3D View Collections Design #54965

New Issue

William Reynish · 2018-05-05T16:24:43+02:00

William Reynish commented

2018-05-05 16:24:43 +02:00

In Blender 2.8, we have introduced the concept of Collections to replace the old layers system.

This is much more powerful:

At allows naming
You can have more than 20 layers
Collections can be nested

Users can set up their Collections in the Outliner. They can name them, structure them and organise them there.

However, we are also considering a way to access Collections directly in the 3D View. In Blender 2.7 and earlier, the 3D View header had a layer palette:

The problem is that this is no longer a good fit, for these reasons:

It doesn't communicate the name
It only allows for 20 layers
It doesn't allow for communicating nesting
It's a completely different mental model

For these reasons, we don't want to re-use that interface in Blender 2.8.

Instead, we will provide a panel in the N-key area, with a list of nested collections with their respective names, like so:

This will allow users to show/hide or solo collections.

For now, we probably won't allow renaming or re-ordering here. This is just a quick way to show/hide collections.

In Blender 2.8, we have introduced the concept of Collections to replace the old layers system. This is much more powerful: - At allows naming - You can have more than 20 layers - Collections can be nested Users can set up their Collections in the Outliner. They can name them, structure them and organise them there. However, we are also considering a way to access Collections directly in the 3D View. In Blender 2.7 and earlier, the 3D View header had a layer palette: ![Screen Shot 2018-05-05 at 16.20.02.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3275365/Screen_Shot_2018-05-05_at_16.20.02.png) The problem is that this is no longer a good fit, for these reasons: - It doesn't communicate the name - It only allows for 20 layers - It doesn't allow for communicating nesting - It's a completely different mental model For these reasons, we don't want to re-use that interface in Blender 2.8. Instead, we will provide a panel in the N-key area, with a list of nested collections with their respective names, like so: ![Screen Shot 2018-05-05 at 16.18.06.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3275349/Screen_Shot_2018-05-05_at_16.18.06.png) This will allow users to show/hide or solo collections. For now, we probably won't allow renaming or re-ordering here. This is just a quick way to show/hide collections.

William Reynish self-assigned this 2018-05-05 16:24:43 +02:00

William Reynish commented

2018-05-05 16:24:43 +02:00

Added subscribers: @WilliamReynish, @brecht

Lsscpp commented

2018-05-05 17:53:12 +02:00

Added subscriber: @lsscpp

Lsscpp commented

2018-05-05 17:53:12 +02:00

Wouldn't this deserve its own popover in the 3dview header? It could actually be opened with M-key, like layers used to, since afterall this is a new empowered version of layers

William Reynish commented

2018-05-05 18:03:01 +02:00

You can already use the M-key in 2.8 to move items between Collections. This is replace the old layers in the header.

It could also be a popover, but maybe we should support that in a more general way, so that any panel in the N-key are can become a popover if you don't want it persistent. If we ever do that, it will probably happen sometime later.

You can already use the M-key in 2.8 to move items between Collections. This is replace the old layers in the header. It could also be a popover, but maybe we should support that in a more general way, so that any panel in the N-key are can become a popover if you don't want it persistent. If we ever do that, it will probably happen sometime later.

Duarte Farrajota Ramos commented

2018-05-05 20:51:50 +02:00

Added subscriber: @DuarteRamos

Rainer Trummer commented

2018-05-06 11:48:16 +02:00

Added subscriber: @RainerTrummer

Rainer Trummer commented

2018-05-06 11:48:16 +02:00

Many users are concerned about the ability to switch between what we at the moment know as layers - in the future collections - in the viewport using hotkeys. At the moment, you can use 1, 2, 3, Alt+1, Alt+2, etc to quickly show and hide layers. Do you think it would be possible to implement something flexible into your design approach? When I look at your mock-up, it makes me think if it was possible to simply assign a hotkey to them, defined by the user. That way, you would not need to hard-code stuff in, instead you put the responsibility to assign the desired key-stroke to the users.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2018-11-19 12:50:12 +01:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Archived'

Brecht Van Lommel closed this issue

2018-11-19 12:50:12 +01:00

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2018-11-19 12:50:12 +01:00

Replaced by #57857 (Collections, objects visibility and local view).

Sign in to join this conversation.

No Label

Download

What's New

Blender Studio

Manual

Developers Blog

Documentation

Benchmark

Blender Conference

Development Fund

One-time Donations

3D View Collections Design #54965