Unify similar operations into a single hotkey setting
When customizing hotkeys for certain actions, it's a huge (and error prone) hassle that you have to change the same hotkey for every different mode and view in which it is used.
Operations like:
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Select/deselect all
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Pan/Rotate/Zoom view
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Translate/Grab
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etc.
It would vastly simplify hotkey configuration for users if changing a hotkey once changed it for ALL modes, overriding and removing any conflicting hotkeys (with a warning).
The most extreme example might be (De)select all (see the 20+ hotkey list for select all "A").
NOTE: This suggestion was created for 2.7, but remains a problem in the current version.
11 Comments
There are similar issues for theme editing. There are same properties duplicated across every UI category and you really need a huge power of will to just change a unique parameter like the background color.
If you want to change one thing for one particular area of blender, it's fine. But if you want to change one thing for the whole Blender, you can't.
Maybe there could be kind of a "super" category (for keys and themes :P ), which purpose is to list every piece of parameter existing in multiple areas into one place without duplicates. If you make a change in the "super" category, it makes the change everywhere. If there is already different values for the same parameter, then in the "super" category should display "multiple" in the value input, so the user knows that there is multiple values for this parameter across all the areas of Blender.
upvote!
I think Modo has something like this. I believe their approach consists of having a GLOBAL category with hotkeys that work in any context, but you can override them by setting a context specific hotkey that only works in the modeling viewport, for example.
Best of both worlds.
Contextual hotkeys are awesome. Ability to change a function's hotkey in all contexts is also awesome. Simply combining a functions hotkey in all contexts into one regardless of contexts is a bad idea.
In my opinion there are few if any cases where it is worth making a distinction between two versions of the same tool if those versions never overlap or interact. Moving is moving, panning is panning, and selecting is selecting regardless of mode.
Could you give any example of this potentially being a problem?
@Christiaan Moleman: I agree entirely here.
You've described the issue pretty clearly, but I'm not seeing a proposal for a solution. How exactly would you suggest changing the hotkey editor to facilitate changes across multiple editors?
My proposal is in the title ("unify into a single hotkey") and "changing a hotkey once [should change] it for ALL modes, overriding and removing any conflicting hotkeys (with a warning)."
Instead of a separate entry for Markers, Grease Pencil, Face Mask, Weight Paint, Pose, Object Mode, and so on, there should be only ONE (De)select ALL tool and ONE hotkey that (de)selects in all of these modes .
Same for the other operations I mentioned and any that have similar overlap in functionality across modes. Eg there should just be one Grab tool that operates as expected in each mode but always uses the same hotkey (which you can customize by changing only one hotkey).
I don't know how to clarify it more other than to say the pictured "select all" search should have only one result. (or two if you're including CTRL-I)
@Christiaan Moleman: Yes!
For example, in the file editing of a input keymap, you would have a set of attributes you can then tag for one hotkey that instances to all that would and should be the same hotkey regardless of the view. Pan as Pan, everywhere. I tried using variables and making them work, but the editor and the way Blender polls the python files for the input map still won't let me use that system like typical python code.
The editor should minimalize and show where the context is show/needed (or toggled) for a single hotkey for all areas and context (not hundreds over many areas). Editing hotkeys is a nightmare......
@Christiaan Moleman: What if I want to have a different hotkey for the same operation in two different editors?
@Jason van Gumster: I don't see why anyone would ever want that, honestly.
I can imagine no situation in which having multiple separate hotkeys for the exact same operation in different editor contexts would be useful.