‘Stretch’ ist cryptic to use, for my taste. It’s quite different from a simple scale1d.
You don’t choose a scale center, e.g.
Yes, I agree with you. I find incredible that a software like autocad doesn’t have a proper tool for scaling 1D…
True! Whenever I can (fortunately most of the time) I use Rhino in our architectural office, also for 2d drawing (which is not the mainstream).
To circle back to the topic: Rhino is much much more intuitive and fluent to use than ACAD. However, I share the original poster’s sentiment that Rhino looks, and in some regards feels, well, less modern than it could. When I find the time, I’ll share my collection of stuff here that in my opinion should be improved.
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You can scale a block in autocad as far as I remember.
But can you scale the UI in 1 direction?..
I am against tearing down the product of years of evolution for the sake of newness and unfamiliarity to the interface. I am not against change. I suggest that if there is a specific change or changes you want, then champion it or them, and see how it goes.
I am openly by far the harshest critic of the block manager on this forum, but I have also defended its existence online because I know it’s a useful and vitally important system, but also because I see the potential in what is already there.
[I use Scale1D so much, it’s invoked with a button on my house, along with move and rotate. Scale 1D is #2, as well.]
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I think the operative word in shomenipotence’s statement is “beginners”. Thought that is not defined. Beginner to computer modeling, or beginner to new modeling software? I’m a Rhino beginner (years now) and I often find it unfriendly coming for SU. (which a retarded baboon could learn in a day) That said, I’ve gotten much further in Rhino than in Solidworks, Maya, Revit, and Blender – all which I’ve tried. Whether that is because it is “friendlier”, because I put in more effort, and/or the stellar help I’ve gotten here, I can’t say. But you guys need to realize, that even your conversation vocabulary is not friendly for TRUE beginners. Beginners think a “curve” is an arc. When we want to draw a line, we don’t naturally look at a tab that says “Curve tools”. We may not know what a spline is, far less a “Non-uniform rational B-spline.” Many beginners are not familiar with terms like vertex, node, control-point, coincidence, etc, etc, that is the language of most of these programs. Even a phrase like “kept similar controls” across versions requires contemplation. Many times reading this forum I have to look up terms the poster thinks are universally understood, but then I’m barely above a retarded baboon.
Just my thoughts to help define “beginner”.
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Haha, you are not alone here! I’m been using Rhino for a long time and many times when reading posts here I feel like a newbie.
What you described above @CalypsoArt
has nothing to do with User Interface it is related to common sense and understanding of English and/or Basic Geometry.
That’s really not my problem is it. If you want to learn how to use any software you need to get more tech savvy, period. Don’t blame a software’s user interface for your lack of understanding of how computer works.
And neither do I. In fact, this inclusion of tabs since (I think) Rhino4 I find a bad taste. But Rhino kept customization of toolbars so I don’t even use these tabs.
So do I, that doesn’t make me a retarded baboon. I will be one if I don’t look up the terms and pretend I understood them. Curiosity is the key in, well, pretty much every skill.
Now back to the topic of the interface.
Can you explain to me what “A friendly User Interface” is to you?
A UI following the current trend? That’s stupid because it always changes.
If Rhino having a list of all commands, having help tab that even contains videos, having the possibility to use command line as well as push “pretty pictures” even allowing you to create your own to make your “experience” more comfortable is not “Friendly” then what is?
Compare the clutter of Blender’s user interface to Rhino. Or I’ll give you some restrictive ones like 3DExperience where you can create a single floating toolbar, and you have to change applications in order to get access to different commands?
I’m sorry but I cannot agree with people putting priority on changing the look of Rhino which is better than most 3d modeling software out there instead of prioritizing improvements towards Rhino’s stability and functionalities.
That’s why I suggested to grab some UI tool and hook it up with Rhino’s engine. You have a lot of options there if you think WinForms/WPF/Eto are outdated then take CefSharp create an application with it and use the “pretty” web UI frameworks, use Three.js for the viewport and display Rhino objects using Rhino.Compute or Rhino.Inside.
GLHF
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GTK-Radiant was the old Quake I editor? Or was it a game prior to quake? Wow, that’s going back a ways
[ Yes, it was for Quake 1-3, likely Q4, and about a dozen games using ID engines. Though, it was NURBs, and texturing was way quick.]
This is an interesting discussion because the user interface can make incredible software useless or can disguise many shortcomings. It will also make the learning curve more or less steeper and facilitate or aggravate proficiency.
That being said, I think that Rhino’s UI holds up well to the test of time because it is very customizable. But to tell you the truth after a certain point it simply becomes irrelevant and keyboard shortcuts are the only UI you’ll ever want… and the Pop-Up menu, sure.
Of course there are a couple of concepts I miss from other 3D packages:
Maya’s integration of the menu bar around the mouse pointer.
Now that Grasshopper is an integral part of Rhino, they should share the same UI language. But more than that, there could be an opportunity for making something in a Houdini sort of way:
That being said… all 3D software producers should be looking at Blender for ideas.
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without this part:
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pff 
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However, Blender’s GUI is drawn by direct OpenGL calls. That’s why it feels so smooth and snappy. You can even scale the UI font size with a slider on realtime!
That kind of ‘smappyness’ would be lovely in Rhino, too.
Not talking about the way commands are invoked in rhino, or the logic in the modelling workflow. These things are close to perfect imho, but there’s a little bit too much visual clutter in the panels and toolbars, which the Mac version does not have
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Small clarification. Blender’s original GUI is hectic, your plugin that makes it look a bit more like Rhino that’s cool.
Yep these category-based fake ribbon tabs, are a bad thing in Rhino. Keeping the toolbar-based approach, making the buttons scalable and fixing the inability of the docks to go dark. That’s good enough. And should not be that hard too compared to the “complete UI overhaul” that the title of this thread suggests.
pre-2.5, 2.5-2.7, or 2.8+?
pre 2.8+
But then again, I haven’t used 2.8 all that much just to install your plugin skin, I don’t need it. If I work with it I’m sure I’ll find some flaws 
For starters now I don’t know where things are, like cycles render and I noticed some changes in key shortcuts, but that’s about it.
I was talking about right now. It makes no sense to discuss previous Blender versions prior to 2.8. Of course nothing is without flaws, but this iteration is a game changer for the industry. How a free, open-source software reached this maturity level is a case study and, in my opinion, a beacon for the FOSS of the future.
Oh, and by the way, the main reason I started hating parametric modelers was precisely the UI induced procedure and how you needed 300 clicks to create a line.