I can’t seem to figure out how to get Microsoft’s Steps recorder to capture this, so I’m going to have to describe it verbally as best as I can:
There is a noticeable difference between how forgiving the cursor is in the WIP when selecting subobjects on a SubD versus when selecting subobjects on a NURBS polysurface or a Mesh. I think this may be one of the sources of complaints about usability of subobject selection on SubD objects. There is also a difference in how Rhino highlights subobjects on SubDs versus meshes and NURBS polysurfaces which can also be a bit of a usability issue.
Here are the differences:
To select a Sub D edge, part of my cursor must be touching it, or maybe (hard to see) it needs to be within a pixel of the centerline of the edge (I say “centerline” because I set SubD edges to display as 5 points wide in my view options). Once the edge, which is set to display at 5 points wide, is selected, it is highlighted on it’s centerline with a one-point wide line in my chosen highlight color. With many colors of edge, this highlight can be hard to see.
With a NURBS object if my cursor is within about 10 pixels of an edge, control-shift click will select it. When selected, a NURBS edge is shown in my highlight color in the width I set for edges to display (5 points, as above. Much easier to select, much easier to see once selected.
With a mesh object, the cursor accuracy is good, like with NURBS. But the highlight thickness is bad, like with SubD. Also, for some reason, color reduction is broken for mesh edges, so I can’t darken them.
With all of the above, face selection is easy and there’s no real downside to the more forgiving edge selection. I do wonder why SubD faces I select get shade-highlighted and mesh and NURBs faces don’t. I have shade-highlighting turned on.
Left to right, below: NURBS, Mesh, SubD, each with an edge selected. Each with the same view settings for edges (note Mesh edge color reduction is set to 50%, but it isn’t happening). You really have to squint to see the selected mesh and SubD edges.
Shade-Highlighting of face subselections is also inconsistent:
Lastly, I really appreciate McNeel doing it’s development process with so much user feedback. I hope my contributions are helpful and don’t come across as nagging. I’m super impressed with progress so far, and I’m already using Rhino7 in my workflow. I’m also really beginning to see that “god is in the details” applies to software development as much as architecture. This isn’t easy and it’s a long road. Much appreciation for your hard work.
