UI proposal - feedback requested

[Toybuilder]

We may consider the ability to pin sections of the UI to allow them to persist. If you always use Draft, for example, maybe you always want to see it.

It's not that I need it to be always visible. I think panels or tabs that come and go (or how the ribbons get swapped out in the current UI) is fine.
What I am advising against is if the UI dynamically inserts/removes control elements all the time in a way where you can't "find it while being blindfolded". Icons are great because they provide quick visual cues and anchors your search much more effectively than text.

 

[JimCad]

Lots of useful ideas here. Keep it going. I may be inexperienced with Alibre but it's all making sense.
Jim

 

[BigKahunaFL]

Here's an idea for a "reverse direction" icon.



…just a thought… okay, I'm going back to bed now…

 

[Marco-IT]

Hi Max,
since we're talking about UI, will it be possible to change the background of a 2D table?
Currently the white "kills" my eyes after a few hours of work.

 

[OrjanB]

In Alibre there are lot of windows for input during construction.
I.e radii / fillets / parts.
When editing elements in such windows it can be a pain to hit the wanted element due to scrolling a long list in a small window.
Please make all such windows re-sizeable.

Will there also be an overhaul of UI for the drawing environment?
Part and assembly has reached an impressing level during the recent versions, while the drawing part of Alibre in my opinion could need some attention.
The final product of an Alibre session is after all a drawing to be used in production.

 

[Max]

Just made a big update to the initial post - check out a few dialogs, what docking might look like, floating might look like etc.

 

[Max]

Hi Max,
since we're talking about UI, will it be possible to change the background of a 2D table?
Currently the white "kills" my eyes after a few hours of work.

I am trying to get rid of all WHITE (255,255,255) and replace with not white (245,245,245). The images at the top include input boxes with "not white" for example - I'll have to see how easy it is to do this everywhere.

 

[Max]

Will there also be an overhaul of UI for the drawing environment?

The UI overhaul is product wide. Every dialog.

 

[Max]

Hi Max,
since we're talking about UI, will it be possible to change the background of a 2D table?
Currently the white "kills" my eyes after a few hours of work.

Can you elaborate on this? What table are you looking at? BOM? 2D drawing table? Equation Editor? Drawings in general?

 

[HaroldL]

@Max, the updated dialogs look pretty good docked on the side. Seeing them in that position begs the question - will we be able to resize their widths? I see a lot of white space in the data fields and compressing the width would leave more room in the workspace.

 

[Max]

@Max, the updated dialogs look pretty good docked on the side. Seeing them in that position begs the question - will we be able to resize their widths? I see a lot of white space in the data fields and compressing the width would leave more room in the workspace.

Probably so, between a min and max I would imagine. Unsure, but probably.

 

[tyc]

Just made a big update to the initial post - check out a few dialogs, what docking might look like, floating might look like etc.

This is just awesome. I'm really thrilled. It's a huge leap forward. Bringing the UI more up-to-date look. Great work so far.

I haven't seen you touched this in your previous entry, but proper Tab key functionality is a must in my honest opinion. And it should step forward and backward in an orderly fashion between the options/selections and text inputs.

Another thing just popped in mind, probably not much UI focused but related in a way. As far as I remember, in the fillet dialog, if I type a radius value right after I started the dialog, and then start to select edges, entered value is ignored. If you can make these input values persistent, it would be great.

 

[Max]

I haven't seen you touched this in your previous entry, but proper Tab key functionality is a must in my honest opinion. And it should step forward and backward in an orderly fashion between the options/selections and text inputs.

Agree.

 

[albie0803]

I would like to have the mirror function shown in post 1 reversed in operation because I often use the right click mirror in sketches where the workflow is select items then select mirror plane.
The mirror function reverses that operation.

My thought process is, "I want to mirror this/these around that" but then I have to switch to "use that to mirror this/these".

I would like them to be consistent. Select the features first and then the mirror plane or face

I would also prefer to have either the existing f(x) or a stylised EE rather than the chain icon.

 

[albie0803]

There are windows like Insert Plane where the option is Apply and Close rather than OK and Cancel.

Ok and Cancel makes the window a 'one shot' while Apply and Close lets you reuse the window.
In these cases I would like to have Apply, Apply & Close, and Cancel rather than having to apply then close

Maybe instead of cancel you could just use close and in this case we would get Apply, Apply & Close, and Close

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Sometimes "Cancel" is more appropriate - like when editing an existing feature.

 

[Cator]

On the subject of updating, I would like to point out that in the Remove Model Pieces feature the icon still seems to me to be that of the Geomagic era

 

[Marco-IT]

Can you elaborate on this? What table are you looking at? BOM? 2D drawing table? Equation Editor? Drawings in general?

2D drawing table.

It would be great if you could change both the background of the table (from A4 format to A0 format) and the background all around.

 

[jc-s]

I like the idea, but do have a few concerns (mostly already voiced before me).

1. Hiding/expanding the dialog areas as functionality becomes available seems like a good idea, but I think it will interrupt the flow too much. It gets in the way of muscle memory. I fear it may slow the user, and start to feel clunky after a while.

2. The new look seems nice (modern fonts etc). However, will this respect the system's anti-alias settings? I run (as far as possible) with all text anti-aliasing turned off because it's just so much easier on the eyes (especially on a non high-def display). The few programs that I use which don't respect this become annoying to use because of the fuzzyness of the fonts. So please make sure to keep the existing support for non anti-aliased text when required.

 

[Mika]

Autodesk alike->Hover the mouse over the button and it shows short pop-up video window whats happening from that button.