New Object Properties UI

Continuing the discussion from How do I change units on an existing drawing with appropriate scaling:

Looks like this was getting off-topic of the original thread. Also, sounds like people have some opinions on the new Object Properties layout, so I’m starting this new thread to try to capture them in the same area.

The Windows-like Object Properties Details step is a bit annoying, at least on Windows it lets us know if an object is closed or open so we don’t have to go to the details panel if that is all we need to know. Hopefully I remember correctly without opening Parallels to check.

Could say closed or open polysurface, so I don’t have to do this for a quick check or run show edges command.

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Yes, that is very important. Windows Rhino gives you more info at a glance here, so it’s not necessary to go into details all the time… Please make it work this way in MacRhino.

Thanks, --Mitch

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Thanks Mitch and @rhinorudi, got it on the list (MR-1592).

If we have to have buttons rather than tabs, can we have a separate button for Text (editing)? Saves me scrolling down all the time or have a large Properties pane.

Max.

I gather from this (and another thread, I believe) that you are not a fan of the New Object Properties layout. Where would you place this Text button? Can you mockup an image?

Maybe something like this, like ribbon bar maybe. Heading out so a quick maquette.

So…a tab?

A tab was / would be fine for me. Or a button in the bottom (non-scrollable) section:

So…a tab?

That or like the old top buttons, details, text etc. Something that would work across the board. Object properties, text etc

We switched from the tabbed sections to the collapsible scrolling sections because:

  1. Tabbed sections only work when you are working in English and other compact languages. When Object Properties is displayed to other languages, there is not enough space for the tabs to display their contents.

  2. The Tabbed style is not extensible. We need to accommodate adding additional sections in the future, including allowing plug-in developers to add sections.

That makes sense. Maybe have the details or an advanced collapsable section, instead of a pop-up window. Or have the tabs at the top so nearer to all other clickable areas. I have never used Match, but I can see its usefulness .

[quote=“rhinorudi, post:12, topic:17401”]
Maybe have the details or an advanced collapsable section, instead of a pop-up window. [/quote]
the details panel is the same thing as running the What command… (just an fyi… not really saying much else)

one thing that the new style will solve is the problem of having the real time details being displayed then inadvertently making a large selection… i made a video once showing the slowdown but it was pretty boring… go listen to static on the radio for 5 minutes because it was the same thing in rhino… it froze for a few minutes when doing that.

Match is good. specifically match > materials.
which is something i think is broken again in this latest wip. (5A723)
@dan @marlin… is MatchProperties > Material working for you guys?

May I suggest to have a dropdown list?

A dropdown list would make every entry accessible from the top, and every entry could be as long as a full line.

I’ll offer my opinion, for what it’s worth:

I also do not like the Details button at the bottom which opens in a separate window. I didn’t even like the Details Tab very much because it required another step.

As much as I don’t like having another window floating around, one advantage to the pop up window is that you can see both the details and the basic info at the same time, which wasn’t possible with the tabbed arrangement.

However, Marlin writes that tabs went away and Collapsible Scrolling Sections appeared for specific reasons. Can the Details simply be another Collapsible Section rather than a popup window? Then you would be able to see the Details along with the Basic info by having both sections expanded. Of course, it would be nice to be able to drag ANY of the tabbed sections off the side panel and have it open in it’s own floating window similar to InDesign.

I’m coming to Rhino from Vectorworks. VW has been a great tool and the cause of great frustration at times. One thing I really like about VW is that their Object Info Pallet is interactive, meaning that you can change an object directly from the Info Pallet. It also gives useful information about an object and it’s coordinates. Not sure if Rhino could operate this way but here’s a few pics to illustrate:

Circle highlighted:
Info pallet provides easy to see location and size information. You can enter the fields and change the information and the object responds by moving or resizing. It will do calculations directly in the field, meaning if I want the circle to be one inch larger in diameter, I can simply add +1" to the diameter field and press enter.

Nurbs curve highlighted:
You can move and edit control points from the pallet. Rhino has VW beat in that Rhino allows direct selection of a desired control point where VW requires you to use the arrows to work through all the points to get the one you want. Tedious.
But, having the location info of the specific point is helpful and again, modifying the info will move the point.

Cone selected:
More of the same. Pallet changes depending on the object selected.

I do recognize that there are limitations for how much info can be displayed or changed as an object gets more complex, but this approach makes object editing easy.

The 5A731 WIP release now has the Details information as a section of the Object Properties panel and is no longer a separate window.

I don’t think a popup button (what you call a dropdown list) is a good choice in this case. A popup button is used in cases where the list of choices is static. You can look at the list once or twice and know what choices are are available in that button.

That is not the case here. The list of menu items needs to change depending upon what is selected, and a Rhino user won’t see that the items in the button menu have changed. Also, entries added or removed by plug-ins would happen invisibly.

This will be fixed in the next WIP release. It did not make it into the 5A731 WIP release.

This is, I think, part of the issue with the Details section. I would prefer that you would rarely need to look at the Details section. Is there other information in the Details section that you reference frequently and would be more useful in one of the other sections of the Object Properties panel?

Lastly, I’ll point out a few tips that might help:

  1. You can have more than two inspectors in the right sidebar. This is adjusted in Rhinoceros > Preferences > Themes.

  2. You can have the Object Properties panel open in more than one section.

  3. You can collapse sections within the Object Properties panel and they stay collapsed when you make other object selections.

  4. You can also have (yet another) Object Properties open in a floating panel. Select Window > Show Object Properties Panel in the menu.

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the type of entity and certain notable dimensions.

for a line, it’s good to know it’s a line and its length.


for an arc, radius and angle are important.

…if possible, it’d be nice to have these updating live upon selection… maybe in the ‘basic’ section.

I hope this is the right place to post this…

Every time I select an object, the properties panel enlarges itself making the work window jump to the left - please see screen shots - this may be due to the amount of space french text needs.

This is the perfect place to post it…thanks. I think I know what is causing this and how to fix it. Logged in (MR-1612). I’ll get a fix in soon.

This should be working now in 5A751.