Imprecise timeline frame selection using mouse #50904

New Issue

Marius Eugen Mihai · 2017-03-09T18:11:55+01:00

2017-03-09 18:11:55 +01:00

System Information
Windows 10 64Bit
GeForce GTX 1080

Blender Version
Broken: 2.78.4 9e566b0 (Date 2017-03-07)
[Earliest occurrence of the bug I could find was in version 2.78.4 9992e6a (Date: 2017-02-18)]
Worked: 2.78.4 5552e83 (Date: 2017-02-11)

Short description of error

Clicking with the mouse in the timeline near a line indicating the frame always puts the cursor at the frame to the left of the point clicked with the mouse pointer.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error

Start Blender. The default scene is fine to show the problem.

In the timeline, at the bottom, change the "End" value of the animation from 250 to a smaller value (lets say 20, for example). Then hit the "Home" key to fit that interval on the entire timeline. This makes it easier to spot the issue.

Now click near the 10 frame line, for example. If you clicked to the right of the line, the cursor will jump to the 10-th frame, as expected. If you clicked to the left of the line, regardless of how close you were to the line (even one pixel), the cursor will jump to frame 9.

Notes:

In earlier versions of Blender, the cursor would behave more intuitively, jumping to the frame closest to the point you've clicked.
If this change was by design, say, for example, the 10-th frame is considered to be the whole interval between line 10 and 11, this is counter-intuitive and make the interaction with the interface somewhat uncomfortable.
If the frame numbers were between the lines, rather than directly underneath them, then this would make this new form of interaction a bit more intuitive, but still not as good as the old way. In the case of frames where the numbers are not displayed (as it happens when the number of frames in the timeline increases and frame numbers get displayed only at certain intervals), the old way is still the best way to select the frames with no numbers displayed, because you intuitively try to click on the line, not the blank space.

Thank you for the time you put in developing this wonderful program!

**System Information** Windows 10 64Bit GeForce GTX 1080 **Blender Version** Broken: 2.78.4 9e566b0 (Date 2017-03-07) [Earliest occurrence of the bug I could find was in version 2.78.4 9992e6a (Date: 2017-02-18)] Worked: 2.78.4 5552e83 (Date: 2017-02-11) **Short description of error** Clicking with the mouse in the timeline near a line indicating the frame always puts the cursor at the frame to the left of the point clicked with the mouse pointer. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Start Blender. The default scene is fine to show the problem. In the timeline, at the bottom, change the "End" value of the animation from 250 to a smaller value (lets say 20, for example). Then hit the "Home" key to fit that interval on the entire timeline. This makes it easier to spot the issue. Now click near the 10 frame line, for example. If you clicked to the right of the line, the cursor will jump to the 10-th frame, as expected. If you clicked to the left of the line, regardless of how close you were to the line (even one pixel), the cursor will jump to frame 9. Notes: In earlier versions of Blender, the cursor would behave more intuitively, jumping to the frame closest to the point you've clicked. If this change was by design, say, for example, the 10-th frame is considered to be the whole interval between line 10 and 11, this is counter-intuitive and make the interaction with the interface somewhat uncomfortable. If the frame numbers were between the lines, rather than directly underneath them, then this would make this new form of interaction a bit more intuitive, but still not as good as the old way. In the case of frames where the numbers are not displayed (as it happens when the number of frames in the timeline increases and frame numbers get displayed only at certain intervals), the old way is still the best way to select the frames with no numbers displayed, because you intuitively try to click on the line, not the blank space. Thank you for the time you put in developing this wonderful program!

Marius Eugen Mihai commented

2017-03-09 18:11:55 +01:00

Changed status to: 'Open'

Marius Eugen Mihai commented

2017-03-09 18:11:55 +01:00

Added subscriber: @MariusEugenMihai

Joshua Leung commented

2017-03-10 01:28:59 +01:00

Added subscriber: @JoshuaLeung

Joshua Leung commented

2017-03-10 01:28:59 +01:00

Thanks for helping narrow this down to a nice tidy window. It really helped looking for the cause. :)

Looks like it was caused by 3e628eefa9

I agree this new behaviour sucks. Looking into this, there isn't any reason why the non-subframe mode must always truncate downwards. The only effect is that it makes it harder to target a particular frame quickly (e.g. hand shake and a high res monitor would be enough to cause some issues).

Thanks for helping narrow this down to a nice tidy window. It really helped looking for the cause. :) Looks like it was caused by 3e628eefa9 I agree this new behaviour sucks. Looking into this, there isn't any reason why the non-subframe mode *must* always truncate downwards. The only effect is that it makes it harder to target a particular frame quickly (e.g. hand shake and a high res monitor would be enough to cause some issues).

blender-admin commented

2017-03-10 01:38:02 +01:00

This issue was referenced by 17689f8bb6

This issue was referenced by 17689f8bb6df2421211173b1b7963b6d53ad4e41

Joshua Leung commented

2017-03-10 03:18:18 +01:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Resolved'

Joshua Leung closed this issue

2017-03-10 03:18:18 +01:00

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Imprecise timeline frame selection using mouse #50904