Placement Tool for Objects and/or Collections #90199

New Issue

Julian Eisel · 2021-07-26T20:04:03+02:00

Julian Eisel commented

2021-07-26 20:04:03 +02:00

Motivation

The new drag & drop snapping helps easily & quickly placing objects in the scene. But it relies quite a bit on the asset and the scene it’s being dragged into (e.g. the size relative to the destination scene, the exact normal of the snapped to surface), etc. Users may want to adjust the rotation, the scale, the up-axis, use the origin for snapping rather than the bound-box (e.g. to place trees so they are partially covered by the ground plane), etc.

Basic Design Idea

Rather than setting these options before dragging (where you don’t get visual feedback) or while dragging (where it’s awkward to give input because you’re holding a mouse button), the Operate->Settings paradigm of Blender should be used: First the object/collection is dragged in and placed using basic snapping, then we provide a visual way to keep adjusting the transforms and parameters until the user is happy with the result.

However, this placement method isn't just useful for dragging in assets. It is useful as a general transform tool and should be created as such. So this is a proposal for a general placement tool with bounding-box or origin based surface snapping, that gives access to most important transforms and properties for placing an object. In some way or another, it could be (temporarily and optionally?) activated after dragging an object or collection asset into the scene. If more advanced transforms are needed, the user can still access the proper transform tools & operators.

Temporary Activation

Having to activate a placement tool every time an asset is dragged in can be annoying. Blender could automatically activate it, at least in some temporary fashion. For example, the tool could temporarily override the active tool after dragging in an asset. Deselecting the dragged in object would bring back the real active tool. If the user wishes to go back to the placement tool, that can be explicitly enabled again in the toolbar.

Tool Design

TODO

### Motivation The new drag & drop snapping helps easily & quickly placing objects in the scene. But it relies quite a bit on the asset and the scene it’s being dragged into (e.g. the size relative to the destination scene, the exact normal of the snapped to surface), etc. Users may want to adjust the rotation, the scale, the up-axis, use the origin for snapping rather than the bound-box (e.g. to place trees so they are partially covered by the ground plane), etc. ### Basic Design Idea Rather than setting these options before dragging (where you don’t get visual feedback) or while dragging (where it’s awkward to give input because you’re holding a mouse button), the Operate->Settings paradigm of Blender should be used: First the object/collection is dragged in and placed using basic snapping, then we provide a visual way to keep adjusting the transforms and parameters until the user is happy with the result. However, this placement method isn't just useful for dragging in assets. It is useful as a general transform tool and should be created as such. So this is a proposal for a general placement tool with bounding-box or origin based surface snapping, that gives access to most important transforms and properties for placing an object. In some way or another, it could be (temporarily and optionally?) activated after dragging an object or collection asset into the scene. If more advanced transforms are needed, the user can still access the proper transform tools & operators. ### Temporary Activation Having to activate a placement tool every time an asset is dragged in can be annoying. Blender could automatically activate it, at least in some temporary fashion. For example, the tool could temporarily override the active tool after dragging in an asset. Deselecting the dragged in object would bring back the real active tool. If the user wishes to go back to the placement tool, that can be explicitly enabled again in the toolbar. ### Tool Design TODO

Julian Eisel commented

2021-07-26 20:04:03 +02:00

Added subscriber: @JulianEisel

Julian Eisel commented

2021-10-11 17:10:17 +02:00

Don't have the time to create a mockup or so of this. Basically we need gizmos to translate, scale and rotate the objects. However, I think exposing all the transform axes as gizmos would be overkill. The regular transform gizmos can be used for that. So I'd say:

Have a single arrow to scale an object on all axes while keeping it snapped to a surface.
Have a single dial gizmo to rotate the object around the local Z axis only.
Show the bounding box as gizmo which allows transforming with snapping enabled.
Tool options: Snapping surface of the bounding box (bottom, top, front, back, left right -- or X, -X, Y, ...)

Don't have the time to create a mockup or so of this. Basically we need gizmos to translate, scale and rotate the objects. However, I think exposing all the transform axes as gizmos would be overkill. The regular transform gizmos can be used for that. So I'd say: * Have a single arrow to scale an object on all axes while keeping it snapped to a surface. * Have a single dial gizmo to rotate the object around the local Z axis only. * Show the bounding box as gizmo which allows transforming with snapping enabled. * Tool options: Snapping surface of the bounding box (bottom, top, front, back, left right -- or X, -X, Y, ...)

Julian Eisel changed title from ~~Placement Tool~~ to Placement Tool for Objects and/or Collections

2021-12-06 14:52:07 +01:00

Rainer Trummer commented

2022-10-14 14:31:39 +02:00

Added subscriber: @RainerTrummer

Julian Eisel removed the

Status

Needs Triage

label 2024-05-02 16:43:17 +02:00

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Placement Tool for Objects and/or Collections #90199

Motivation

Basic Design Idea

Temporary Activation

Tool Design