1.) changing an objects layer
when changing an objects layer in the property panel by clicking the “layer” field and choosing the highlited line, i realised that this sometimes works, other times not.
found this very annoying for a long time, so i looked closer into this subject:
the line contains the name and - to the left of the name - the layer color. clicking exactly on the colored square or the name will work as expected, clicking on the space between the two will not. this becomes more problematic when using nested layers, as in this case the described gap gets larger.
now that i know how this works, it is not so annoying anymore.
still, i think if a line is highlighted every user assumes that clicking on this line IN ANY POSITION will do the job. i hope, this is comprehensible.
2.) sorting layers using drag and drop
when dragging a layer onto another, it will be nested. this seems logical to me.
for putting a layer to a special position in the layer list i have to clickyclickyclickyclicky on the blue “up”- or “down”-button, which becomes more inconvenient the longer the layer list gets. other applications are doing a better job here. if - for example in illustrator - you drag a layer onto another one, it will be nested. if dragging it to a position BETWEEN two layers, a thin horizontal line will appear and on mouse release the layer will be dropped here. much more conveniant to my mind. first i dont have to go looking for a button, second i can avoid the clickyclickyclickyclicky
@brian: The peasants are gathering outside with pitchforks and muskets. You’d better barricade the doors and windows. Or fix this. It was a bad idea that looked like the lazy developer’s way out when it was released, since Windows (and the other OS’s which you weren’t interested in at the time) already had it implemented in several commonly used apps.
But you can certainly take pride and satisfaction that it “was invented HERE!”
most elegant way imo for this task (illustrator again): the layer panel contains a column showing a tiny square for the selected object(s). dragging this square to the desired layer does the trick in one single mouse action without dropdown/context menues or dialog boxes.
@eobet - Well, it’s major to me and my daily workflow. Sorry for not pointing out, that I was by no means talking about the grand scale of humanity, nor talking on behalf of others. Let me rephrase: In my daily workflow it’s a major issue, especially when working with large imported files (Be it complex product design files or arch. IFC-files), where we do a lot of layer re-ordering/re-naming as prep for further modelling and/or rendering.
-Jakob
I agree the layer panel needs some improvements in usability. Like everyone here said already, pretty much any other software with layers (and there are many) has nailed this 10 years ago.
While we’re at moaning about it: Why again can I not see the contents of a layer? Like in any other 2D/3D tool? Every layer in Rhino is this mysterious container that might or might not contain any number of things and the only way to find out is to right-click > select sublayer objects and then watch the command line and/or Properties panel. Really?! Why cant I just click on a layer and then properties tell’s me about the layer and its contents… at the very least.
I can’t think of any software where the object browser is strictly for layers and not the objects contained. They always show the contents as well. What was the decision to not do that in Rhino?
+1
Rhino’s continued reliance on layers, and ONLY layers, for its organizational scheme has proven inadequate for even the simplest assembly. Something needs to be done, but I’ll let the bigger brains figure out just what that should be.
@pascal
yes, thats what i was talking about. dont have 7 installed yet. but i am glad the issue is fixed. any chance to put it into a SR for V6?
and thanks for putting the second issue on the list!
i understand, that many people would like to see a more powerful layer manager. but meanwhile i would be happy with something simple and handy …
Hello - but, if I undertstand the initial moan is that if you click out in the middle, where my cursor is in the image, the object layer is not set, do I have that right?
I think you may have missed the point or else I have. The subject is the “up” and “down” arrows at the top of the layer page which moves a highlighted top level layer up or down in the list of layers. brt1’s complaint was that for the top level layers in the list the arrows are the ONLY way to move them around, one step at a time, while sublayers can also be moved via a drag and drop mouse action.
i think i misunderstood your last post: i thought this is fixed in V7 : (
i am using V6 and now took another, closer look to discribe it more precisely:
layer 1, no nested sublayers
layer 2, containing one nested sublayer, this widenes the space between layer color and layer name (this space is used for the small black triangle that indicates the nesting)
layer 3, no nested sublayers, contains a selcted object. trying to move this object to another layer, i open the layer-dropdown in the properties panel
→ putting the object to layer 3 works fine on any position of the line
→ putting the object to layer 1 DOES NOT WORK in the “gap” position
→ putting the object to layer 2: when clicking on the “gap” position (in this case clicking on the black triangle) produces a strange display refresh thingy in the dropdown list. this only seems to happen if the layer list is too long to fit into the dropdown window and has a scrollbar to the right. if it is shorter and fits into the window the click will cause the sublayer(s) to expand or collapse, which seems logical to me)
sorry, i cant make any pictures, my screenshooter opens a dialog box which closes the rhino-layer-dropdown …
Every other piece of layer-based software I’ve ever used, has this down.