FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

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pathfinder
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by pathfinder »

What's very noticeable when looking at current CAD backgrounds is that they have little to no color(white, grey or white-grey gradients). This also reduces the chance of unwanted color overlaps.
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adrianinsaval
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by adrianinsaval »

NormandC wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 2:28 am background colours do change over the years, at least in the commercial CAD world - that is, for other software than CATIA!
even catia changes!
proxy-image.png
proxy-image.png (121.21 KiB) Viewed 2943 times
last time I used it their new UI looked better but was pretty buggy, good thing they had an option to use the older look. Nowadays I thing they ditched the entire thing and have a web service instead or something like that.
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MisterMaker
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by MisterMaker »

1.Image
2.Image
3.Image
4.Image
5.Image
6.Image
if you want to go creative yourself:
freecad background.png
freecad background.png (552.81 KiB) Viewed 2678 times
Also like to thank Dassault for making CATIA the ugly duck of the CAD world.
Personally I like nr 2 but I might be biased since that one is also used in another CAD program but other colors.
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adrianinsaval
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by adrianinsaval »

did you code these or are they just edited? is #2 center to outside? that could be a good idea
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uwestoehr
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by uwestoehr »

MisterMaker wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 6:08 am As I see it's not too hard to change the gradient. My idea is that the simple top to down gradient looks outdated. I want to try different gradients with maybe more than 2 colors and different angles.
I did some research about this in June and that time found several resources that stated that everything the has a left-right preference is not suitable for general purpose. The argument was that there are left and right handers and for the same brain reason also left an right eyed people.

You can check your strong eye this way:
- form with your two hands a circle (so the each finger tips connect each other)
- hold the hands in front of you and look through this hole while having both eyes open (arms are straight)
- now slowly move your hand towards your face until it touches it. (keep the formed circle all the time)
- The eye you ended up with is your string eye

For me it is the left eye despite I am a right hander.

The second main argument was that our eyes and brain is used to look at the horizon. Therefore in the long run looking at a horizon-like gradient does not tire the eyes.

When I find time I can try to find the resources/papers about this again since I unfortunately did not bookmark them.

Following this argumentation your proposals 1, 3, 4 and 6 would not be optimal.
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obelisk79
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by obelisk79 »

One idea that may help with even contrast in a color gradient is to select a primary color which is relatively light, or relatively dark and the second color in the gradient merely be a desaturated version of the same color. This makes selecting colors which get overlaid on the gradient easier to select as the contrast should be easy to manage.

One of the biggest problems of uwe's proposed gradient change was the fact that the contrast between the two colors chosen was extremely broad. So much so, that colors would often 'disappear' into the gradient at different spots.

Something relatively neutral would probably make a better starting point as well.
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pathfinder
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by pathfinder »

uwestoehr wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 2:48 pm I did some research about this in June and that time found several resources that stated that everything the has a left-right preference is not suitable for general purpose. The argument was that there are left and right handers and for the same brain reason also left an right eyed people.
This would've been my natural conclusion as well.

On top of that, what the gradient is supposed to do is imitate some type of landscape to give the illusion of depth, which is also why you mostly see blue color backgrounds, with the darker color being the upper color, because that's how a blue day sky looks. Having it non-horizontal still kinda gives the illusion of depth, but makes it looks somewhat off without it being clear why.

I personally am not a super big fan of gradients (for some reason, my computer has a hard time displaying them well anyway, I always have ugly steps, but that's not the main reason), but my thoughts on a gradient go like this:

It should be a horizontal gradient.

If there's color involved, it should be some variation of blue.

The gradient should not have too much contrast.

Colors should be desaturated.

That's my opinion on the matter. Frankly, I'd go from a neutral mid tone grey to a slightly darker grey, but that kinda clashes with a light UI, so I'd go with a dark UI as well.
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MisterMaker
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by MisterMaker »

obelisk79 wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 6:24 pm One of the biggest problems of uwe's proposed gradient change was the fact that the contrast between the two colors chosen was extremely broad. So much so, that colors would often 'disappear' into the gradient at different spots.

Something relatively neutral would probably make a better starting point as well.
Agree with that.
Will be boring but except CATIA all other CAD programs are pretty boring in backgrounds.
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obelisk79
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by obelisk79 »

MisterMaker wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:26 pm Agree with that.
Will be boring but except CATIA all other CAD programs are pretty boring in backgrounds.
Agreed, however a boring background makes sense, since the visual focus, in my opinion, belongs on the work itself.
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adrianinsaval
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Re: FreeCAD looks for a new default background color

Post by adrianinsaval »

pathfinder wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:22 pm (for some reason, my computer has a hard time displaying them well anyway, I always have ugly steps, but that's not the main reason)
This is a limitation of the monitor, it doesn't have as many shades of darker colors to properly display the gradient so several tones are lumped as one so you see big bands instead of very small imperceptible ones. In this sense lighter gradients are better because most monitors have a wider range of light tones but personally I don't like them too much.
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