Curvy3D could do much better...

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Robbson
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Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2014 10:01 pm

Curvy3D could do much better...

Post by Robbson »

Hello,

I purchased Curvy in June but already played around using the demo version last year.
Even tough I used several 3D Modeling packages in the past and currently try to get (again) into Blender I'm still looking for tools to get things done easier and faster. Especially when I need some rather simple objects for developing a game prototype where there's no time for much artistic stuff at this stage.

Of course, the Curvy tutorial videos make you curious about how easy it seems to be to make some organic objects from simple strokes. :shock:
But this weekend I finally had some time to get into it... and I'm a bit confused about several things.

Today I'd like to talk about the user interface:
What about the shortcuts? There's no way to set/change them for your own purposes, it would even be enough to just have an editable config-file or something. You may could argue that the program is not so complex to need such a customization feature. But then I at least would expect useful shortcuts for all relevant tools. There's e.g. no shortcut for doing a view reset, for changing view layouts, for grouping/ungrouping, for the ruler mode, most mesh tools etc.
That's also why I rarely use the Straighten Curve Segment Tool because to change the ruler mode I have to go to a submenu of a menu. Unfortunately the 'Ruler Mode...' submenu is located next to the 'Redraw As...' submenu which has nearly the same entries. So I confuse them very often and always wonder what happened to my curve all of a sudden.
There are also several tools which can only be used by a cyclic shortcut so you have to cycle through them. You just hit a key once too often? Can you cycle backward? No, you can't!
I don't get this. Even 10x more complex modeling applications can handle this better.

But there's more than just shortcuts: What about all those controls that don't affect the currently selected tool or object but are still visible and appear to usable?
The resolution slider only works for curve objects but it's there for all type of objects. Why? To confuse beginners? There are already dynamically visible tools like the radius A/B for a line or the dimensions of a cube so I don't see a reason why the resolution slider sticks there. And what about the checkboxes like Symmetrie? In the toolbox you can read: "Make a 3-Curve Lathe Symmetrical". Well it also seems to work for the Blob and Slab while nothing happens with the other objects.

The Tool Controls panel seems to show always tool parameters which are not relevant at all. Most time the Paint Brush parameters are visible even though I nearly never use that tool. When I rotate or scale an object, it show's the Soft Move parameters. There are some sticky checkboxes below with global options on first sight. But no, there are mixed: Some of them make always sense (like Wireframe and Grid) but others are only usable when sculpting. Still, they are all there all the time.
Also here the tooltips need an update not only because of spelling mistakes: When I use Soft Move or Soft Rotate then the scale has the "Paint Opacity" tooltip.

To sum it up:
The easiest thing that could be done to make Curvy3D better and more user friendly is an overhaul of the UI including the tooltips. :)

Thanks,
Robbson
Simon
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Location: Kingston Upon Thames, U.K.
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Re: Curvy3D could do much better...

Post by Simon »

Good points, thanks. I especially agree with the config for shortcut keys, and disabling options on objects that don't support the option.
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