User interface updates and progress

[neo0.]

When I first started using Indigo, I was kinda sad it had such a UI, and coming from progs like Vue, Maxwell, etc., who had amazing UIs did not help either. But, in time I got used to it, and now I am like, give me whatever you want guys, just let me play with it to the max.

I agree, if the ui could be improved, i think indigo could easily be one of the top renderers. The new ui was really exciting and i think if we were to see another ui update of this scale it would help to build interest and bring some fo the old regualars back maybe even. I would like to see different rendering options for open gl. In addition to the regular wireframe, what about a shaded view that shows textures? That way when we make adjustments with the texture editor, we could have some idea of the results without having to wait for our scene to render. I know some people here are on 6 core systems or something but i have an i5.

I think resuming renders could be made much simpler too. Currently there are alot of file types and i think alot of these could be combined. Im not exactly a tech expert, but i dont see why there couldnt actually only be one file type. It would contain all the scene info, render progress, etc. That would make things, much, much easier than having to juggle 3 file types.

I think the white background of the "scene" and "property" palettes doesn't looks a tad bit out of place and i would have made them different colors.

I think the biggest weakness is the material editor. When you import a material from the db or locally, the options could be a little more intutive. I could be wrong, but there isnt really a way to say "replace my current material with the one i just imported." You have to create another material and apply it. Simpler way is usually better. Texture editor could be a lot more intuitive imho. Things such as "quadratic" dont really mean much to the average person who isnt good at math. The rotation/scale aspect is little ambiguous too because there are 4 fields and it's not really sure what refers to what.

There is no option to undo things either. I would love to see a history tree similar to photoshop. There isnt a material previews etc. I think it would be cool if indigo let us turn materials on and off. That way would could conserve system resources and refine our materials in the editor. Said material preview would probably render in a matter of seconds, especially with gpu rendering.

Lastly, i think being able to paint bump maps, etc onto our model would be a very cool feature. It could grab peoples's attention. It would give us much more artistic control as opposed to applying it uniformly. As i see, it, it would work kind of like the healing brush, in that you could sample parts of the texture and then paint it on your scene. Selecting different entities in the property editor would "mask out" the unslected ones kind of like how selected certain layers in ps limits the effects to that layer.

I also feel like camera settings should get a more visible place in the ui as they can often be quite important.

Just my 2 cents.

[Tramis]

know some people here are on 6 core systems or something but i have an i5.

I am saving money for new workstation, so far I am working on AMD Athlon X3 cores PC 4GB Ram. My wooden pc..... So I guess your PC is not that bad.

[Oscar J]

All but my most recent renders were done on a C2D iMac. A quad core i5 is nothing to scoff at.


* I would like to see different rendering options for open gl. In addition to the regular wireframe, what about a shaded view that shows textures? That way when we make adjustments with the texture editor, we could have some idea of the results without having to wait for our scene to render.

Could be solved by integrating Indigo into the 3D applications.

* I think the white background of the "scene" and "property" palettes doesn't looks a tad bit out of place and i would have made them different colors.

Wouldn't have this problem if Indigo was integrated with the 3D applications.

* Texture editor could be a lot more intuitive imho. Things such as "quadratic" dont really mean much to the average person who isnt good at math. The rotation/scale aspect is little ambiguous too because there are 4 fields and it's not really sure what refers to what.

Could be solved by integrating Indigo into the 3D applications.

* There is no option to undo things either. I would love to see a history tree similar to photoshop. There isnt a material previews etc.

Could be solved by integrating Indigo into the 3D applications.

* Lastly, i think being able to paint bump maps, etc onto our model would be a very cool feature. It could grab peoples's attention. It would give us much more artistic control as opposed to applying it uniformly. As i see, it, it would work kind of like the healing brush, in that you could sample parts of the texture and then paint it on your scene.

Would probably be much easier to do if...

You guys get my point. Indigo's own GUI should not be the main priority IMO. Indigo's upcoming GPU rendering + manoeuvring in the 3D applications viewport (instead of Indigos awkward controls) would be absolutely amazing.

[Headroom]

I would add to Oscars comment that not only could be, but should be integrated into the 3D application.

I personally work with Blender but I believe in terms of Integration Cinema 4D is more than just a notch above all the other Exporters. I understand that improved GPU support has the highest priority becasue so many potential customers have that expectation, but I believe that better two-way integration of the renderer into the 3D application may well be the next big step to take after that and is at least as hard a nut to crack as GPU only rendering.

[CTZn]

meanwhile...

[Oscar J]

meanwhile...

¿Que?

[CTZn]

where these functionalities integrated into the host app, nobody would request them. Meanwhile, the fastest and best way for users is to see the standalone's UI improved. An universalism of some sort.

There is a say here, telling that with "if"'s Paris could fit into a bottle.

[Oscar J]

Thats not really the point - we're talking about integrating the scene setup, rendering process, everything into i.e. blenders GUI. You wouldn't even need to use Indigo's own GUI, well perhaps for some more advanced stuff, but having to export a scene every time you make a small iteration doesn't feel very 2015. As a wise user called Zom-B once said, the integration is really important for a renderers success. Look at Corona and it's great, snappy, fully realtime 3Ds max integration. And look at the storm of arch viz people heading its way.

[thesquirell]

"but having to export a scene every time you make a small iteration doesn't feel very 2015."

Adding this would be really awesome. Actually, I dream about that....especially when working on a large scale scene, having to wait for five minutes, or more is just a nag. But I come around that by doing one piece at a time, and then just ensemble them together. As far as the integration goes, I would love to see Indigo grow and develop it's exporters for all of the major 3D apps. As a C4D user, I am pretty happy, keep it up and catch up with others!

[CTZn]

"You guys get my point. Indigo's own GUI should not be the main priority IMO"

I have to disagree, or rather, I'm totally agreeing with you Oscar but over the years this has not come into reality. blender and C4D users do benefit from pretty well integrated exporters maybe, but there are far more host apps than those to target and that would mean relying on a number of external ressources, with the risked projects abortions and deeelaaays.

If the aim is to demonstrate fully Indigo's capabilities, then make the GUI fully featured. Within the next quarter why not, and period.

[Oscar J]

I'm no programmer or anything, but I'm not suggesting a huge overhaul of the blender exporter, I kinda like it the way it is. I mainly want to see huge bottleneck that is exporting to and importing from the hard drive be bypassed. I don't know how difficult this would be though, all I know is that V-Ray and Corona have been doing it and have been hugely successful.

[CTZn]

that is a different point indeed, wich I'm gladly seconding.

On a side note, I'm not pledging for Indigo's standalone to attempt a competition with other well established "studios", but to get its options fully exposed to all. the will for simplification led to an harmful incompletude in my opinion. Let us have simplification on a per exporter basis if that's the reason why users have picked such an host app up.

[neo0.]

I agree with both of you guys. Having to rexport every time you make a simple change doesnt feel very 2015 but i really think focusing on the indigo ui is the way to go. It's long overdue for some changes imo and this would provide a certain consistency across indigo's demographic. Besides i feel like not all host apps are endowed with the same capabilities. What is possible in the blender exporter may not necessarily be doable in the sketchup exporter. I think providing a universal experience across users of different apps would be awesome Given that the indigo ui is the last state of the export process i think it makes sens that this is where the focus should lie

[fused]

Adding an editor for regular tabulated spectra.

[thesquirell]

This looks great! Can hardly wait for it!