Subject: LW interface (was Re: Projector lights)
From: Mark Thompson <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 08:48:20 -0800

>- Selection of multiple objects/lights/etc.

Not only is selecting multiple items needed, the whole idea of interacting
with ONLY ONE window at a time needs to be tossed out the window. You should
be able to bring up multiple motion channels, envelopes, displacement
mappers, etc. while still interactively working and viewing the results in
layout. The whole concept of "do this one operation, back out, and see the
results" is what cripples animation productivity more than anything else
in LightWave.

>- When you add that, you need to provide the user with a new user
>  interface, for easy selection.  In Softimage, Alias, 3D Studio, etc.
>  this is done by having a schematic (tree) view of your scene/objects.

I've always kind of fancied the "tree view" interface for manipulating
the hierarchy. It can be quite powerful if fully implemented.

>- Coloring of motion curves.  Since the Amiga interface runs in an 4/8
>  color interface only, coloring motion curves (so you can distinguish
>  them), presents a problem for that platform.

Yes, but screen space is way too valuable to not make the most of it
and I would really like to se LW evolve past the 4 color limit. Its
a noble cause to keep the software operating on the lowest common
denominator machine, but it should not cripple the possibilities of
the real heavy users.

And my BIGGEST pet peeve about the current motion graphs...whats with
not having any means to adjust the vertical view axis!!!????!?! It makes
fine editing of many motions virtually impossible.

There, I feel better now :-)
  *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
  *           Mark Thompson           http://www.mv.com/ipusers/fusion  *
  *         Fusion Films, Inc.              [email-masked]          *
  * Director of Animation and Special FX      (603) 424-1829            *
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~