A Proposal to bring 2.4x behavior to the Transform Gizmos with a modern style!
2.4x tranform Gizmos had some nice functionalites that were lost over time,.
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it had like a toggle between active and inactive states when u just click release once and then tranform along the axis something like the ‘G,R,S’ modals but locks to axes & of course you can click & drag just like today’s version, the benefit of this, is you get your hand free (good ergonomics and for precison work when typing values) without losing control of the gizmo, so you don't have to type G->X->2...etc.
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A visual feedback for both current and previous position of the gizmo with smooth control.
- What needs as an addition is displaying the axes for rotation (x,y,z) as that indicates if there is any gimbal lock during the transformation and also when playback is running.
Here is the download link to the old 2.49b version, try it and see how it behaves, mirror.clarkson.edu/blender/release/Blender2.49b/
Disclamire : this propsal is to bring the good parts that fits and works well with the 2.8x design and i believe these small parts make a whole difference especially now that the gizmo is a core tool & the center of manipulation in 2.8x.
7 Comments
I do absolutely miss this (the #1 part of this proposal). It was removed when the 3D manipulator was updated during the 2.5 series. I remember speaking with Theeth (the one responsible for the change at the time) and asking to bring back the old behavior. Unfortunately, it was his opinion that it was implemented in a kind of hacky way and therefore he wasn't in favor of bringing that feature back.
I don't know if he was the only developer with that opinion, but maybe there's a chance we can have it back. That feature's an old friend that I sorely miss having around.
* @Jason van Gumster * In my excitement, I just now realized that this is two proposals bundled into one. I'd suggest making a separate proposal for the second one so it's easier to discuss and vote upon these ideas independently.
I didn't quite get what you mean neither from the gif nor your description until I've downloaded 2.49, but now I do think this'd be a nice (re-)addition. It's kinda funny, you'd expect a gizmo-based feature like that to be present in 2.8 and absent in old versions, but it's the other way around.
Anyways, if implemented, requiring a MMB click on an axis to toggle the appropriate transformation (instead of a LMB click like on 2.49) could perhaps be the way to go? It'd be consistent with how you currently toggle axis constraints when using the shortcuts, and potentially be less confusing for newer users.
When using the spin tool, which you can move the point it kind of has this visual aid, so I guess it could be a relatively low hanging fruit.
earlier in 2.8's development, something like this was present, over time it all was removed, but only rotation remained, this would be a good visual addition for the gizmos I believe
I think having 'ghost' gizmos during transform operations is planned, I remember seeing it on the gizmos task on dbo.