Wednesday, September 26, 2012

WIP - Auto Keying Warning Mockup

Recently on the bf-funboard mailing list, there has been a bit of a discussion about how we may reduce mode errors with the Auto Keyframing functionality. Specifically, how can we warn/remind animators that autokeying is on when they go to start doing stuff?

Here is a first-pass attempt:

And here is the patch that you can have a play with.

In this implementation, when transforming, there is a flashing warning displayed on screen with red text and dotted borders. This design is inspired by classic camcorder viewfinders, which do something similar for a non-obstructive reminder.

After testing it out a bit, it seems it might be too temporary to notice when actually animating and focussing on the core content in the center of the view (as seen in the videos). I had originally thought that it would only really be necessary to show this during transform time, since this is when most transforms are likely to happen. So, if you were in fact making a series of edits, after it while you might start noticing the flashing and/or be able take corrective actions if necessary. However, on second though, this may still cause some unexpected keys to be set if using the clear transform tools, or other posing tools which don't have a modal loop.

Therefore, it might be necessary to keep a warning text in the corner where it now appears in this mockup under standard conditions, though without the border or icon, and probably not in red (no error here?).  Something like:


Thoughts?

7 comments:

  1. i think i saw something similar in lightwave (can be very wrong. saw it somewhere at least). they simply put the red border permanently around the viewport. i thought that was a pretty neat thing missing. Couldn't this flashing of the border be a little bit distracting?

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  2. the auto keying button should be more prominent to see that it is enabled. the notification in the corner during keying is nice but the flashing border is to much and would stop me doing my work.

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  3. I like the outline around the view. However it is not supposed to distract you but rather should be a warning. Therefore I would make it subtle yet noticeable which means: No unnecessary ornamental dashed line but a solid one. And given the red color, 1px would be sufficient.

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  4. Like the idea, think that the flashing could be distracting, maybe just a solid red as you transform?

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  5. looks useful but a themeable red frame is ok too, one thing that I enjoyed when implemented in other soft is a different color on sliders when a value is changed on a keyframe but no yet recorded... Blender already reads 'replace keyframe' so it is not that far, I wonder if it is feasible

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  6. I agree with SeriousM.
    JiriH

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  7. I think it's very cool to have a reminder, it's so tedious to forget about having the autokeying when is not wanted. How can I test the patch, do I have to build blender myself?

    One thing that I'd add is the possibility to have the autokey button in the dopesheet, and not only in the timeline. I always use the dopesheet, and I used some scripts to put the autokeying in the N panel, but it takes space from the actual screen, and it's not ideal.

    Regards, sebastian

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