Make bevel shortcuts consistent
I'm not sure why the Blender foundation has decided to issue different beveling shortcuts depending on which element mode and selections are active. For instance:
• selecting face(s) or edge(s) = Ctrl + B
• selecting a single vertex = Shift + Ctrl + B -or- Ctrl + B then V
• selecting more than one vertex = Ctrl + B (this one is odd, but is the correct behavior IMO)
Why can't Blender just have the Ctrl + B shortcut for ALL beveling operations? To me, this would be the cleanest, simplest solution instead of having to remember these oddities depending on mode and selections involved... Am I missing something here?
8 Comments
Ctrl+B and Ctrl+Shift+B gives different results for the same selection. i.imgur.com/gkjmoWJ.png
Right, because as L0Lock mentioned, Using Ctrl + Shift + B automatically engages vertex mode. Ctrl + B does not. But if the user is already in vertex selection mode with vertex/vertices selected, we shouldn't need to tell blender to go into vertex mode IMO. I guess it boils down to what bestelix mentioned... legacy code. In fairness, my understanding is that beveling is a super complex coding operation (with many cases to take into consideration). But yeah, I think Blender (and we users) would benefit from them revising/modernizing this.
Yes, I wouldn't mind that some operations get smarter about the domain context of selection. Many people seem to get this wrong because of just some 30 years old design.
Agreed 100%
⎈ Ctrl B runs the Bevel operator. That's the only shortcut you need to know, and which most people ever use. The other keys you can type while in the operator are options of the operator that you can always see in the status bar. You don't need to remember them, but if you want to: they are often following a semantic logic (like V for Vertex ), shared when applicable across operators when possible, and all operators work this way.
⇧ Shift ⎈ Ctrl B is the same operator but with Vertex mode enabled from the get go, because it's a frequent use of the Bevel operator, and it made sense to have a dedicated shortcut for that. And there is no differentiation for single and multiple vertex, it just works on your selection.
See Bevel Edges — Blender Manual
Thanks for the comment LOLock. I do understand what you're saying. I think for me the crux is when dealing with a single vertex bevel (which how I see it, should still only require Ctrl + B only. The need to use a separate shortcut for this baffles me - whether you are beveling a single vertex or multiple vertices, you are in a vertex sub-selection, so the context between one or more shouldn't require a different shortcut for each).
I can understand when beveling an edge, being able to switch to beveling vertices via the V key makes sense (as you mentioned, the semantic V for vertex - only in this context does it make sense because the user is in edge mode when first executing the bevel operation and wants to switch to vertex beveling). I personally don't feel Shift + Ctrl + B or Ctrl + B then V should be necessary IMO. But I guess mileage may vary...
What I find exceptionally odd is that there is a difference in beveling results when two (or more) vertices (sharing the same edge) are beveled (using Shift + Ctrl + B) vs Ctrl + B then V on say a plane with subdivisions (not using a subdivision modifier here.. just multiple x/y segments). Why is this?
I'm not sure what is what is going on under the hood here, but this might be part of the confusion with these additional shortcuts when dealing with vertex/vertices bevel operations!
Just discovered that when beveling two vertices sharing the same edge with Shift + Ctrl + B, it is possible to then toggle using V to alter the bevel results (which was why I wasn't getting the same results as Ctrl + B). Still not sure what is happening though. This is the first time I really delve into this to be honest, so I'm learning new things as I experiment.