Auto Hide Channels #82169

New Issue

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego · 2020-10-27T22:59:26+01:00

2020-10-27 22:59:26 +01:00

The problem:
When working on the graph editor, more often than not you concentrate on 1 curve at a time, it's imperative that getting from selecting a control/object to the desired curve takes as little steps as possible.

Lets set an example considering the graph editor is already visible like this:

Currently to get to a particular channel like TY an animator has to:

select the desired controller
un collapse the "bone" in the channel panel in the graph editor.
click the desired channel
press shift H to hide all the other channels.

start working.

Then if he wants to move to an other channel he needs to:

press alt H to unhide the rest of the channels.
select the new channel

hide the rest of the channels with shift H again.

Alternatively an animator can turn on the option "only selected curve keyframes" which will dim the secondary channels instead on a similar fashion that we're looking to achieve with "auto hide channels" but this option has 2 issues.

its stored in the file hence the animator needs to turn it on every single time he wants to use it, instead of it being a permanent setting.
given that it only lowers the opacity on the rest of the curves, they are still being drawn which could be a win in performance when you have several bones / objects selected.

Solution:
With an "Auto Hide Channels" option we can set in the user preferences to auto hide channels when the user clicks the name of the channel the result will:

Reduce the first encounter to just 4 steps.

And the latter and more common exercise of changing from channel to channel which happens hundreds if not thousands of times during the production of 1 shot, will convert those 3 steps into 1 which would be just clicking the right channel.

This is inspired by the "auto lock" channels created by the Grease Pencil team to aid not drawing in the wrong layer and will make it easier for the user to focus on one curve at a time which is what you normally want to do.
It'll improve performance as more often than not you will be only drawing one curve at a time.

The problem: When working on the graph editor, more often than not you concentrate on 1 curve at a time, it's imperative that getting from selecting a control/object to the desired curve takes as little steps as possible. Lets set an example considering the graph editor is already visible like this: ![2020-10-27 21_44_32-Blender_ [C__Users_elect_Desktop_RUN_.blend].png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9113933/2020-10-27_21_44_32-Blender___C__Users_elect_Desktop_RUN_.blend_.png) Currently to get to a particular channel like TY an animator has to: - select the desired controller - un collapse the "bone" in the channel panel in the graph editor. - click the desired channel - press shift H to hide all the other channels. # start working. Then if he wants to move to an other channel he needs to: - press alt H to unhide the rest of the channels. - select the new channel # hide the rest of the channels with shift H again. Alternatively an animator can turn on the option "only selected curve keyframes" which will dim the secondary channels instead on a similar fashion that we're looking to achieve with "auto hide channels" but this option has 2 issues. - its stored in the file hence the animator needs to turn it on every single time he wants to use it, instead of it being a permanent setting. - given that it only lowers the opacity on the rest of the curves, they are still being drawn which could be a win in performance when you have several bones / objects selected. Solution: With an "Auto Hide Channels" option we can set in the user preferences to auto hide channels when the user clicks the name of the channel the result will: Reduce the first encounter to just 4 steps. And the latter and more common exercise of changing from channel to channel which happens hundreds if not thousands of times during the production of 1 shot, will convert those 3 steps into 1 which would be just clicking the right channel. --- This is inspired by the "auto lock" channels created by the Grease Pencil team to aid not drawing in the wrong layer and will make it easier for the user to focus on one curve at a time which is what you normally want to do. It'll improve performance as more often than not you will be only drawing one curve at a time.

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2020-10-27 22:59:26 +01:00

Added subscriber: @LucianoMunoz

Tom Wheeler commented

2020-10-29 18:06:07 +01:00

Added subscriber: @tomwheeler

Philipp Oeser removed the

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Auto Hide Channels #82169

start working.

hide the rest of the channels with shift H again.