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

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:

Which frame is joined into is determined via the cursor position.
There is no indication which frame is chosen for joining during transform.
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

91 KiB

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...

@blender-bot package

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Package build started. [Download here](https://builder.blender.org/download/patch/PR105457) when ready.

@blender-bot package

Package build started. Download here when ready.

Package build started. [Download here](https://builder.blender.org/download/patch/PR105457) when ready.

@blender-bot package

Package build started. Download here when ready.

Package build started. [Download here](https://builder.blender.org/download/patch/PR105457) when ready.

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:

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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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.

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:

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

60 KiB

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.

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