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WIP: Node Editor: Improve frame joining during transform #105457

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Leon Schittek wants to merge 18 commits from lone_noel/blender:node-editor-frame-joining into main
pull from: lone_noel/blender:node-editor-frame-joining
merge into: blender:main

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Conversation 13 Commits 18 Files Changed 12 +415 -158
Leon Schittek commented 2023-03-05 13:00:13 +01:00
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Improve frame joining during transform:

  • Detach nodes from frames during transform by pressing Shift
  • Base frame joining on the bounding box center of the selection
  • Indicate the center of the selection with a small dot (placeholder for now)
  • Highlight frames, when nodes are about to be added to them

Motivation
The current behavior does work well enough in most simple cases, but there are some issues, that could be improved:

  1. Which frame is joined into is determined via the cursor position.
  2. There is no indication which frame is chosen for joining during transform.
  3. Not all transformed nodes can necessarily be joined into a frame and there is no indication which nodes actually will be joined leaving the user to figure out if the action had the desired effect after the fact.

Point (1.) and (2.) are problematic because during transform there can be a huge disconnect between the position of the transformed nodes and the frame they are joined into. The cursor isn't necessarily in the users focus while positioning the nodes.
This can be especially confusing when combined with inserting nodes into links which actually is based on the node's position.

Video of the issue: frame-node-join-issue.mp4

Improve frame joining during transform: * Detach nodes from frames during transform by pressing `Shift` * Base frame joining on the bounding box center of the selection * Indicate the center of the selection with a small dot (placeholder for now) * Highlight frames, when nodes are about to be added to them --- **Motivation** The current behavior does work well enough in most simple cases, but there are some issues, that could be improved: 1. Which frame is joined into is determined via the cursor position. 2. There is no indication which frame is chosen for joining during transform. 3. Not all transformed nodes can necessarily be joined into a frame and there is no indication which nodes actually will be joined leaving the user to figure out if the action had the desired effect after the fact. Point (1.) and (2.) are problematic because during transform there can be a huge disconnect between the position of the transformed nodes and the frame they are joined into. The cursor isn't necessarily in the users focus while positioning the nodes. This can be especially confusing when combined with inserting nodes into links which actually _is_ based on the node's position. *Video of the issue: [frame-node-join-issue.mp4](/attachments/2ed90552-222d-4686-b92d-8de07006599f)*
frame-node-join-issue.mp4
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Iliya Katushenock commented 2023-03-05 13:31:47 +01:00
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In a strange way, when I recalled previously seen examples of this, for some reason my brain told me that the nodes of the frame were animatedly growing to show that they were now the parent of this node...

In a strange way, when I recalled previously seen examples of this, for some reason my brain told me that the nodes of the frame were animatedly growing to show that they were now the parent of this node...
Leon Schittek force-pushed node-editor-frame-joining from d0974fd25e to 38d4153b8e 2023-03-11 10:34:43 +01:00 Compare
Leon Schittek commented 2023-03-11 10:37:18 +01:00
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@blender-bot package

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Blender Bot commented 2023-03-11 10:37:21 +01:00
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Package build started. Download here when ready.

Package build started. [Download here](https://builder.blender.org/download/patch/PR105457) when ready.
Leon Schittek force-pushed node-editor-frame-joining from 38d4153b8e to 74e7e20ea3 2023-04-01 18:15:39 +02:00 Compare
Leon Schittek commented 2023-04-01 18:20:47 +02:00
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Blender Bot commented 2023-04-01 18:20:49 +02:00
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Package build started. Download here when ready.

Package build started. [Download here](https://builder.blender.org/download/patch/PR105457) when ready.
Leon Schittek force-pushed node-editor-frame-joining from 74e7e20ea3 to 8ec8733806 2023-04-10 18:41:16 +02:00 Compare
Leon Schittek commented 2023-04-10 19:02:05 +02:00
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Blender Bot commented 2023-04-10 19:02:08 +02:00
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Package build started. Download here when ready.

Package build started. [Download here](https://builder.blender.org/download/patch/PR105457) when ready.
Leon Schittek force-pushed node-editor-frame-joining from 8ec8733806 to 17c3d10a4e 2023-05-08 17:18:54 +02:00 Compare
Leon Schittek force-pushed node-editor-frame-joining from 17c3d10a4e to 069b5156d0 2023-06-23 13:30:35 +02:00 Compare
Leon Schittek force-pushed node-editor-frame-joining from 069b5156d0 to e2c4e057c4 2023-09-22 13:58:18 +02:00 Compare
Leon Schittek commented 2023-09-22 14:24:28 +02:00
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I updated the PR according to some feedback here: #108358 (comment)

The behavior works as follows:

  • Detach nodes from frames during transform by pressing Shift
  • Base frame joining on the bounding box center of the selection
  • Indicate the center of the selection with a small dot (placeholder for now)
  • Highlight frames, when nodes are about to be added to them

Here's a quick screenshot of what that looks like:
transformed-nodes-with-indicator.png

I updated the PR according to some feedback here: https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/pulls/108358#issuecomment-1012819 The behavior works as follows: * Detach nodes from frames during transform by pressing `Shift` * Base frame joining on the bounding box center of the selection * Indicate the center of the selection with a small dot (placeholder for now) * Highlight frames, when nodes are about to be added to them Here's a quick screenshot of what that looks like: ![transformed-nodes-with-indicator.png](/attachments/0d6024df-7c33-46bb-b3eb-c97c3b037209)
transformed-nodes-with-indicator.png
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Leon Schittek added 1 commit 2023-09-25 16:09:29 +02:00
Simon Thommes commented 2023-09-25 20:14:40 +02:00
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I really like this approach a lot more, it feels quite natural to me!
Highlighting the frame works great and I'm super happy that moving with G doesn't care about the cursor position anymore.

My only gripe with this would be that the dot doesn't look very elegant/has some readability issues. It should always be drawn on top (which I think it already is). Maybe drawing it a bit thicker and in (selection) orange would look better and more clear.

Additionally I think the unparent behavior should be the same when holding shift before dragging, as I mentioned in #108358 .

Once those two things are figured out and signed off (and code is reviewed) this is ready to merge imo.

I really like this approach a lot more, it feels quite natural to me! Highlighting the frame works great and I'm super happy that moving with G doesn't care about the cursor position anymore. My only gripe with this would be that the dot doesn't look very elegant/has some readability issues. It should always be drawn on top (which I think it already is). Maybe drawing it a bit thicker and in (selection) orange would look better and more clear. Additionally I think the unparent behavior should be the same when holding shift before dragging, as I mentioned in #108358 . Once those two things are figured out and signed off (and code is reviewed) this is ready to merge imo.
Leon Schittek added 5 commits 2023-09-26 11:06:09 +02:00
Leon Schittek commented 2023-09-26 11:07:20 +02:00
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The dot is now a bit thicker and using the selection color.
Still not great but I haven't come up with anything better, yet, and there doesn't seem to be a similar concept of "selection center indicator" elsewhere in blender to cheat off of.

I'll have to let that simmer a bit to see if I can come up with something better:

orange-dot.png

I also improved the behavior when pressing shift before dragging, but it isn't quite there, yet.
Since Shift + Press is toggling the selection it works nicely when shift + Drag-ing an unselected/inactive node - but unfortunately it will still deselect when dragging the active node...

After tinkering with the keymap I'm unsure if this is something that can easily be worked around. It seems like a more general issue.
E.g. ctrl + Drag-ing a node will just select it rather than moving all currently selected nodes with the "invert snap" option. And the only reason pressing Alt and the dragging works to detach a node is because it happens to not conflict with the selection keymap...

But the whole keymap code seems pretty complicated so I might have mssed something.

The dot is now a bit thicker and using the selection color. Still not great but I haven't come up with anything better, yet, and there doesn't seem to be a similar concept of "selection center indicator" elsewhere in blender to cheat off of. I'll have to let that simmer a bit to see if I can come up with something better: ![orange-dot.png](/attachments/0dfefee3-966c-46f5-91c8-f18eff526351) I also improved the behavior when pressing shift before dragging, but it isn't quite there, yet. Since `Shift + Press` is toggling the selection it works nicely when `shift + Drag`-ing an unselected/inactive node - but unfortunately it will still deselect when dragging the active node... After tinkering with the keymap I'm unsure if this is something that can easily be worked around. It seems like a more general issue. E.g. `ctrl + Drag`-ing a node will just select it rather than moving all currently selected nodes with the "invert snap" option. And the only reason pressing `Alt` and the dragging works to detach a node is because it happens to not conflict with the selection keymap... But the whole keymap code seems pretty complicated so I might have mssed something.
orange-dot.png
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Simon Thommes commented 2023-09-26 11:39:06 +02:00
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Thanks for the update! This helps a lot with readability. Would be good to run this by the UI module, maybe someone has a good idea. For me a similar equivalent would be the origin point in the 3D viewport or the sequencer. It's not too bad as it is imo.

I think there is still some tweaking that can be done though. The none highlighted version imo is more important to see clearly than the highlighted one. Right now it's the other way around. Maybe they should both be filled, but highlighted changes the color slightly. We already have the frame highlight to indicate this anyways.

Thanks for the update! This helps a lot with readability. Would be good to run this by the UI module, maybe someone has a good idea. For me a similar equivalent would be the origin point in the 3D viewport or the sequencer. It's not too bad as it is imo. I think there is still some tweaking that can be done though. The none highlighted version imo is more important to see clearly than the highlighted one. Right now it's the other way around. Maybe they should both be filled, but highlighted changes the color slightly. We already have the frame highlight to indicate this anyways.
Leon Schittek added 4 commits 2023-10-04 12:42:36 +02:00
Leon Schittek commented 2023-10-04 13:26:26 +02:00
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I tweaked the dot a bit to make it more prominent. Will bring it up with the UI module now that 4.0 is in bcon3.

During my attempts to tweak the keymap I've also looked through some of the other editors it seems like shift + drag-ing something never actually triggers the transform operator. So while this is not great, it's consistent and changing this probably has to be discussed separately...

Just to test the behavior for now I've changed the node editor selection keymap so that pressing shift always adds the node to the selection when clicking on it, while pressing ctrl will always deselect it. This is consistent with the behavior of the other selection modes (box, lasso, circle) and works as desired for unparenting nodes, but it's different from all the other editors where shift + click is set to togge the selection state.
So I'm not sure this is a viable option. But I wonder what's the reason for toggling the selection on shift + click rather than having the same behavior as the other selection modes.

I tweaked the dot a bit to make it more prominent. Will bring it up with the UI module now that 4.0 is in bcon3. During my attempts to tweak the keymap I've also looked through some of the other editors it seems like `shift + drag`-ing something never actually triggers the transform operator. So while this is not great, it's consistent and changing this probably has to be discussed separately... Just to test the behavior for now I've changed the node editor selection keymap so that pressing `shift` always adds the node to the selection when clicking on it, while pressing `ctrl` will always deselect it. This is consistent with the behavior of the other selection modes (box, lasso, circle) and works as desired for unparenting nodes, but it's different from all the other editors where `shift + click` is set to togge the selection state. So I'm not sure this is a viable option. But I wonder what's the reason for toggling the selection on `shift + click` rather than having the same behavior as the other selection modes.
Leon Schittek added 4 commits 2023-10-30 21:50:00 +01:00
Leon Schittek added 2 commits 2023-11-10 00:35:12 +01:00
Leon Schittek commented 2023-11-10 01:00:10 +01:00
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I couldn't get things to work via the keymap. So I've now added a macro operator mapped to shift + drag that first selects the node and then calls the move operator.
So now you can hold shift even before clicking to pull nodes out of frames.

@SimonThommes, I'd like to hear your opinion on the selection behavior when shift + drag-ing a node:

  1. Right now I've made it so that shift+ drag-ing extends the selection since is is closer to the "toggle" behavior that shift is usually associated with. So shift + drag-ing a node will move the dragged node and all other selected nodes.
  2. Alternatively shift + drag-ing could mimic the "tweak" behavior:
    • move all selected nodes, when the dragged node is already selected
    • only move the dragged node and deselect all others, when the dragged node is currently unselected
I couldn't get things to work via the keymap. So I've now added a macro operator mapped to `shift + drag` that first selects the node and then calls the move operator. So now you can hold `shift` even before clicking to pull nodes out of frames. @SimonThommes, I'd like to hear your opinion on the selection behavior when `shift + drag`-ing a node: 1. Right now I've made it so that `shift+ drag`-ing *extends* the selection since is is closer to the "toggle" behavior that `shift` is usually associated with. So `shift + drag`-ing a node will move the dragged node and all other selected nodes. 2. Alternatively `shift + drag`-ing could mimic the "tweak" behavior: * move all selected nodes, when the dragged node is already selected * only move the dragged node and deselect all others, when the dragged node is currently unselected
Leon Schittek added 1 commit 2023-11-10 10:55:47 +01:00
This pull request has changes conflicting with the target branch.
  • source/blender/editors/space_node/node_relationships.cc
  • source/blender/editors/transform/transform_convert_node.cc
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