Looking for advice on an "actor tool"

eye776 · Post by **eye776** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:05 pm

For the last 2 months I've dropped most of my overly-ambitious projects and instead (in my spare time, a few h/day) coding a generic (although Irrlicht biased) skeletal animation library.
Basically I need to reuse as much crap as possible (sucks being a one-man-band) and therefore want my keyframes separate from my mesh data (even at runtime).

First of all I'm NOT YET releasing too many project details because I usually lose steam when doing so and end up abandoning the project. It's one of those "when it's done" projects.

Now, because each skeleton has a specific hierarchy, when getting keyframes from BVH or SMD, you can't KEEP ALL of the data, so I had to make a tool to do this.

Problem is... the interface SUCKS and I'm in GREAT need of some advice on how to improve on it.
Also I can't come up with a "nice" timeline design.

Here's what it looks like right now.

EDIT: I'm currently using Delphi / Lazarus. Does anyone have at least a better RAD IDE alternative (something free obviously). Most of the application is in a DLL, so the GUI is only a frontend. Removed part of the title as it didn't fit in

.

christianclavet · Post by **christianclavet** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:37 pm

What is wrong with your current GUI? Does look nice, but I don't know all the features the tool is supposed to do.

You could look at other 3D program interfaces that does animations like Blender, 3D Max, Maya, etc. and look how they do it with their interface and decide what it the best for your application.

Here is some advice for the things I try to remember when designing an interface:
- Try to keep it easy and "intuitive", so user could use it without a manual. ("Kiss" principle!

)
- Try to reduce the clutter while at the same time have the needed tools in as few steps possible.

fmx · Post by **fmx** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:00 pm

Interface isn't bad at all though I personally prefer all toolboxes to be docked into a single window (Photoshop, Max, Blender, etc)

You could add a Timeline directly into the irrlicht render window at the bottom, or just create a single large slider (like the one for material shininess) in a new window hovering somewhere

I agree with Christian though, have a look at other similar animation packages for inspiration

eye776 · Post by **eye776** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:05 am

I took a few notes from Unity, Torque and 3DS max, and came up with this.
I'm still copy-pasting code for now, and there are bugs galore ( pic contains a bug

), but it's a start.

BTW, I ditched Delphi personal (EULA incompatible) and the interface is now maintained with Lazarus.

Here's a shot of the "new and improved" UI.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Joints tab is empty right now.
The time-line will probably appear at the bottom, or as a dockable window ( still "exploring" my options - a.k.a I haven't gotten there yet

).

roelor · Post by **roelor** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:32 pm

That looks really handleable, add a bit of an artistic touch to it and it would even look pretty as well.

eye776 · Post by **eye776** » Wed May 11, 2011 8:51 am

Pretty much the final layout. Only some buttons and the timeline are missing now.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

EDIT: Come on guys, no GUI constructive/destructive criticism whatsoever ?

PS: The only reason I don't start releasing sources/demos right now is that every (and I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE) project where I released demos and/or sources before completing it I never finished. It's a laziness thing.

Maybe some criticism of what looks non-functional/hard to use when I'll upload a shot with the timeline then (when I'll have time to actually finish it)?

Anyway, when this project is done it will be released as GPL/v2 (I have to anyway, since it will make use of 2 GPL libraries for the C++ dll in its finished state, namely Pinocchio and JMeshLib).

fmx · Post by **fmx** » Thu May 12, 2011 8:31 am

I hope you can see our predicament:
how are we supposed to comment on stuff that is "non-functional/hard to use" just by looking at a couple of screenshots?

Whatever your reasons for not uploading testable binaries, you wont get anymore helpful feedback until you do

eye776 · Post by **eye776** » Fri May 13, 2011 6:29 pm

The question/advice I'm seeking is whether the interface looks usable enough or not.

Frankly, right now the DLL only exposes pretty much everything that can react to the GUI at this stage.

Well, in that case, I'll move on to the joints tab.

serengeor · Post by **serengeor** » Fri May 13, 2011 8:11 pm

eye776 wrote:The question/advice I'm seeking is whether the interface looks usable enough or not.

Frankly, right now the DLL only exposes pretty much everything that can react to the GUI at this stage.

Well, in that case, I'll move on to the joints tab.

All in one window UI looks best for me. Thats why I prefer photoshop over gimp, though I still use gimp because I'm on linux most of the time