Hi,
When using the gumball, I need to switch between the snap and smooth dragging. At the moment I need to go into the gumball options and change it. Is there an easy and more intuitive way to do this?
Thanks
One way would be to forget about the smooth mode and press alt to deactivate snaps…
That makes sense!
The other thing is that in snappy mode, when dragging the move arrows, the gumball origin jumps to the cursor. I see why this is necessary, but it feels clunky. Is there any other way that this could behave?
Not sure, I think you just have to get used to that
you can use a macro:
-Options ModelingAids Gumball SnappyGumball enter enter enter
that will toggle the snappy gumball, throw that onto a short cut or an alias.
Thanks for that. I’ve been using it for quite a while and it still feels clunky.
if you are using a shortcut for the switch already how much faster/more intuitiv do you expect it to become? i am not sure what you really need, please elaborate.
also just in case if you press on the reply button directly in the post of a person that will ensure that the person trying to help will become notified, like that its more coincidental that somebody will come back and check your message if at all.
Thanks @encephalon @martinsiegrist
I just think the way that the gumball jumps in snap mode, feels clunky. But not really sure how that could be different because the snap directly related to the cursor position…
dont get me wrong and i will certainly stop picking into that after this post, but in your initial post you asked for a quicker way to switch between snappy and smooth dragging.
since using a short cut for a switch is as fast as it can get for now i am not sure what your issue is in those regards.
yes snappy snaps, i am not also not sure how it should be less clunky when it simply snaps … i guess its just one of those strange days today, may be caused through the current planet alignment who knows.
Using alt to disable osnaps works. In this scenario, the gumball could behave like in the smooth mode without needing to jump/centre to the cursor position. That would surely be a better user experience.
If, while dragging, there was a command line option to toggle between smooth and snapping would that work?
i assume pressing alt fixed it for the op, but would you mean something like a hotkey?
maybe something like that then? either while dragging as a temporary or as a permanent toggle
No, like this:
sure, though i might try to keep the letters free, since these might be used for one shot snaps (aliases), so maybe shift while clicking on an arrow could be an alternative? also in your example you would have to press space additionally to confirm. but alright i am not using that often so i am out of here
I’ve wanted to write about it for a long time, but since it’s an important feature, I’ve been delaying it because I wanted to argue it well… but since I see your interest in the topic, I have to get it out now (it’s not even something I only noticed, I saw a similar observation from @Rhino_Bulgaria if I’m not mistaken)
Currently, we can hold down the ALT key to temporarily disable Snappy Dragging and use Smooth Dragging. However, the reverse operation is not possible - with Smooth Dragging active, hold down ALT to temporarily activate Snappy Dragging. This would be a great convenience for me, so much so that I was afraid to ask for it.
Another topic is that using the ALT key for this is a bit in conflict with making a copy of the element…
Now, in Rhino, when we want to disable Snappy Dragging by holding the ALT key, we have to do it only after starting to move the element (otherwise we would trigger making a copy of the element), this leads to a very unpleasant, nervous effect, for a split second Snappy Dragging is active, so our object jumps in the viewport and only then we disable Snappy Dragging, the object returns and we can smoothly move it. This is a really unpleasant experience…
Another argument for using Smooth Dragging and switching to Snappy Dragging is that Smooth is a less precise movement and only an extra button should activate Snappy. It often happens that in the Smooth way we want to drag an element near the element we want to attach to and only then activate Snappy Dragging.
A metaphorical representation of the problem is the following situation: We want to stick a poster on the wall that is on the other side of the bushes, it will be much more convenient if we smear the poster with glue after we get through the bushes, than to do it before and get through them with the poster sticking to everything in the way…
For something as basic as moving an object, in my opinion modifier keys are much, much better. But such switching between modes is also ok, just not as the only method.
I can see this working well, yes. I think something that you can tap intuitively. The important bit for me once you’re able to switch easily between snappy and smooth is that in smooth mode, that jumping behaviour should not happen.
This could work too.
I think the fewer clicks required the better. So using shift seems like a good way to go.
Yes, I have this issue frequently.
Yes! This is quite annoying!
I think the simple hotkey idea would go some way to solve the clunkiness.
All-in-all, the Gumball is there to make transforms super easy and convenient. Therefore the user experience of transforming and all interactions with the GB tool should be slick and well, convenient.