What does Rhino V7 provide better than V5?

[Rhino_Bulgaria (Bobi)]

I have a different perspective regarding Rhino 7 versus Rhino 8 WIP. The latter is still in its infancy (lots of bugs and incomplete features) and its GUI (graphics user interface, i.e. toolbars and icons system) feels considerably different than Rhino 7. Rhino 7, on the other hand, feels very close to what long-term Rhino users are familiar with, hence the transition from Rhino 5 to Rhino 7 is very intuitive.

Rhino 8 WIP has a totally different GUI which I partially dislike. It will not let me customize the toolbars and icons in the free and convenient way Rhino 7 let me do. Rhino 8 WIP also does strange bugs while trying to import my settings from Rhino 7. This alone is a huge drawback for me. Every time something like that happens, I read advises like "Just revert to the default UI, which literally destroys my customization and forces me to repeat it again manually.

Rhino 8 WIP freezes and sometimes even crashes for no obvious reason, even with a simple box in the scene.

The design of the tabs in Rhino 7 is better (futuristic look with inclined tabs) and with easier to read black text. Rhino 8 WIP’s tabs are rounded (despite every other toolbar being rectangular) and the text of the inactive tabs is grey (very difficult to read).
There is a noticeable lag between clicking in the viewport and clicking on some of the tabs above (maybe 300 milliseconds or so?).

Upon every start, Rhino 8 WIP also evokes the optional (hidden by me) Capture widget of Gadwin PrintScreen, a free program for screenshots. Having to close it every time is tedious, especially when opening Rhino 8 WIP multiple times per day. Rhino 7 does not cause that bug.

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Every Rhino user has a unique set of requirements about the program, and judging from my own requirements I would say that Rhino 8 WIP’s biggest positive changes are just 4:

1. The ! _FilletSrf command is slightly improved, though it still lacks plenty of functionality that could make it a much more tool in the future. I posted some suggestions in another topic recently. The current limitations make it far less usable.

Wish: Enhanced Fillet surface + BUG

After playing a bit with the latest Rhino 8 WIP, I noticed that there is a lot of room for improvement for the “Fillet surface” tool. So, I made an image with some descriptions of the enhancements I would like to suggest for future development. Hopefully they will be greenlighted and be available in the retail Rhino 8. Remembering the used values is especially important, because there is virtually no way for someone to remember some random numbers for the next session or after us…

2. The Properties panel could auto-hide (optionally). A welcome change that I proposed for years and I’m happy that the developers finally decided to implement it. The left sidebar also could auto-hide.

3. The ! _FilletSrfToRail command lets you add a fillet whose shape is controlled by a curve on surface. It’s History-enabled, which is cool. ! _FilletSrfCrv is similar to it, but also far less usable.

4. “ShrinkWrap” looks like a promising tool for those who often work with 3d printers.