TG4 beta request for cloud selection

[Grassynoel]

Hi all.
I have been spending a lot of time with the new Beta and have a growing sense of frustration with the UI.
Now, I may be doing it wrong but here is my issue and proposal:

I build cloudscapes a puff at a time. As a result I have many cloud nodes which relate to many individual clouds in the render.
It is almost impossible to know which cloud belongs to which node without turning the node on and off and seeing which cloud disappears.

I think double clicking on a node should select the cloud in the viewport
-or-
there should be a "select in viewport" button on each dialogue. This is true of all things, not just clouds of course.

..that is unless there is a way to do this and I'm a knucklehead (which wouldn't be the first time).

Glenn

[Grassynoel]

I think a button like this would be great...

[Dune]

You could 'assign' a landmark to each cloud. Give it the same name or a location in numbers as the cloud and you can see in the cloud node's localize settings where it's at (where that specific landmark sits).

[yossam]

I think it would be better if you had a "color" button like you do for each plant population. Just sayin'. 

[Grassynoel]

I disagree that that would be better.

One other thing Terragen's UI is awkward at is picking the thing in the view port you want. If the cloud center axis is anywhere near anything else like a camera, you spend ages trying to pick it up and not the camera. You zoom in and pan about madly trying to pick it up.

A direct selection button would eliminate all of this fuss and seems like a VERY simple UI addition.

G

[Kadri]

http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,14427.msg141093.html#msg141093

[yossam]

What I was talking about is a one button selection............it would color each cloud layer a different color, like the populations. 

[Grassynoel]

Wow Kadri, That was back in 2012!
It seems like such a simple UI thing to do.

Yossam, I don't think coloured clouds is a good solution as you need to see their colour and how that colour works in the environment. A link between the node and the item in the viewport would be more elegant. Even a mode where the node selected automatically selects the item in the viewport would be fantastic (and again really simple to implement).

[Dune]

Also; if you rightclick in the viewport you can select the objects you want activated. Don't know if you can pick clouds, don't think so.

[Grassynoel]

Yes I know that but that does not also select the node.


What I initially meant by my post and what I think would clear up a lot of confusion, is a clear visual link to what is selected in the node graph and what is selected in the viewport. Select a cloud node and the cloud is selected, displaying its axis for easy manipulation.

Glenn

[Dune]

Now I understand very well what you mean. That would be handy indeed.

[Oshyan]

I think there were reasons Matt (or Jo) did not want to sync selection in the 3D view with selection in the Node view, but I am not sure, nor am I sure that the prior reasoning would hold up today. I think it's worth revisiting this. In the meantime right-clicking in the 3D view to select things is a decent option IMO.

- Oshyan

[Grassynoel]

Cool.