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Stephan Moenninghoff

Vectorworks, Inc Employee
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Posts posted by Stephan Moenninghoff

  1. 1 hour ago, Kevin McAllister said:

     

    I'm very surprised to read this. What I like about the demo videos you've shared is almost entirely about how the interface you're proposing  *feels* and *functions*. 

    Yes but what I am proposing are changes pertaining to the functioning of the UI. That's UX. What I was trying to say was, let's not confuse VWX functions ("How do I change the crop of a viewport") with UI functions ("How do I access the side pane widget while the RM is in a docked state").

    • Like 3
  2. 2 minutes ago, Jim Wilson said:

    For instance, we completely reworked the Resource Browser into the Resource Manager, and plenty of users have had time to acclimate. I think our eyes are on the OIP and Nav palettes next. If we had done all three at once though I suspect there would have been much more discomfort.

     

    Jim, with the Resource Manager, users were not given a choice though. They *had* to use it. And while it's better than before, the UI does still not allow for the RM to be used in a docked state. I do tech support once a week (because I want to) and whenever I Teamviewer into customers' screens, I see the RM floating and collapsed. Why? Because its options are not visible in a docked and hence narrow state. This is a pure UX thing and I think it needs to be addressed. I have detailed how it could be addressed in my prototype. I am not proposing that my graphics be used (I think they are just next year's old UI and some young, talented designers will do a better job, no doubt) but the way it *behaves* isn't right. It's a usability bug if nothing else.

    • Like 2
  3. 1 hour ago, Mark Aceto said:

    I love that we're all obsessing over GPU's, multiple cores...  and then spend 15min individually updating a single revision note repeated on every single sheet of a drawing set. And the cherry on top is when I double click a revision note, nothing happens. Sort of like double clicking a column to autofit it will either A) autofit the column or B) minimize the column to 1 pixel wide or C) maximize the column 30' to the right.


    Dark mode would be nice but these are the UI/UX issues that consistently keep me at work past 11pm.

    All good and well but please let's not create the standard excuse for not caring about the aesthetics of the UI here. This thread is and has been about how VWX *looks*. Perhaps also a little bit about how it *feels*. But not about how it *functions*. A modern appearance is completely separate from functionality and what this thread is about is mostly aesthetics. Improving on features has never been a weak part of VWX, in fact I think we must admit that huge progress has been made over the past years. This all has happened while maintaining a dated and clunky UI. That is what this thread is about so please let's not muddy the message by such comments (although I'm sure it is a valid comment in a different thread).

    • Like 1
  4. Here are two viewports rendered with OpenGL (top) and Renderworks (bottom) on a client machine (left) and the same viewports rendered on my computer (right). The client is quite desperate because he is getting these black backgrounds in both OpenGL and Renderworks intermittently. He is also seeing white (RGB 255,255,255) areas in rendered images turning black on his computers but nobody is able to reproduce the behaviour anywhere else.

    Any ideas? Thanks!

    Bildschirmfoto 2018-11-15 um 11.02.07.png

  5. 3 hours ago, Matt Overton said:

    I think the filter type tabs of your Resource browser would work well for object info as well.

     

    We have had separate tabs for  Data and render for a long time and much smaller screens.

    Meanwhile, the complexity of plug-ins has increased, renderworks has become stock and marionette has been added. All things pushing for more tabs to help find information but also less tabs because that information shouldn't be out of the way nor does it need to be now we have larger screens.

     

    Thinking tabs would be, say, Location, Shape, Massing, Object Settings,  Attributes(incl render), Data, Tool Settings....

    FIltering would then allow us to trim information to suit with nothing hidden more than a click away.

    Tabs would definitely have to be more dynamic. Developers should be able to decide which tabs, besides the stock ones, they want to add. Also, why is the Attribute Palette not part of the OIP? There are some really nice opportunities there. Just think class attributes and the like. I still keep thinking I'm overlooking something though and there are some logical clashes there....

    • Like 4
  6. 28 minutes ago, zoomer said:

    Meanwhile I saw the other videos about RM.

     

    I highly second that Multiple-Filter-Types at once, by separate Buttons.

    (In fact I asked for that since the release of RM)

     

     

    The missing or hidden Scrollbar would be a problem for me.

    If I search through VW Libraries and I will see an Array of 9 Thumbnails,

    accidentally nicely fitting into my current Content Window Area

    but no Scrollbar,

    I would think there are only 9 Objects in that Library and go on searching

    in other Libraries.

    Or start to scroll in any Content Windows or hovering everywhere any

    Scrollbar could appear from now on.

     

    Yes, and I was only proposing a substitute for scroll bars for tool palettes, not the RM. I don't think it's too critical though, just a detail. However - It goes to show how difficult it is to craft a UI for two platforms if you don't want to create your own UI. The treatment of scroll bars is quite different on Mac and Windows and needs some consideration. It can be done though and it can be done quite well.

     

    28 minutes ago, zoomer said:

    1.

    Another annoyance I find so often anywhere,

    especial in UI Edit Settings,

    are these Lists that pop out (like those from small Arrows in Quick Prefs)

    that will disappear immediately after you input your first change.

    You have to reopen each time and re-search.

    (or like the list to open UI Palettes)

     

     

     

    Agreed. That's why I am proposing a popover window instead of a menu. A popover is something that allows multiple choices and each choice is carried out or applied immediately. No confirmation necessary. Klick outside it and it goes away. As shown in the last prototype movie.

  7.  

    On 10/24/2018 at 2:43 PM, zoomer said:

    I have only seen the 3rd Video so far.

    But there are 2 things I disagree.

    1. I hate the current trend of diminishing (Linux) or even hidden Scrollbars

    I know what you mean @zoomer about those scroll bars. It can be irritating.

    Nevertheless, tool palettes are unlikely to have a large number of hidden buttons if they are standard out-of-the-box palettes. If they are made by yourself and you know what's hidden, that's also ok. So I would really love to see how this works in the wild. Interesting though what happens when people start to use horizontal tool palettes. Does every user know about the Shift key for horizontal scrolling?

    So, yes, there is some uncertainty there. But this is what user testing is all about. I firmly believe any radical departure from the status quo needs very thorough user testing. 

  8. 27 minutes ago, elepp said:

    That's true and annoying at the moment. If I use push/pull on the top surface it disappears. Best way is to add a solid on top and combine the to volumes. It's also not very intuitiv that you can apply the boolean function of adding volumes together on nurbs surfaces.

    Yes, I don't think that's actually a bug that would merit logging. More like a limitation in what surface modelling can and cannot achieve.

  9. I like @elepp's surface method. It may be more work but it creates an even cleaner geometry than mine. I try to solve everything using solids because the surface modeller always creates hollow objects which may create problems down the road (Push/Pull does not play nice with most surface objects). I have a few more challenges up my sleeve. I'll dig them up when I have a few minutes. Thanks for contributing, guys. This was fun!

    • Like 2
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