hints for newbies or even for Pro users who suddenly forgot the shortcut. And another positive point about having visual hints for all features is that you can discover stuff you didn't know even existed. You can't have icons and hints for everything but you get the idea.
@Salvador Garcia: Double post.
@luisburdallo: I like the idea of the visual and more icons accompanying everything, I support your proposal!
also because as you say to my equal happens to me, suddenly when working with nodes by mistake I scale them and I like that they have their size by default, with a button that is scalable so that you can scale them from any side
@luisburdallo: Don't delete your posts! We have search and tags, you never know when people can find them in the future and give it a try.
Personally when I have a bit of free time for fun stuff I look through Right-Click Select for inspiration on ideas and easy little things to do and fix here and there. What seems hard for me to do now maybe I find it easier in the future because I learn more so I give that task a try.
It happened to me a few times already that I try to implement something from here and I fail, then after a few months I learn how to do it, so I try again. I bet there's plenty of people like that.
@Pablo Vazquez: That's a very good point. Will create it again. It's something pretty simple I believe as the scale system is in place. Thanks for letting me know Pablo.
@Pablo Vazquez: Actually there is an addon that has been create for 2.8 recently that does what I proposed. blenderartists.org/t/free-blender-2-8-pbr-addon/1120173/4 I am actually asking the guy to add shortcuts too because you might not want to have the panel open all the time but its good to have it for new users.
@Salvador Garcia: Check the post I just shared above.
Agreed. 100%.
I agree here.
I want to choose change the size of node sockets dependant relativ to screenspace so zooming out make IT bigger