The Fallacy of Simplicity
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When you set out to make a simple program, it's easy to mistake simplicity of use with simplicity of programming.
Case in point: circles. You use the same tool to make a polygon. I'd prefer true arcs and circles but okay, that's your choice. You simplify the controls so that dimensioning a circle gives the radius, unless it's grouped and you are outside the group, when there is no inference. That's simple enough no?
Okay, now try it with an equilateral triangle. Or try to draw that triangle, or pentagon, or any odd-sided n-gon, inside a square so that it touches the outsides. Well, maybe you can't get it the right size at first, because the dimensioning is from the corners. So try scaling it to fit. It doesn't work, because the size you need is not considered by the Scale tool.
Very quickly, simple controls become a nightmare to use. Sure there are workarounds, but if you put the right controls in there to begin with users would spend much less time remembering the proper controls than they would figuring out a kludgy workaround.
You don't need to fill a separate screen with toolbars, this doesn't have to be complicated. For instance, use the option key or shift option to draw a circle tangent to a line or overlaying it (point or side touching the line). Put options in the Context Menu so we can right- or command-click to find them. Shift and option are already conventions for Scale, Move, Rotate and PushPull, just extend their reach with logical additions. Context Menu is used for many operations, make it more tool specific.
Will it take more time to program? yes. More time to use? less. More time to explain, which I suspect is your rationale? no, not nearly, not if you consider how much time is spent headbanging a solution before coming to the Forums, or the fact that so few SU users even read the forums or watch tutorials.
There is a good bit of discussion on the Forums about how SU is, indeed a sophisticated program capable of intricate, high quality modeling. I have modelled some amazing things, pieces I could not have done on paper or communicated effectively except by building. But by sticking to this illusion of simplicity you make simple models easier and tricky ones much more difficult. This limits SU as much as poly counts, curves and precision. If you penalize pro users so that beginners can hack quicker you define SU as a program for simple models, not a simple program to use. Perhaps it is more useful to keep the quick learning curve but allow conventions to extend the reach for those who need it.
Best,
Jim
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I'm starting to use a tablet and the right-click context menu having the basic functions would be terrific. functions like Move, Push/pull, Rectangle, circle, etc.
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