Problem: I got a UI Layout that most of the time I am happy with. Some Panels are perfectly fine in sizes like that, and some are just ok for quick and easy tasks. However, if I have to change more things, they feel way too small.
I can drag panels out, but it is a destructible and inconvenient operation. It takes too long, dragging requires precision in mouse movement, panels switch order when I want to drag them back in place and there is kind of unpleasant feeling of something chaotic taking place in this whole operation.
UI configuration - mostly ok when working on a 16:9 1440p monitor
Proposition: Quick and easy (single button or double click) undockable Panels that remember their undocked sizes and positions, and elegantly return to their docked places when they are not needed anymore. It could be also like that: When hoovering with mouse over given panel pressing e.g. F4 button will undock it, or bring it back to docked form.
How it works in Rhino
Example: Substance Painter - I like how it is working in here
This button inside the new Block Manager Panel is similar to what I asked for in the past.
The difference is that the pop-up window shows only a part of the Block Manager Panel and you need to click Ok or Cancel the changes to close it. It would be better to have a similar symbol in the same place of the window to minimize it.
Another (pretty big) problem is that the pop-up window locks all other GUI parts.
This maximize to window / minimize to side panel feature should be a part of all the panels.
For example Materials panel is ok being small and docked as a side panel for most of the time, but sometimes you need to do more work and then quickly expanding it to the much bigger window would make work much more comfortable.
Layers Panel have multiple columns and if you scroll to see some of them then the most important thing - Layer Name, is not visible anymore. Setting multiple “advanced” layer settings would me much easier if we could have one-click quick expand toggle. This should be a temporary window, not something that messes up your UI Layout.
About this one, and to better understand your workflow here, could you describe why you’d want a non-modal pop-up version of the block definition properties? Since you appear to want to quickly click in the same position to make that go away again, it doesn’t sound like you are actually working in that pop-up?
-wim
Block Panel is just an example, for some reason somebody created this arrow button in the Block Manager Panel and I like it. I would like to have a pop-up of the full Block Panel, not only Block Properties as it is now.
My previous post with example was created in September 2021 before there were GUI changes and it shows Material Panel.
I would totally work inside that popup every time I need extra room to make changes. Small Panels are good to have for quick access or small changes.
For example, if I would need to edit 10 materials, swap textures, and do some tweaking, on top of that I would assign them to a few new objects. Temporarily enlarging the Materials Panel would make it more comfortable for me to do my work.
The same goes for Layer Panel, sometimes it’s time to clean up the scene, move objects to correct Layers, assign different layer colors, and do some nesting.
To put it shortly, I would like to have a one-click shortcut to Big Pop-Up versions of Panels and docked “compact” versions.
Ideally… Big Pop-Up Panel should remember different GUI settings - you can somewhat see it on the screenshot below. I arranged materials previews differently to see bigger thumbnails.
Some Panels could be made in two versions - small and compact, and big with more details, and more description visible. But I feel that I’ve gone too far with my wishes
