[Plugin] Selection Toys

xrok1 · 4 Nov 2009, 05:07

However, if you do enable it, be aware you might suffer toolbar madness - there is nothing I can do about that. I warned yee!

can't you (not you personally ,but generally) load a toolbar floating to avoid this?

anyway the point of my post is to say thanks again and also i have a small request. could you make your toolbar so it can also be placed vertically above the... well look at the picture and save me typing a thousand words:

thomthom · 4 Nov 2009, 07:25

@xrok1 said:

can't you (not you personally ,but generally) load a toolbar floating to avoid this?

Afraid not, we have very little control over the toolbars. We can create them, add items, and hide/show them. Nothing we can do to move it around.
What's more annoying is that just creating it, but not showing it is enough to make stuff shuffle around.

@xrok1 said:

anyway the point of my post is to say thanks again and also i have a small request. could you make your toolbar so it can also be placed vertically above the... well look at the picture and save me typing a thousand words:

If you resize the toolbar into a vertical size before you dock it then it should take on the same shape.

a4chitect · 4 Nov 2009, 11:06

thomas: respect! the UI is very effective yet simple - a beauty

and of course - I like the plugin itself too

thanks for this precious piece

p.s. I wonder if you would allow me to re-use some of your webdialog design elements (css, buttons, etc.) in my own plugins?

thomthom · 4 Nov 2009, 11:15

@a4chitect said:

p.s. I wonder if you would allow me to re-use some of your webdialog design elements (css, buttons, etc.) in my own plugins?

Yes.
I've tried to make it so the UI controls's styles are based on class names. So for buttons you assign a class="button" to the HTML element. Something I was planning on mentioning in the Plugin Manager SDK. I'll be using PM to build up a library of different HTML UI controls.
In the CSS folder of PM you'll also find a window.css file, which is using windows system colours. Though, it's old as I moved away from trying to emulate windows.

a4chitect · 4 Nov 2009, 11:42

thanks! if more ruby authors adopt this we could get a nice consistent UI across many plugins - looking forward to the future (and of course custom .css creating = "skins" for all the plugins at once)

thomthom · 4 Nov 2009, 11:49

@a4chitect said:

thanks! if more ruby authors adopt this we could get a nice consistent UI across many plugins - looking forward to the future (and of course custom .css creating = "skins" for all the plugins at once)

Yes, I've been thinking about allowing the user to select UI themes, and toolbar themes. Though it did not make it into this release.

notareal · 4 Nov 2009, 11:56

A on screen UI (Fredo style), sounds nice.

chango70 · 4 Nov 2009, 12:12

V2.0 is spanking! Tom this is an amazingly useful tool probably my favourite in terms of how it is implemented. A lot of thought have gone into the user interface. Thanks! I can't believe it is free.

xrok1 · 5 Nov 2009, 01:57

@unknownuser said:

If you resize the toolbar into a vertical size before you dock it then it should take on the same shape.

worked like a charm, thanks again.

wolfy · 5 Nov 2009, 04:57

Wow TT. Very cool and very kind of you. Big Thanks for all your hard work!

xrok1 · 6 Nov 2009, 04:35

have you considered adding selection sets to your tool!

thomthom · 6 Nov 2009, 08:52

@xrok1 said:

have you considered adding selection sets to your tool!

Maybe. Could you describe how you'd be using it? This probably can be implemented in various way - be nice to hear what people prefer.

thomthom · 6 Nov 2009, 21:40

JClements gave me an idea today:

This will actually be a feature of Plugin Manager as it's automatically generated by the UI Manager.

xrok1 · 7 Nov 2009, 00:24

i think a good example of the need for selection sets would be perimeter of a room, opening in a sphere, all end walls in a dormer... anything that is difficult to select because of tight spaces or geometry behind it... there's nothing worse than spending minutes making a selection then loosing it and needing to start over, or doing an operation on a complicated selection then needing to tweak it later.

Chris Fullmer · 7 Nov 2009, 01:06

I could see it going a few ways, but one would be to have it set up like the undo stack. But it doesn't remember every different selection. Only ones you add to it. So you would have a shortcut key to add the current selection into the selection stack. And a shortcut key to work backwards through the selection stack.

Example.

Make an important selection
Hit F5 to add the current selection to the stack.
repeat as needed.
Hit F6 to work backwards through the selection stack
Hit F7 to move forwards through the selection stack.

That could be quite useful.

I also am thinking of other apps that make named lists, and you have to save and recall the selection through the list of named sets. But that seems difficult in SU to me I think. But maybe it would work. I supposed the list could be in a html dialog box and warn you if your selection set has changed wince it was created. And give the option to update the selection set, etc.

Just some thoughts.

Plus, I think TIG or Rick maybe has a selection memmory plugin already? I wonder how their's works. Maybe I should check it out.

Chris

jeff hammond · 7 Nov 2009, 01:13

i use rickw's selectionmemory and it's sweet.. i use the free version but he also has a premium version which allows for different sets.

with the version i use, i can make selections and save them, add to them, and recall or clear..
perfect for me but if you'd like the ability to have multiple sets, get the premium.

i also vaguely remember trying one a few years ago which had a toolbar/icons.. i'm pretty sure jim wrote it?

[edit] yeah, jim foltz has one available too (free).. this one has the option to deselect from the memory set as well..
http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2008/01/plugin-selection-memory.html

jeff hammond · 7 Nov 2009, 01:18

and Thomas,
v2 is looking sweet.. i haven't used the plugin in the past as i was a little overwhelmed by all the choices at first (and i was in the process of learning some other things at the time).. i'm giving it a legit shot now and it's great.
thank you!

thomthom · 7 Nov 2009, 01:20

@chris fullmer said:

I also am thinking of other apps that make named lists, and you have to save and recall the selection through the list of named sets. But that seems difficult in SU to me I think. But maybe it would work. I supposed the list could be in a html dialog box and warn you if your selection set has changed wince it was created. And give the option to update the selection set, etc.

I was thinking of adding selection tacks to the On Screen tool. As you modify/filter the selection you take snapshots. Autonamed, but you can set your own custom.

thomthom · 7 Nov 2009, 01:23

@unknownuser said:

and Thomas,
v2 is looking sweet.. i haven't used the plugin in the past as i was a little overwhelmed by all the choices at first (and i was in the process of learning some other things at the time).. i'm giving it a legit shot now and it's great.
thank you!

Yea, it's grown a bit since its first appearance nearly a year ago. I find it difficult myself to make an organized overview in the main post.

Hopefully the little cheat sheet can help.

btw, the two functions I use the most is Select Only->Edges and Select Only->Faces. I've assigned them to Ctrl+1 and Ctrl+2 and it's probably the functions I use the most when I use SU.

thomthom · 7 Nov 2009, 17:11

It's SU that automatically toggle the button down. Mechanism of assigning a Tool to a toolbar button.

I don't really feel I want to add another toolbar button just to deactivate it. Personally I use hotkeys a lot and I always tap the Space bar to activate Select. One hand on the keyboard and one hand on the mouse. Rarely moving up to click toolbar buttons or menus. But I've observed at work that many work by point and click for nearly all their operations.

Maybe an on screen button. Or make it so that if you click empty space it deactivates the tool.