Node Parameter "Drop Down Menus" versus "Tabs" - Surface Layer and other nodes

[penboack]

Although this is a very minor thing, I am finding the Surface Layer shader drop down menu used to select one of the following options, "Coverage, Breakup", "Altitude Constraints", "Slope Constraints", "Effects", is a step backwards for the GUI in V2.4 compared to simply having these on tabs as is the case in the V2.3 Free Edition. It means two mouse clicks to access the parameters instead of one and it is less clear what options are available. In addition the Distribution shader still uses Tabs for an almost identical set of options, so the new approach is inconsistent.

The same comment applies to Cloud and Atmosphere layers, the options were easier to access and more obvious when they were Tabs.

I would like to request that in the next release the drop down menus are changed to Tabs with abbreviations where necessary (colour - col, Functions - Fn...) Terragen has a very clean easy to use interface. This change would make it even more so.


One other minor GUI change that would be useful would be to be able to toggle a node's "enable checkbox" from its RMB Click context menu in the Network editor.

[cyphyr]

Not sure what your looking at but the only drop down menu's I have in 2.4 are the displacement direction types and the Intersect underlying options.
I don't think I have ever seen drop down menu's like you describe in Terragen
It could be a graphics driver issue. make sure they're up to date and disable any desktop replacement software (they're flakey at best and I've heard reports of Terragen having issues with desktop replacements in the past)

One other minor GUI change that would be useful would be to be able to toggle a node's "enable checkbox" from its RMB Click context menu in the Network editor.

Simples When the node is highlighted in the network editor just press "d" and press again to enable.

Cheers

Richard

[penboack]

Thanks for the hotkey tip Richard.
I have uploaded a screenshot illustrating what I mean.

[attachimg=1]

I'm on OS X 10.7.4.

[penboack]

It used to look like this:

[attachimg=1]

[cyphyr]

Well that's a Mac issue so someone more familiar with mac workings better chime in
It's outa my legue
Good luck
Richard

[jo]

Hi,

The reason that some tabs changed to popup menus is that there wasn't enough width available for the tabs. I wouldn't have changed it if it wasn't a problem.

Regards,

Jo

[reck]

Another reason to use a PC instead of a MAC 

[Simius Strabus]

Perhaps making the window wider to create space for the tabs Just a thought.... or place the tabs 2x2
Anyways, the popup menu's thing is a bad idea.

[jo]

Hi,

The popup isn't the ideal solution but it's the best one given the constraints we have at the moment. I don't think it's a bad idea either, it was the recommended way to handle this situation on the Mac. I don't think the Windows solution is much better anyway, where tabs are scrollable when there are more than can fit in the available width.

In this particular case we will probably change it to match the Distribution shader tab titles and that will mean those tabs in the surface layer will go back to being tabs. However there still will be situations where the popup gets used. FWIW this happens automatically based on the calculated width of the tabs.

Regards,

Jo

[penboack]

Hi Jo,

Thanks for the clarification.
I assume that you were referring to the following issue described in the V2.4 Release notes:

"Mac only: Tab controls where the tab buttons are wider than the space available would truncate text. An example of this is the Render param view. These "too wide" tabs now change to using a popup list to select tabs, instead of tab buttons."

Personally on my setup comparing V2.3 with "truncated text behaviour" to V2.4, without, I would prefer the "truncated text" behaviour!

As the Surface Layer shader is one of the most used shaders having the tabs back would be very helpful.

[jo]

Hi,

We'll change some of the tab text to make the surface layer tabs show as tabs rather than a popup but there will still be other nodes which have popups.

Regards,

Jo

[FrankB]

Just another personal opinion, but anyway: I agree the pop-ups should be avoided, even if that would mean truncating text. The pop-up is very annoying. Also making the window a bit wider I wouldn't mind. Also scrollable tabs would be better, as it means that at least most tabs are available with one click. With the pop-up ALL "tabs" need 2 clicks.

regards,
Frank

[Simius Strabus]

To bad this issue is not yet resolved with the last update. How hard can it be?

[jo]

Hi,

Surface layer tabs with tabs rather the popup will be in the next maintenance release.

Regards,

Jo