Blender 2.8 release

A forum for research and development of the user interface of FreeCAD
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Respect the FreeCAD code of conduct!
Post Reply
User avatar
Joel_graff
Veteran
Posts: 1949
Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2017 4:23 pm
Contact:

Blender 2.8 release

Post by Joel_graff »

So BlenderGuru posted a video about the latest Blender 2.8 release. Most of it isn't directly related to FC, but I put it here because they stepped up their UI/UX by providing more on-screen control and making hot-keys less of a requirement. It's really kinda brief, but at one point they show how they managed it with viewport-level toolbars, which I thought looked nice...
phpBB [video]
FreeCAD Trails workbench for transportation engineering: https://www.github.com/joelgraff/freecad.trails

pivy_trackers 2D coin3D library: https://www.github.com/joelgraff/pivy_trackers
User avatar
pablogil
Posts: 881
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:19 pm
Location: Badajoz (Spain)
Contact:

Re: Blender 2.,8 release

Post by pablogil »

Yes,

I had seen it as I'm a semipro Blender user. The new 2.8 version is so great and it adds lot of UI/UX improvements where FreeCAD can learn a lot from.

I'm not only talking about toolbars, buttons, etc. but the whole user experience when using FreeCAD. This involves of course toolbars, buttons, but where are them displayed, when are displayed, etc. and also gizmos (visual helpers for doing tasks and don't have to work this much with number fields), button pies (like @triplus still in development ones), and so...

Anyway, FreeCAD would need a developer that focuses on all this tasks because there is so much to change/evolve. UI/UX is very important to attract new users and to make all of us to have a better FC experience but, as said, it needs planning and dedicated developers into all of it.
Dark and Light stylesheets v2.0 to theme your FreeCAD UI, more information here
User avatar
OficineRobotica
Posts: 433
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:17 am
Contact:

Re: Blender 2.,8 release

Post by OficineRobotica »

Blender is a inspiration for allot of software UI's as it seems. I guess it's because of it's ability to clearly display allot of data in a cramped space using contrast and color. This is why i love the dark stylesheet with the colorful icons in freecad...they just pop out.

A while ago i posted this https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 81#p344081 and the 2 vids in that post are a gold mine for interface design. Kudo's for who posted them.

This is another example of blender being the inspiration for a interface A Widescreen Blender-Style Interface


Gui046.jpg
Gui046.jpg (278.93 KiB) Viewed 1247 times


And the creators explanation video makes so much sense from a usability point of view LinuxCNC User Interface Proposal

I know we don't have the budget of other softwares in term's of developers and there is so much going on with FC core going on atm but I do wish that someone would polish the interface.

Big thank you to all the dev's tough. They are doing an incredible job
Check out my Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@OficineRobotica
User avatar
OficineRobotica
Posts: 433
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:17 am
Contact:

Re: Blender 2.,8 release

Post by OficineRobotica »

phpBB [video]
Check out my Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@OficineRobotica
User avatar
microelly2
Veteran
Posts: 4688
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:06 pm
Contact:

Re: Blender 2.,8 release

Post by microelly2 »

blenderfunding.png
blenderfunding.png (91.27 KiB) Viewed 1221 times
To see the power of blenders development see the funding data at the end fo the video.
FreeCAD grows with about 10 000 lines per month, this is a job of about 5 - 10 fulltime developers.
Who pays for them.
How to get a company of 10 developers paid?
User avatar
OficineRobotica
Posts: 433
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:17 am
Contact:

Re: Blender 2.,8 release

Post by OficineRobotica »

microelly2 wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:17 am
How to get a company of 10 developers paid?
I completely agree with you. This is why i almost always end my posts here on the forum with a thank you to the devs. It's the least I can do, be respectfull of the insane amount of free work that they put in. The fact is that I'm just a hobbyist and I can help only with small donations or being a good member of the community like most of us around here .

What still baffles me is that after all the fuss about vendor lock in, seized files and subscription based software licensing from cad companies, there were no enterprises to jump in and fund the Freecad development like the movie/game industry did with Blender.

Getting back to UI/UX design I personally don't think there is something wrong with freecad. I think that FC has one of the most configurable interfaces around and we have some great tools to make it better, think pie menu or glass addon to name a few. I have tried to modify the glass addon to style it but failed miserably as I'm not an expert nor in QT or python.

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 20#p292769
OficineRobotica wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:57 pm Hello @triplus .

I'vd used your module and i must say that it becomes difficult to go back to the old interface. I really wish that Glass evolves to it's full potential. To my humble opinion this finally gives freecad a beautiful modern appearance and most of all, although the overlay docks might occupy the same physical space as classic docks, the perceived user experience is that of a much bigger work space.

That said Glass has becomed a learning experience for me after trying to fidle with the addon. Please help me with some aspects of modifying it.



Perhaps some of the gurus might help to set up a stylesheet for the glass addon. I know it's not much but at least I can try to work on the cosmetic side given that I don't have the knowledge to work on the serious stuff like the core.
pablogil wrote: Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:44 am :D
Screenshot.png
Screenshot.png (348.13 KiB) Viewed 1182 times
Thumbs up :D
Perhaps we don't have the resources of the big guns but we can always steal their craft.
Check out my Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@OficineRobotica
User avatar
pablogil
Posts: 881
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:19 pm
Location: Badajoz (Spain)
Contact:

Re: Blender 2.,8 release

Post by pablogil »

microelly2 wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:17 am blenderfunding.png
To see the power of blenders development see the funding data at the end fo the video.
FreeCAD grows with about 10 000 lines per month, this is a job of about 5 - 10 fulltime developers.
Who pays for them.
How to get a company of 10 developers paid?
Nice point, and totally agree with you. There is a huge difference on funding but, because of that, Blender is a great example to follow in terms of management, organization, monetization of the brand and options for users to became supporters, etc.

Now that we are talking about it: what is FreeCAD supporters income? How it is used? Is there any metrics out there?

FreeCAD is great, it’s user interface is pretty good but so oriented for advanced users. We were talking about how to improve the workflow and how to engauge more people in order to grow as community and follow Blender path.

Cheers
Dark and Light stylesheets v2.0 to theme your FreeCAD UI, more information here
Post Reply