Sketcher interface design improvement

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PaFe
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Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by PaFe »

Hello! I hope to be helpful bringing some ideas about Sketcher interface design. Some of this improvements can be obtained just changing settings, I did this, but personally I think the workbench would be better and smoother changing these by default.

The grid should be disabled by default. Since FreeCAD is a parametric cad system, normally you don't need a grid to care about dimensions, there are parametric dimension tools for this task.

The dimension lines should be thiner than the drawing lines to not overload the drawing, for the same reason the font size should be lower than now (I think 10 px are enough). It is very annoying when there are lot and lot of dimension lines if they are too thick and the fonts too big.

I think these modification can be very "cheap" in programming but very very useful for the final user, and can give a very good impression for first time Freecad users.

What do you think about?
Last edited by PaFe on Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:44 am, edited 2 times in total.
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DeepSOIC
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by DeepSOIC »

PaFe wrote: Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:15 pm The grid should be disabled by default.
+1


PaFe wrote: Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:15 pm The dimension lines should be thiner than the drawing lines to not overload the drawing
Probably +1 here too.


PaFe wrote: Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:15 pm font size should be lower than now
+1, I have mine tuned smaller. Also I don't like dark red and dark blue colors, so I have tweaked mine quite a bit:
my sketch colors.PNG
my sketch colors.PNG (66.91 KiB) Viewed 1784 times
(maybe a bit too much ;) )
chrisb
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by chrisb »

Disable grid: +1
Thin lines: +1
Smaller font: resolution dependent, can be configured anyway.

BTW: To avoid clutter you can disable showing the units ("Hide base length units"), and you can hide constraints of your choice completely.
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Jee-Bee
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by Jee-Bee »

Disable grid: +1
Thin lines: +1
Smaller font: don't care



I have another suggestion: When we want two lines colinear we use the tangent function. I would ask that if two lines are selected and use coincident that both become colinear too. Yes it is a duplication of functionallity but it works more natural te me.
freecad-heini-1
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by freecad-heini-1 »

I wish to have the possibility to change the line style from construction lines in the sketcher to centerline or dashed line.
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by chrisb »

Jee-Bee wrote: Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:23 am When we want two lines colinear we use the tangent function. I would ask that if two lines are selected and use coincident that both become colinear too. Yes it is a duplication of functionallity but it works more natural to me.
You mean you want to apply point-to-point-tangency? To which ends of the line?
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Joel_graff
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by Joel_graff »

freecad-heini-1 wrote: Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:08 am I wish to have the possibility to change the line style from construction lines in the sketcher to centerline or dashed line.
+1
freecad-heini-1 wrote: Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:08 am I wish to have the possibility to change the line style from construction lines in the sketcher to centerline or dashed line.
+1

Also was never crazy about the dark blue for construction lines myself. A dashed grey might be more appropriate, considering the role of a construction line...
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DeepSOIC
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by DeepSOIC »

Jee-Bee wrote: Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:23 am When we want two lines colinear we use the tangent function. I would ask that if two lines are selected and use coincident that both become colinear too. Yes it is a duplication of functionallity but it works more natural te me.
+1, but there is more. I actually found this in OnShape: applying coincident between two instances of same geometry makes one extension of another. For example, if you apply "Coincident" between two arcs, that makes the arcs be on the same circle. It can be tricky to constrain, especially for more complex geometric stuff like ellipses. Yet it's needed reasonably often.
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HarryGeier
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by HarryGeier »

#metoo

all ideas sound good...
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Re: Sketcher interface design improvement

Post by chrisb »

DeepSOIC wrote: Tue Sep 18, 2018 11:49 am I actually found this in OnShape: applying coincident between two instances of same geometry makes one extension of another. For example, if you apply "Coincident" between two arcs, that makes the arcs be on the same circle. It can be tricky to constrain, especially for more complex geometric stuff like ellipses.
I might have missed something, but that's what the tangent constraint does. Why use the coincident? It seems to be of the same quality as creating coincidence when applying the parallel constraint to two points or creating a length constraint when applying a radius to a line. Currently it is a clear concept which is not too difficult to explain. I would like to leave it as it is.
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