My Wishlist…
16 messages in this thread
Wishes part 2…
(continued)
– a modify material command that you can select, then click on an object or
element and it A: sends you to the material editor and automatically loads the
object's material, or B: brings up a mat selection if theres more than one
material in the object, then sends you to the mat edit.
– would prefer it if the material assign's conformation box had a choose button
that would let you change the material, then assign it right there, instead of
having to select choose and then assign. (the only time you need to choose a
material is if your going to assign it, right?)
– A "view" button in the select material box that could render a sample sphere
right there on your main display would be very cool, I think.
– the ability to display a bitmap proxy on a mapping icon, and toggle it on and
off with a key. This would be an immense help in lining up tex maps.
– a flip option (vert and horiz) for bitmaps in video post. Actually, in
general, I'd like to see more control over things like RGB values and
brightness at the individual entry level in VP.
– it would be great to be able to move objects in a camera view.
– have a user selectable background color for the mat edit sample boxes. This
would give a much better feel for the material in the context of the scene,
especialy with transparent materials.
– in the track info, an on-off or enable-disable button that would turn a
selected key(s) on or off, and therefore have the KF ignore those keys until
turned back on. This would make it easier to tweak an animation and view it
from different angles, before commiting to deleting keys.
– be able to switch to box mode while the key or track info dialogues are open.
(I always forget to make sure I'm in box mode before making changes, until I
hit play and then have to cancel out, switch to box, then make the changes
again, just to see the anim full speed before commiting to changes.
– an option to render the subtree when doing a "render object".
– in the mat edit, it would be nice if the rendered samples weren't cleared
before the next render. It would be easier to see small changes if the
sphere overwrote the previous one like a normal framebuffer render.
– be able to change a spotlight view into a like user view, like you can do
with a camera view.
– having the present 3ds or prj filename displayed on top of the screen would
be helpful, instead of having to select "save" or something to see what file
is open.
– on bend operations, it would be great to be able to bend something in one
direction, and then be able to bend it back without having it distort. Maybe
there's some way to remember the last bend so the next bend doesn't start from
scratch with the new bounding box for the object or verts or whatever.
– this one may be tough, but it would be a wonderful thing (at least for me).
Have video post be able to read the differences in bitmap backgrounds from
frame to frame, and put out fielded final frames of that background.
– in the KF, have alt+> (next keyframe) skip keyframes of hidden objects.
Well, that's it for now. I'll probably have a few more by apr. 1st.
Thanx,
David
Wow! Well thought and very useful wishes. Based on everyone's wishes we
should have one heck of an R4. (Gary's crew has a lot of work ahead!)
My, my. A "whale" of a wishlist! <groan – sorry>
Some good ideas!
Dave
David,
<< more wishes pg 2 >>
got it.
jonas[adesk]
Jonas,
A couple more for your list <g>…
1) being able to specify text to be a specific font-size. At the moment the
definition is purely the y-height of the text, and so varies dependon on
whether what you're typing does/does not have ascenders or descenders.
2) rather than having Pivot Points, being able to specify a Pivot *Line*. I
know of very little in the world that pivots around a point – most things pivot
around a hinge LINE, or a conbination of lines. And you can guarantee that
these lines aren't parallel with the current x/y/z axes!
Ta muchly,
RAC (at 16:17 BST 27-Mar-94)
Richard,
<< wishes … >>
got 'em..
jonas[adesk]
Agreed about your #1 (font sizing)!
Re: your #2: the Pivot Point is actually the intersection of three Pivot
Lines. And in reality, all the rotations you do to an object in a given
rotation key work out to a single rotation around a Pivot Line formed by
connecting the Pivot Point and a point at coordinates relative to it and
specified by the X, Y, and Z fields in the Key Info dialog. The actual
rotation occurs "Angle" degrees about that Pivot Line.
What's needed is a way to make this a lot more accessible in the KF's
user-interface.
Marion,
<more accessible> is certainly the key here! When I consider most man-mad
structures, most of them use hinge-lines inherent in the structure, so what I'm
after is something sort of built-into the structure I create in 3DS, to mimic
these! I'm getting p******d off trying to rotate a flap or a door around 3 axes
when really all I want is to swing it in a plane that ain't X/Y/Z! Now in
see-what-happens-in-R4 mode <g>.
RAC (at 18:38 BST 04-Apr-94)
Oh! Richard, are you familiar with the difference between local and global
coordinates? You can rotate a door or hinge or flap or whatever in the 3D
Editor at the Element, Face, or Vertex level (but not at the OBJECT level), and
the local coords will remain in their proper position for X/Y/Z rotations in
the KF!
Let's say you have a door you've built in the Editor by Creating a Box. You
want to rotate it on its edge where hinges would go. You also want the door
itself to be at an angle relative to the rest of the scene (say, the door is in
a wall that is at a 30-degree angle to the room). If you use
Modify/Object/Rotate to rotate the door 30 degrees in the Editor, the door will
be offset 30 degrees to the KF's Object/Rotate command. But if you use
Modify/Element/Rotate instead, then the local coordinates are rotated with the
door, and the KF's Object/Rotate commands will rotate the door around its OWN
ORIGINAL axes!
Marion,
I'm in *I'm not sure what you mean but I'll try it* mode! It takes a bit of
translating of what I think 3DS thinks is an object, and now calling it an
element!
I think the fact that we both have these problems, and that the ways around
them are so obscure, really says it's an are that needs addressing in R4. If
Gary and the rest start looking at Inverse Kinematics at all, they're going to
HAVE to look at pivot/hinge-LINES anyway, so maybe we'll be lucky <g>!!
Ta for the pointer tho'
RAC (at 20:15 BST 06-Apr-94)
>>rotations around an arbitrary axis…
Richard, if I understand you correctly, there is an easy way to rotate
something around and arbitrary axis.
Say you have a rudder on the tail of an airplane that is angled somewhat with
respect to everything. You don't mention if you are wanting to rotate in the
Editor or the Keyframer, so I'll assume you're talking about animating in the
KF.
*IF* you've built your rudder relative to an ortho view (with the hinge
oriented to a std axis, say vertical) and have nudged it around into position
on the airplane and now you want to swing it on its hinge to animate, simply
choose Hieararchy/Object Pivot, click on the object, choose the view that looks
*down* the hinge, and click to reset the pivot point in the middle of the
hinge. Then Rotate away.
If your object was NOT created with the hinge parallel to X/Y/Z axis, you can
Rotate Absolute in a user view in the keyframer by setting the user view so it
is looking down the hinge. Since the KF is missing a Display/UserView/Align,
you can rotate by eye till it looks right. However, what I usually do in this
case is (having made sure I've built at least one face in the object
perpendicular to the axis of the hinge) align a user view in the Editor to that
face, click on the user view icon and remember the H&V values at the top of the
screen, then go to the KF and rotate the user view until the H&V match those of
the Editor. Now set the pivot point in the user view and Rotate Absolute.
This sounds more confusing that it actually is!
J K J
John,
This is exactly the stuff that I'm trying to do! If you consider an aileron,
it's swept up by the dihedral and swept back by the wing-sweep, so its
hinge-line has got NO relation to any x/y/z axis – and then there's the one on
the other side as well! Add in aircraft pitch/roll/yaw, and it gets real
complicated! Especially when it could be as simple as
Object
Rotate
AboutCentrePoint
AboutHingeLine
AboutPivotPoint
and then supply the number of degrees – make the computer do the maths,
that's what it's there for!
Ta for the pointer, I'll try your method and Marion's, while waiting for R4!
RAC (at 20:22 BST 06-Apr-94)
>> If you consider an aileron, it's swept up by the dihedral and swept
>> back by the wing-sweep
I have solved that exact problem but I do it through a KXP. I collect data from
a flight recorder and duplicate the several movements (aircraft position,
control surfaces, etc.) in the keyframer.
>>rotation addendum…
Richard, I forgot to mention one thing. If you need to rotate an object that
wasn't created with its hinge aligned with an X/Y/Z axis or one whose Xform has
been modified, you can easily realign the Xform then use the easier first
method I mentioned. Just align a user view looking down the hinge, create a
box IN the user viewport, attach the object to the box and then detach the box
and delete it. This resets the Xform of the orig. object to that of the box
(aligned to the user view). Then you can place the pivot point in the KF and
Rotate (not absolute) in any view.
Holler if you can't get this to work or if there is more to your story!
J K J
John,
Looks like I've got a busy few days ahead!
Ta,
RAC (at 20:23 BST 06-Apr-94)
Those were GREAT suggestions. R4 will be much better if your ideas are
incorporated. I was gonna single out a few, but I like them all!
Mark