Rhino 8 Feature: Block Manager Panel

Serengeti (Rhino WIP)
63

Hi Agnes,

could you send me the model so we can have a look?

-Lars

64

Is there a way to package the file and all the linked blocks? As I mentioned, I have about 35ish linked blocks in the file, and I assume the problem goes away if the blocks are lostā€¦ The linked blocks are a bit spread out on our server so it would be a bit of a hassle to gather them all manually.

65

You could convert the blocks to Embedded.

You can send the model by using the following link:
https://www.rhino3d.com/upload

Thanks.
-Lars

66

Thank you Lars. Unfortunately, I think embedding the links solves the issue. I embedded all linked blocks and opened the file in Rhino WIP, and the Block Definitions panel opened smoothly (took about a minute to load, comparable to opening the Block Manager in R7). So I donā€™t think sending the file with the links embedded will be very helpful for troubleshootingā€¦

(I say ā€œunfortunatelyā€ because embedding the files would not be a good solution for me in the future, I would very much prefer being able to link files as I do now)

67

@agnes.lundberg I managed to reproduce the issue now. Will look into it.

68

Great to hear, thank you!

69

Hello again, just curious to hear if you have had time to have a look at this? :slight_smile:

1 Like
70

Yes, the fix is in the Beta we released yesterday. Please try it if you get a chance and let me know if it works any better now. Thanks.

1 Like
71

Thank you!

It works better, but still not great.
I compared the same file in R7/WIP to see the loading time difference.
In my block-heavy file, the Blocks Panel in WIP now takes 10 minutes to open. When it has been opened, the performance is fine. Opening the file with the Blocks Panel visible on load took about 30 minutes.
In R7, the Block Manager takes 3 minutes to open. The file loads in 5ish minutes (no comparison to opening with the Block Manager pre-loaded since thatā€™s not possible).

So - I guess it technically works now, but for my purposes, I still prefer the popup Block Manager since itā€™s a lot faster. If there could be a way to opt out of the panel and go for the legacy Block Manager, Iā€™d do thatā€¦

Thanks for looking into this!

1 Like
72

Thanks for the feedback. I will take another look at it.

2 Likes
73

@Gijs Number 1 is very very very important feature. Has been added in R8?

74

@Abdullah_Tahseen you can highlight/select blocks top level blocks from the blockmanager panel. Once selected, you can use the regular Rhino tools to hide these. In other words, donā€™t expect anything major regarding blocks. Apart from a UI change in the blockmanager, there are no fundamental changes made to how blocks work. Next to the block definitions panel a block instance now has a property panel where you can set its scale and transform.

75

Thanks, thatā€™s nice!!
image

(McNeel really likes itā€™s understated attitudeā€¦)

Btw.:
It would make sense if the BoxEdit panel reflected the exact same values like this new block panel.

1 Like
76

if you want that: (although this only works for position)
image

77

Thanks, you say it yourselfā€¦
Talking about it: the rotation/scale should also be shown when in Gumball mode.

78

Scale and Rotation are relative, position is absolute. This is because normal objects do not store transforms. The question is then, what to do when a mix of objects is selected?

79

The Gumball imho IS a local transform. Every object has it, and itā€™s even persistent across sessions.

Option 1:
Show an axis for each object, and each can be transformed separately. Like add some value to the y-rotation, and see each object rotate independently.
Option 2: (maybe thereā€™s a toggle called ā€˜combined / localā€™):
When multiple objects are selected, the Gumball is automatically set to the selection center.
Just show the values of this Gumball. Position would make sense, rotation/scale not really.

80

Are there any updates on BlockEdit?

I welcome the new block manager panelā€¦ but I havenā€™t found it particularly useful in reality yet, apart from a few features. I use blocks a lot.

When working on existing blocks, I rarely use the block manager; I double-click into the blocks. Itā€™s much easier to find what you want visually in 3D than with a long menu of block names.

This becomes especially difficult when working with hundreds of blocks with hundreds of nested blocks. Itā€™s extremely clumsy.

Requests:

  1. Can the lists of child objects be collapsed by default? (See GIF for why this is needed.)
  2. It would be amazing to continue double-clicking into nested blocks. This would almost negate the need for point 1.
    Rhino_8mrql0hJBI
4 Likes
81

This property panel sometime does not stick, I often have scaled blocks not showing their scale amount there !

82

when?