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can't stand the widgets
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
can't stand the widgets // New Users
Post by TylerZambori // May 24, 2008, 5:22am
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TylerZambori
Total Posts: 100
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they drive me crazy.....and without the embedded videos, the manual
is kind of lame....
oh dear....maybe I will just use TS for the rendering then. |
Post by trueBlue // May 24, 2008, 5:34am
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trueBlue
Total Posts: 1761
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Well you could download the Videos:
From the File menu select Help/UpdatePatches and then go to the the Download Area.
You can also hide the widgets in the Stack/Settings/Desktop - Widgets aspect. |
Post by jamesmc // May 24, 2008, 6:21am
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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There is a widget design course where one can make their own custom widgets.
I like the style used in Carrara, Hexagon, XSi and other programs. The ones in trueSpace are somewhat bulky and often get in the way when working on objects. |
Post by spacekdet // May 24, 2008, 6:21am
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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...And that's all I'm going to say about that! (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showpost.php?p=45131&postcount=109) |
Post by W!ZARD // May 24, 2008, 7:39pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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The widgets can take some adjusting to but once you get a smooth work flow happening I suspect you'll come to love them.
Two recommendations for you that may help:
1) Get a copy of 'Steinies Locking Widget' from The Garage Forum here (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=4046&highlight=Locking+widget) courtesy of Stan. At the touch of a key you can lock the widget to one place on the screen (just above the view widget) which is great for translations affecting entire objects. Another key touch returns the widget to its default settings which are brilliant for point editing - see below.
2) Watch Jacks free Organic Modelling course (or better yet follow along with it). This will give you a great insight into using the widget for point editing. For me the big secret is to use your middle mouse scroll wheel a lot - changing your view angle often using the middle mouse buttons very soon becomes second nature and the apparent drawbacks of the widget rapidly disappear.
Having modelled in various apps for 7 or 8 years now I can confidently say that I find the new widget to be the best object and point edit manipulation tool ever.
Look through the Garage Forum as there is also a Maya style widget in there somewhere IIRC although I suspect that once you get used to the tS widget you won't want to use the Maya style one.
One other point that may assist you get the feel for the Widget is to understand the 3 different coordinate systems accessed (in default settings) by the 'Q','W, and 'E' keys (for object, world or screen coordinates). Often, when the widget is obscuring the thing I'm working on, I momentarily change the coordinate settings to change the angle the widget works on which often allows me to see the specific vertex I'm trying to select.
My final suggestion is to Hotkey the 'Look At Selection' tool which centres the selected element in the viewport and allows you to rotate around the selection with the middle mouse button which can help you to see behind the widget.
Lastly since I got used to modelling in WorkSpace (largely thanks to Jacks course) I'm about as likely to go back to modelling in Model Side as I am to go back to my ex-wife!:D
HTH |
Post by transient // May 24, 2008, 8:40pm
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transient
Total Posts: 977
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I've wondered why caligari have gone for the method they did. The widgets get in the way when you're modelling, and are too small to be accurate (let alone comfortable) for general work. I would say that they aren't terrible, that's about as flattering as I can be.
Truespace 66's cages take some getting used to, but I like them. In conjunction with snaps, they really show their worth.
At least they are different from what is already out there; maybe caligari have been wounded by some outside criticism of the old interface, and have decided to make a dodgy replica of 3dstudio (et al) as a response.
I really have no idea what programs out there make workspace's widgets look so good, thankfully I've never used them. Overall, I think Hexagon is a good example of widgets done well. You can hide/unhide them with the spacebar as well, which is cool.
Hopefully caligari are reading this and not getting too defensive. The interface needs some major attention imo, but isn't necessarily a lost cause. |
Post by TylerZambori // May 25, 2008, 3:57am
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TylerZambori
Total Posts: 100
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Thank you all for the suggestions, I will try them. I can't got buy
the course just on how to re-design the widget because I'm just
having too many financial emergencies right now, but I will try
the other things. re-designing it would be a real nice thing, because
yes they are very clunky. |
Post by W!ZARD // May 27, 2008, 3:21am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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I've wondered why caligari have gone for the method they did. The widgets get in the way when you're modelling, and are too small to be accurate (let alone comfortable) for general work. I would say that they aren't terrible, that's about as flattering as I can be.
Truespace 66's cages take some getting used to, but I like them. In conjunction with snaps, they really show their worth.
When I first started using the new tS7 widgets I was of the same opinion as Transient. Since doing Jacks Organic modeling course though I've realised that, just like tS 6.6 cages, they just take a bit of getting used to. Now I'm accustomed to using them I've found the widgets actually don't get in the way when modeling because you can just select straight through them - really the secret to using the widgets successfully for me was learning to change my viewing angle more often.
Combined with the better way the PE tools fly out the workspace is, for me anyway, the best place to do Point Edit modeling I've ever used even factoring in the current lack of Boolean operations. |
Post by denden // May 27, 2008, 3:41am
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denden
Total Posts: 14
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How do I install the widget utility? I click but get the "no association" error.
Thanks,
Dennis Hallinan
PS Where is "Stack/Settings/Desktop?"
Verification of the obvious: I am a :confused:newbie. |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // May 27, 2008, 4:59am
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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really the secret to using the widgets successfully for me was learning to change my viewing angle more often.
That's one way and works - for those that work only in the one view. For those of us that work in 4 view (especially if you want accuracy), the widgets are a pain in the proverbial rear. They'd be fine if they worked consistently sensibly and the move and rotate bits didn't take up the same space so that it's pot luck which one you get. The Point Edit widgets are forever in the way and yet another workflow slowdown as you have to select something further away just to be able to get to the vertice you wanted to see in the first place, or turn them off. Why can't they just pop up in the corner or let you move them? Saying that, why not just re-instate the cage, that's a far superior method. |
Post by W!ZARD // May 31, 2008, 8:10am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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really the secret to using the widgets successfully for me was learning to change my viewing angle more often.
That's one way and works - for those that work only in the one view. For those of us that work in 4 view (especially if you want accuracy), the widgets are a pain in the proverbial rear. They'd be fine if they worked consistently sensibly and the move and rotate bits didn't take up the same space so that it's pot luck which one you get. The Point Edit widgets are forever in the way and yet another workflow slowdown as you have to select something further away just to be able to get to the vertice you wanted to see in the first place, or turn them off. Why can't they just pop up in the corner or let you move them? Saying that, why not just re-instate the cage, that's a far superior method.
I use one big window - I've not used the 4 view option since I was using tS3.2. Additionally as I use a dual monitor arrangement the 4 view option doesn't work well with with such a wide aspect to the desktop.
In my experience the PE widget does not slowdown the workflow at all - in fact quite the contrary. I didn't like it much at first but now I'm used to it and have adapted my workflow accordingly it is far faster using the new method. Yes the cage is good, but experience has shown me the widget is better.
I'm not sure how 4 small views can give you better accuracy than one large switchable view either as again it's very easy using hotkeys to switch between screen, object and world coordinate systems and the control cylinders on the widget constrain movement to a single axis, the triangle to a single plane and so on. This gives you all the range of movements provided by the old control cage but doesn't involve so much mousing about.
By using one window and hotkeyed commands to allow instant changes to any chosen orthographic view you can get very close to the geometry you are working on and easily select individual vertices through the widget. We all have our pet methodology of course but for me the thing I like about the new widgets is the sense of directly manipulating the mesh.
If you want the PE widget to pop up in the corner grab 'Steinies Locking Widget' from the garage forum. This cool tool allows you to either lock the widget just above the view widget or use it normally at the touch of a hot key. Brilliant!
Two factors influenced my current preference for the workspace model methodology - one was reading that so many other people found workspace modelling to be better than model side - at least as far as pushing point.s edges and faces are concerned - I figured I had to be missing something :D. The other was doing Jacks Organic modeling course which demonstrates an efficient modeling technique. Try following along with Jacks course and see if you still feel the cage is better afterwards.I'm not saying you will - I'm just saying it's worth checking out fully. |
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