Different object - different Gumball

Hi, I really like Rhino’s Gumball, but when dealing with VA Objects, the scale handle gets in the way. I can disable the scale handle (set size to 0) but is not the perfect solution - I need a scale handle with regular Rhino Objects.

In points:

1. Different objects-different Gumballs
I would like to have regular Rhino Gumball for regular objects and at least gumball without the scale handles for VA Objects. Scale handle gets in a way of wall widgets and that drives me crazy sometimes.

Of course objects like Windows, Doors could benefit from it too. I suspect that the point orientation of elements is a temporary solution.

In the case of Door elements, I don’t need a Gumball scale. At least scale working regular way. The red scale handlebar could control door width more smart.

Right now if click and type 70, it will scale the door width 70 times… I imagine that clicking should display the actual width, and then I can type 90 to change the door width to 90 cm.

In that case, the red scale handle could look a little different to indicate it’s not doing exactly the same as regular Rhino Gumball.

The same goes for the Door’s green scale handlebar, right now it doesn’t do anything, but maybe this spot should serve to control Alignment Offset?

All of this could be handy, especially in the current situation where VA Objects Properties are sub-panel of the Properties Panel, and often it requires too much clicking to get into this sub-panel and change anything (or display just to check).

2. Gumball Alignment for Walls.
It’s aligned to the wall’s start points.
The effect is that I never know where it will pop up.
If you have Rotate View Around Gumball = ON then it’s a disaster to navigate in 3D. I would expect Gumball in the middle of the wall. The longer the wall, the more it hurts. Also, it really feels off to push something side to side and grab it by the end. In the real world, I would grab it in the middle.

3. Wall ends handles.
They should act more as Gumball arrows. Gumball arrows have one very cool thing I use all the time - 1 click on the arrow brings up numerical input for the precise move. For the same operation, using Wall Ends Arrows I need to preselect them first and then use Gumball arrow to move it. The one-click solution would really smooth things up.

Hi @Czaja,

Unfortunately, the Rhino SDK does not allow plugins to customize Gumball behavior for custom objects.

We can fix point 2 because we can place the block definition origin in the center of the wall. But there is nothing we can do (at least without hacking Rhino) to solve the other issues.

I think Mikko Oksanen is the main developer of this feature: @mikko Do you think it’s possible to extend Gumball SDK so third-party plugins can customize Gumball for custom objects?

Thanks,

Enric

I don’t think so. As I understand it the Rhino gumball is very deliberately not exposed in the SDK in any way. If you need custom control, you need to implement it yourself.

Hi @mikko,

IMHO, Rhino should allow third-party plugins to specify the Gumball’s frame for their custom objects.

How can I disable Rhino Gumball for VisualARQ custom objects so we can create our own Gumball?
I’m not telling you we’re going to do that, as reimplementing the Gumball is a lot of work.

Regards,

Enric

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I’m afraid you cannot. Rhino gumball was designed to be a basic transform gizmo, no overrides, no customization.

The power (not yet unleashed IMO) of VisualARQ for me is that it has the potential to be more unrestricted than other architecture programs. Regular Rhino Gumball is a restriction in that case - It’s just a limited or inappropriate tool when dealing with walls, adjusting doors and windows, etc. Half of the Gumball actions don’t make any sense with certain BIM objects and they clutter the view.

Right now, especially the experience of quick (but precise) drawing and adjusting wall layout is unpleasant. If it’s going to change, overriding Rhino’s Gumball is unavoidable.
Picking and sticking to just one Gumball for both NURBS polysurface and BIM objects is against symbiosis of Rhino and VisusalARQ.

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As a workaround, just toggle the gumball off when it gets in the way (which it does even when working with only rhino objects).
I have Gumball _toggle on alias g, and GumballRelocate on gg. Using it all the time.

I got to crank up my Alias Workarounds game. :slight_smile:

Tapping g and space takes half a second.

Yes, I know and I will incorporate your two aliases into my list. This might give me relief to some extent.

Hi @Czaja,

Even if there is no public SDK, I’ll try to improve, as much as possible, how Gumball works with our custom objects. I’ve some ideas, but I’m not sure if they will work…

Enric

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