Hi Shuting
Thanks for asking here and not just the beta list!
I think for most of us the simple answer would be " make it work like
softimage"
I agree with everything Eric has said but would like to add a few things.
In the softimage explorer, we see the objects and the operator stack.
The basic idea is if you cant see it in the explorer, it doesn't exist.
Because of maya's nodal nature, the outliner becomes messy when you
start showing more than just DAG nodes.
I personally think the operator stack in maya needs to be redesigned,
and this will have a huge impact on designing the outliner and AE.
How Bifrost and its nodes gets implemented will also guide these decisions.
So I guess I'm saying that although the outliner and AE needs some love,
the things that will guide the design of these lies deeper near the core
of Maya.
The reason I make this point is: When I use softimage, it almost feels
like it was designed by one very smart person. Everything works the same
way, regardless of where I'm working.
In Maya on the other hand it sometimes feel like 20 different
departments worked on Maya without talking to each other. The channel
box doesn't work like the AE. Parenting and constrains picking orders
aren't the same. x-gen or paint effects doesn't work like anything else.
Selecting things in the view port doesn't work like it does in the
outliner. The list goes on
What I'm trying to say is: whatever you guys do to the outliner and the
AE, should dictate how the logic of the rest of maya works. Otherwise
the Frankenstein syndrome will never end.
I hope this doesn't come across as a rant, as I appreciate your efforts
greatly.
G
On 26/11/2014 04:57, Eric Thivierge wrote:
Hi Shuting,
Nice to chat again. :) The biggest thing for me is the ability to be
able to have an attribute editor like the PPG's we have now to edit
multiple object's parameters at the same time. Not only that, but
simply having an AE open then selecting a new object and having it
update with the new object's values which can be editable saves tons
of time. It's one window you have open at all times and you know where
it is. Changing selection will update that window and you don't have
to open another window just to get back to the same parameters.
Outliner needs more filtering like the Softimage explorer. Sometimes I
want to see just objects, sometimes I want to show properties, then
show parameters. I want to be able to easily and quickly change
filters from a drop down list.
One thing that doesn't get mentioned much is the transient explorer
view. Hitting F3 in Softimage (when there is no Synoptic or Annotation
property on the selected object) pops up a temporary window that show
the selected objects and its properties / params to easily select /
open a PPG from. This I think is an essential tool when working in
ICE. It will probably become more obvious when bifrost is going to be
expanded for other purposes.
Thats all I have for now.
Eric T.
--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
http://www.ethivierge.com
On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 9:06 PM, Shuting Chang
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Hi there,
I’d like to say that Maya is really moving forward. We are looking
into improving Outliner and Attribute Editor.
I know the strongest request is to have multiply dock-able
Outliners and Attribute Editors with the function to pin to
certain objects.
Other than that, I won’t list any thing else as I don’t want to
lead the direction of the discussion. How we improve the Outliner
and AE is totally decided by your input. Please let us know what
bothers right now and how current Outliner and AE are blocking you.
Ideas and Inputs please.
Thanks in advance for you help. This means tremendous for us.
Shuting
