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Dials - was Wheel of Tools


dast

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1 hour ago, ILJI said:

I guess Mac support will follow at some point  ...
... being able to change the radius of the wheel ...

... an option to set the number of tools ...

Could the wheels auto close when clicking anywhere than onto an icon

 

Thank you.

Yes, a MacOS version will be built when time permits.

Changing the radius of the dial is already foreseen internally, but no controls are currently provided for the user to do so.

I was going for an "auto radius" solution, depending on the selected icon size, and a manual solution for custom values.

I have currently provided the ESC key only, as I am still working out other solutions to remove the dial. Clicking outside of icons will be one solution, though.

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While I mentioned I would skip further development for toggle and sticky keys, I just could not let go.

I will leave out the technical details, but it was a nightmare to figure out and implement a workaround to the confirmed bug in Cinema's SDK.

A real nightmare ... but that's history. The latest (hopefully final) beta does contain support for toggle AND sticky key shortcuts.

 

There is also a MacOS version included. Both platforms support R16 and above ... at least until R19.

 

I left out a few things that were on the todo list.

The radius of the dials is automatically calculated from the number of defied tools, and from the specified icon size.

No custom radius available, nor custom spacing.

 

This beta contains quite a few bug fixes (probably still some remain ... deeply hidden).

But, since the toggle and sticky features are "masterpieced hacks" they may have introduced nasty bugs or side effects. Not that I know of, or have experienced while testing out the plugin, but one never really knows for sure.

Third party plugin support is added as well, meaning you can define plugins, tools, commands, ... Anything with a unique ID.

 

Unfortunately, the "History Dial" can only detect actual tools (move, rotate, scale, ...) same as the native Cinema 4D history. While my implementation doesn't use the SDK (since the functionality isn't made available through the SDK) I guess it does rely on the same techniques used by MAXON, and thus has the same limitation. Just a guess of course.

 

Currently no documentation is provided, but is one really needed?

Just a note for those testing out the plugin. The "dials" consists of 2 black circles, populated with icons of the defined tools.

As soon as the sticky key feature gets activated, by keeping the shortcut key(s) pressed down, the outer dial circle gets removed.

This to visualize the difference between "toggle mode" and "sticky mode".

When in sticky mode, the tool currently under the cursor will get selected as soon as you release the shortcut key(s).

 

Finally, I decided to rename the whole plugin, as it actually contains 2 sub-plugins.

As such, "Wheel of Tools" and "History dial" are now known as "Dials".

 

<Dials beta 4.zip> (removed obsolete file)

 

 

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Fantastic Daniel - love the updates!
I think, toggling on / launching a dial  and then either clicking a tool or clicking away works best for me.
But, you took the sticky challenge and succeeded - nice!
The auto radius works just fine as well.

Played a little bit with it - two suggestions - maybe already on your list..?
1. option to rotate the complete dial in the prefs: maybe, I have everything set, but would like to have the tools start at 9 o'clock instead of 3 o'clock
2. export/import - presets: easily switch between various saved presets e.g. via a dropdown in the prefs, like having one for modelling, one for animating etc. If those will be saved as text files somewhere, they could be modified by the user to achieve the offset / reordering for (1) as well, if (1) would be difficult to implement in the UI. ...maybe even have (an option for) a dropdown icon just above the dial to change presets without opening the prefs. ;)
Thanks!

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11 hours ago, ILJI said:

Fantastic Daniel - love the updates!

...
Played a little bit with it ...

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

The import/export WAS on my todo list, but I have removed it, as I didn't really see a benefit.

 

The whole idea behind this plugin was to provide for a speed up in switching between most-used tools. Setting up these most-used tools is usually a one-time action. As such, I didn't want to spend lots of time (compared to the whole plugin development) into providing a setup interface. Therefore, no drag-n-drop, no fancy graphics, nor extreme customizable setup.

If you need to "shift/offset" the dial, you can do so by adding tools at the end, removing ones at the beginning.

 

The whole drag-n-drop feature would also provide for shifting. I could implement that, but I won't.

At least not for the current version. I need something for a future update ;-)

 

Additionally, since selection of tools should be a quick and easy, I especially do not want to provide a too complex main GUI. No presets, nor sub-level selection, ...

 

I agree there is a potential need to want to group tools in separate dials.

I have been looking into a way to provide multiple dials. One for modeling, one for animation, etc ...

But have not yet found a way to allow for an easy and dynamical way to access these, except for providing them as sub-plugins.

This is the way the "Wheel of Tools" and "History Dial" are organized. Each sub-plugin can be assigned a shortcut, but each also needs a unique plugin ID.

And this cannot be made dynamically.

 

So, I am afraid beta 4 will become the release version.

 

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5 hours ago, C4DS said:

I need something for a future update ;-)

Gotcha. And yes, there are of course individual workflows. Always best to collect feedback, check what is on the wish list of multiple users, what makes sense in the long run and implement those features in the next update. Thanks.
Ship it! ;)

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On 7/30/2018 at 9:46 AM, illd said:

sorry for the stupid question - but where can I get the Plugin?

Hi,

Not a stupid question at all.

 

The beta download is over and release version has been created, ready to be uploaded.

However, before I do so, I am just waiting to allow for the other 61 people who also downloaded the beta to voice their feedback. Good or bad.

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