Collection preview icon in outline?
I imagine if your collection grows, items with similar names will be confusing to pick from. Would it be possible to get pre-rendered preview icons ( using solid material ) in the outline?
The previews should be cached in a separate file next to the blend file to prevent bloat.
6 Comments
Or people could get in the habit of naming their objects sensibly.
@Jason van Gumster:
How do you name different trees with variations sensibly?
Or other similar props for that matter?
Icons also give a quick overview of what you're dealing with.
I imagine the whole point of collections is to have a group of items you want to use as assets within your scene. Just going by text if your collection grows is cumbersome.
You haven't given a good counter argument.
@sidartalei: How big (physically) do you anticipate these preview being? How will they be displayed in the interface? If they're truly icon-sized, it's not likely that there will be enough discerning characteristics to tell one tree (for example) from another anymore than naming would.
@Jason van Gumster:
Well for one I think Blender needs a proper asset panel, not just the outliner. With simple drag and drop mechanics and viewing blend files as navigatable folders.
But the size should be customizable, even for people who don't want it: disabled.
I'm coming from a gamedevelopment perspective and having an intuitive asset manager is imperative to quick world building. Visual aid is useful in every aspect. I understand that blender basically choked itself with a rigid ui ( I like it, but there is space for lots of additions ) and a new asset panel is probably something we won't even see. I still think there needs to be an option for these things.
I understand it's not for everyone, but there really is no negatives if it's there and the option to enable/disable it.
@sidartalei: I understand what you're getting at here, but that's a much bigger proposal from what you've originally posted. I'd suggest that you make a new proposal with your vision for an asset manager that references this proposal. Include mock-ups and example workflows that show how you would envision a user taking advantage of this feature.
@Jason van Gumster:
Yes I'm aware that it is a big proposal, that's why I figured ill keep it tight to the outliner. But you're right Ill put some thought to it and make a new post.