Path icons aligned to Tango

Here's the place for discussion related to CAM/CNC and the development of the Path module.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Respect the FreeCAD code of conduct!
User avatar
agryson
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:30 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by agryson »

Here are the Path workbench icons redone to closer match the Tango guidelines. Feel free to pull/check it out on my dev branch
Standard deal, old on left, new on right, at 16, 24, 32 and 64 px respectively on light, grey and dark backgrounds for comparison.
spritesheetA.png
spritesheetA.png (562.22 KiB) Viewed 1996 times
spritesheetB.png
spritesheetB.png (524.15 KiB) Viewed 1996 times
Feedback welcome, after a day or so (unless there's major issue sto review) I'll move on to metadata and hopefully submit a pull request before the holidays!
mlampert
Veteran
Posts: 1772
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2016 9:28 pm

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by mlampert »

Awesome, they look great.

Question: there are a few ops that never got an icon and currently don't have one. Are you interested in creating those as well?
User avatar
sliptonic
Veteran
Posts: 3457
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:46 pm
Location: Columbia, Missouri
Contact:

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by sliptonic »

agryson wrote:Here are the Path workbench icons redone to closer match the Tango guidelines. Feel free to pull/check it out on my dev branch
Standard deal, old on left, new on right, at 16, 24, 32 and 64 px respectively on light, grey and dark backgrounds for comparison.
spritesheetA.png
spritesheetB.png

Feedback welcome, after a day or so (unless there's major issue sto review) I'll move on to metadata and hopefully submit a pull request before the holidays!
Very nice, indeed.

Thoughts on specific icons:
The path-SimpleCopy has lost something of it's 'copy' nature and looks a bit like a string of green sausage. :mrgreen: The Path-Copy is better. The only difference between the two is that the simple copy results in a non-parametric object. I think that's why the original was drawn with a dashed line.

Path-Post looks fine and I'm o.k. leaving it as is but I've never really been happy with it. Post-processing is another export function, this time of gcode for a CNC machine. It's really the point of the whole workbench and this icon looks an awful lot like Path-comment. I don't have any constructive feedback but maybe someone has an idea for a more distinctive and attractive icon.

Path-Job doesn't seem to hold up well at 16px. It's a recycled icon anyway and should really be changed before 0.17. It used to be called path-project in the 0.16 version but 'projects' have gone away in favor of jobs. A job is still a type of container so a folder or group idea would be better.

Before the alignment to tango, it was less noticeable that the you can 'see through' the cutting tools. It's kind of helpful for Path-Drilling and Path-Hop, but for the others it's maybe confusing. Perhaps all the drill bits/ endmills should be opaque.
User avatar
agryson
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:30 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by agryson »

mlampert wrote:Question: there are a few ops that never got an icon and currently don't have one. Are you interested in creating those as well?
Definitely, though the creation would be best as part of "Project Upgrade". What would really help me in creating the missing icons would be:
  • A roughly prioritized list of the actions/tools with missing icons - including a short description of how the tool works/what it does [required]
  • For each of these, a list of any related actions/tools (with or without icons) so that iconography can be kept coherent between them [optional but super helpful]
  • For each of these any existing artwork be it ideas, sketches, screencaps of other applications with similar tools etc. [optional]
Quick recap of my project(s) from other threads: I'm currently doing a quick flyby of all workbenches in "Project Align" that aims to align all FreeCAD icons to the Tango/FreeCAD guidelines in terms of pixel-grid alignment, color palette, outline and highlighting (value and hue contrast).

Feel free to submit these as issues on my fork so that I can keep track of them and not lose them in forum posts (but if you don't I'll add them anyway - so no stress)

Any changes to an icon that would make it too geometrically or analogously different to the original would be kept for "Project Upgrade" so that I can:
a) keep up my pace with "Project Align" and
b) see what other ideas are used in FreeCAD so that any new icons can be done with an eye on other workbenches for consistency
sliptonic wrote:The path-SimpleCopy has lost something of it's 'copy' nature and looks a bit like a string of green sausage. :mrgreen: The Path-Copy is better. The only difference between the two is that the simple copy results in a non-parametric object. I think that's why the original was drawn with a dashed line.
Hah! OK, I'll try to space out the dashes a bit to reduce the "sausage effect" :P
sliptonic wrote:Path-Post looks fine and I'm o.k. leaving it as is but I've never really been happy with it. Post-processing is another export function, this time of gcode for a CNC machine. It's really the point of the whole workbench
I presume path-post and post-processing are the same thing? I've created a ticket for this in "Project Upgrade". If I understand its function properly, this is a kind of export function and should maybe use something similar to the export icons in the Mesh and Techdraw workbenches?
sliptonic wrote:Path-Job doesn't seem to hold up well at 16px. It's a recycled icon anyway and should really be changed before 0.17.
OK, I'll fix it up more at lower resolutions without changing the core icon more than necessary and have also created a ticket to come back to it for more extensive work in "Project Upgrade".
sliptonic wrote:Before the alignment to tango, it was less noticeable that the you can 'see through' the cutting tools. It's kind of helpful for Path-Drilling and Path-Hop, but for the others it's maybe confusing. Perhaps all the drill bits/ endmills should be opaque.
Ah, I thought that was a stylistic choice - it actually helped 'readability' since it increased the amount of contrasting outline. But these can of course be updated, this could be done now (since it wouldn't change the geometry too much) or later depending on how much of an issue you think it is. I'll do up a quick example and we can decide if the "quick-fix" is enough or if you prefer to do a more in-depth review at a later time.
User avatar
agryson
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:30 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by agryson »

sliptonic wrote:Path-Job doesn't seem to hold up well at 16px.
Here's a version with fewer lines so that it renders clearer at 16px. I also reduced the contrast since it's on a controlled background (white).

Old on left, new proposition on right.
spritesheet.png
spritesheet.png (22.68 KiB) Viewed 1929 times
User avatar
agryson
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:30 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by agryson »

sliptonic wrote:The path-SimpleCopy has lost something of it's 'copy' nature and looks a bit like a string of green sausage. :mrgreen: The Path-Copy is better. The only difference between the two is that the simple copy results in a non-parametric object. I think that's why the original was drawn with a dashed line.
Here's a version with a strongly toned down color to differentiate the lines more so the copy stands out and I've kept the outline solid to reduce the "sausage effect".
spritesheet.png
spritesheet.png (30.04 KiB) Viewed 1926 times
Thoughts?
User avatar
agryson
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:30 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by agryson »

sliptonic wrote:Before the alignment to tango, it was less noticeable that the you can 'see through' the cutting tools. It's kind of helpful for Path-Drilling and Path-Hop, but for the others it's maybe confusing. Perhaps all the drill bits/ endmills should be opaque.
Here are two propositions for "opaque" tools - do either of these suit what you have in mind or inspire any new ideas?
Simple.png
Simple.png (3.65 KiB) Viewed 1925 times
Full.png
Full.png (1.91 KiB) Viewed 1925 times
My personal preference at the moment is for full.png (still needs work to balance the line thicknesses - this is just a quick sketch to communicate the idea)
chrisb
Veteran
Posts: 53920
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:14 am

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by chrisb »

Great work, thankyou.
As for the post-processing: as an export function it should not have an arrow inwards from the left (that looks like import to me) but rather an arrow going out to the right. I could imagine something like a 'G->' or 'GC->' icon, since 'GCode' is a well established term. What use other systems?
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
User avatar
agryson
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:30 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by agryson »

chrisb wrote:as an export function it should not have an arrow inwards from the left (that looks like import to me) but rather an arrow going out to the right. I could imagine something like a 'G->' or 'GC->' icon, since 'GCode' is a well established term. What use other systems?
I agree, I would suggest that whatever icon we eventually find for the Path-Job should then have the export arrow added to it as we see in the Techdraw workbench:
techdrawexport.png
techdrawexport.png (2.69 KiB) Viewed 1917 times
chrisb
Veteran
Posts: 53920
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:14 am

Re: Path icons aligned to Tango

Post by chrisb »

agryson wrote:I agree, I would suggest that whatever icon we eventually find for the Path-Job should then have the export arrow added to it as we see in the Techdraw workbench:
Why not simply reuse this icon? It is a general CAD export icon and here in Path WB it simply exports to GCode. I like the arrow going down even better than going to the right.
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
Post Reply