Schematic View
When I think back to some of the most useful features offered in a 3D program, I think back to Softimage's schematic view, which allowed for complete project organization through node-based parenting, grouping & constraints, assignment of materials, etc. As we know, Autodesk killed Softimage, but I truly believe that such a feature could be leveraged to improve projects large and small for EVERYONE. Some more practical purposes include building / editing / managing complex armatures / rigs, inheriting materials, modifier stacks, and other attributes. Attached is a really rough/vague visual illustrating the overall idea.
4 Comments
I really like this idea too. In tha past I used lightwave during some studies and it has this feature. I don't remember if it was used also to manage the "main" scene, but I used it always when I have to rig something. I really like to make characters and try to bring them to life and a feature like this for me is a game changer. When you start to create something really complex (witch constraints, drivers, maybe some python code,..) a simple and graphical way to see at least the parent relationship and the constraints between bones it really helps out.
I really like this idea.
old blender had this long time ago. 2.4
They should bring it back. As amazing as Blender is, the outliner is just not an ideal way to manage large scenes, and it's management capabilities are quite limited in my opinion.