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VW 2020 Tool Icons


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@Kevin McAllister No doubt, but why deploy something that was only half finished? I don't know the mac/win breakdown for VW and I know it started as a Mac program but why have half? (40%?) of the users squinting at the icons? And that's assuming all Mac users will want switch to dark mode. Even here in this thread there are examples of how dark mode isn't fully thought through. 

 

Again the issue wasn't the icons. Here is the top comment on the VW Architect 2020 Promo video on YouTube... 

(Notice I have my YouTube in dark mode 😉

 

Comment.JPG

Edited by SeanOSkea
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I think Blender is a really good example of how Vectorworks could clean up their UI. I've attached images of the old and new version below.

 

2.79 felt like a intro level artists program, but you'd never see this in a production environment. Almost no icons, basically everything is text.

 

2.8 brought the professionalism in as they realized look was very important when it comes to people wanting to use it. The colors contrast better on the background, and placement of ui elements all make more sense with a lot of clean crisp nice looking icons. And after this update, Ubisoft and Epic Games both started donating to Blender (It was more then just the UI that prompted these companies to donate, but I'm sure it still had a large impact)

blender_279_screenshot-1280x720.jpg

blender_280_screenshot-1280x720.jpg

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@tshelton Yes, and Blender has my beloved, long wished for axis lock. Hit X,Y, or Z and lock the transform to that axis. Shift+X,Y or Z and exclude the axis you selected. Click a button in the interface and make the locks relative to a rotated objects local axis!   

Y is free, Does anyone use the "Zoom loupe"? And we can come up with a better place for the select tool. Space bar maybe and make pan MMB? 

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But its not just Blender, they are catching up to what the industry (except for AutoCAD, Solidworks, Revit and SketchUp) have been doing for years. Here is Maya, 3DS, Unreal, Houdini, and at the bottom even FreeCAD and TurboCAD. 

But most importantly, there's Cinema 4D that Nemetcheck actually owns. Its had a clean, clear, dark, logical GUI for a decade. Nemetcheck has been yanking stuff out of C4D for years to put into VW. How 'bout boosting the GUI? And don't forget those big beautiful axis locks right at the top center of the screen! 😉

UI.jpg

Cinema4D_Visualize_R20_Software_Screenshot_RGB.jpg

Edited by SeanOSkea
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1 hour ago, SeanOSkea said:

@tshelton Yes, and Blender has my beloved, long wished for axis lock. Hit X,Y, or Z and lock the transform to that axis. Shift+X,Y or Z and exclude the axis you selected. Click a button in the interface and make the locks relative to a rotated objects local axis!   

Y is free, Does anyone use the "Zoom loupe"? And we can come up with a better place for the select tool. Space bar maybe and make pan MMB? 

 

I would love axis lock or a gumball. However I use "zoom loupe" all the time.

 

KM

 

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27 minutes ago, Kevin McAllister said:

 

I would love axis lock or a gumball. However I use "zoom loupe" all the time.

 

KM

 

Really? Ok. But lets assign it to C and Alt/opt C for zoom (another one I never use. Love my scroll wheel) I think we can just reach up and open the menu when we need the cloud services (Alt C). I'd prefer the keys but I'd take a widget. 

That's another one the marketing people get right in the commercials. Watch and when they edit paths or polylines suddenly this magic little axis widget appears out of nowhere!

Hi.JPG

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On 12/6/2019 at 2:50 PM, JuanP said:

Maybe "user selected icon packs?" It will open the door for a lot of customization and different looks so everyone could pick or create one that works best for you

 

NO...VW has too much customization as it is...so if i jump on someones version of VW then i will not be able to find things and need to resort to default anyway...or carry around my personal prefs???

 

guys...when the nations needed to develop the Radio Alphabet they tested words that MOST languages could understand...not all...

 

the current icons have too much going on in a small space...that is the problem...postage stamp shrunk down by 75% and you will have the same mess

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2 minutes ago, digitalcarbon said:

VW has too much customization as it is

That was a selling point for me all those years ago.

 

Very few of my shortcuts are VW standard, so you'd got in a pickle on my machine. The shortcuts I have chosen are a best fit to Adobe Illustrator, (which also matches photoshop in the most part)

This made migrating to VW incredibly quick for me, and now I can seemlessly jump between Adobe products and VW hundreds of times a day and be sure footed from one program to the next.

 

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7 minutes ago, RussU said:

 

This made migrating to VW incredibly quick for me, and now I can seemlessly jump between Adobe products and VW hundreds of times a day and be sure footed from one program to the next.

 

 

I wish I would have thought of that.  I learned hotkeys on VW so I customize my other programs  to match.

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guys i understand customization and there is a place for it...

 

Hot keys are not the issue but to have another major thing to manage, (Icon package) would create another path that would chew up programers time and create a whole other discussion on the tech board...chewing up time.

 

note the 2 images below....they all have a purpose...each formula 1 car has variances but not much...

 

I don't want to tinker I want to race.

 

244656324_formula1.thumb.jpg.fbf8dc995c89a1a901556d3217c49d26.jpgcustom.thumb.jpeg.9e730d94d7dfe057eb6c009cbe3e0eed.jpeg

 

 

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@tshelton Nice. I like the solid color so you could set the background and the icon colors to whatever you want in the Interactive Appearance Settings. You could have black on white for people who want to keep the white workspace. Or teal on gray for the Maya look. Or dark blue on pale blue or whatever.  Some icons would probably have to change--Deform, Shell, Clip, Tape? And probably a lot in the tools sets. Spotlight, (and Landscape I bet) a lot of the Dim/Notes. And I don't know what you do with all the orange and purple furniture symbols. But for the most of the basic and View/Mode buttons I think this is clean and handsome.  

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28 minutes ago, SeanOSkea said:

@tshelton  I think this is clean and handsome.  

I agree. And I actually think there could be creative ways to make the other functions remain clean. Lumion has some nice symbols that depict complex ideas that are only whit on grey (as tshelton effectively created above - kudos to him). 

 

And those marketing videos always grind my gears. SOMEONE understands that creative professionals want this interface took beautiful, unfortunately it's marketing and not the UI/UX team. 

Edited by angelojoseph
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