Okay. So i actually did not dismiss new UI like loocas did immediatelly, and actually gave it a few hour of usage. But unfortunately, it is really as bad as i expected it to be. Even with all the prejudices put aside.
The problems with this UI are:- It is intended to minimise amount of scrolling and visual clutter, yet if you actually use more panels at once, you scroll as much as with old A7 UI. For example you need to frequently change vfb settings, main settings, enviro overrides and camera settings, there is already scrolling involved and it doesn't help much compared to previous state.
- It is not consistent with 3ds Max standards. 3ds Max is not Cinema4D and there is already more than enough UI schizophrenia going on inside it. Corona is aiming at being simple to use. Therefore it's completely absurd that user interface has a learning curve
- Not being up to UI standards of the rest of the software will confuse 3ds Max users migrating from other renderers
- It will also confuse new users as they will just try to click buttons thinking they enable features, and instead, panels will start popping up. That will definitely not make the "easy to use" first impression
- For power users, new UI is just more clicks to get same amount of stuff done. Also, as feature set starts to grow, this system will fail completely.
- Lastly, the division to categories in this manner is completely nonsensual. For example: What is Advanced about camera settings, which also includes motion blur and DoF toggles? That is not anything only advanced users should touch. That's a scene setting affecting a look of an image
The solution:Now here is my solution to this problem. It's simple, easy to use UI that does not break 3ds Max standards, truly minimizes scrolling and visual clutter, and does not overwhelm new users with advanced performance settings:
The reasoning behind new UI:- Native 3ds Max UI mechanics (render settings tabs at the tob) are used.
- Minimal or scrolling needed even if one needs to use many panels
- Categories clearly divided to buttons that affects how:
- scene looks (artistic control, scene tab)
- scene performs (performance and advanced control, performance tab)
- neither of above (system settings that do not control neither look, nor performance of the scene, system tab)
- Works similarly to the button panel currently implemented. User can simply focus only on part of the UI without being distracted by everything.
- Mainly, one can spend entire time of scene creation in Scene tab, without need to touch any other tabs.
- For mainstream screen resolution (FullHD), if user has render settings window extended vertically, on any of the three tabs, even with all the roll outs extended, there will be no scrolling.
- Color mapping and camera roll-outs are combined, so that user clearly sees influence of enabling photo. exposure control, and therefore any confusion is avoided.
It is also very crucial not to forget 3ds Max already has native way of minimizing roll-out clutter by collapsing roll-outs. If properly implemented, roll-outs should remain open/closed even after re-opening settings window.
The reason this mechanism did not work in A7 is that it is intended to be used in conjunction with the tabs at the top. So the native 3ds max UI solution is quite sufficient for this, and there is no need for any crazy attempts. This is how UI would look for someone who does not use enviro overrides, DR and does not need to look at About rollout.
So to wrap it up. It would be very unfortunate if current, quite unprofessionally looking user interface made it into retail version. It may be easier to use in some cases, but it has a learning curve. Aside from ease to use, other trademark of Corona is a common sense. Meaning one can simply pick the renderer up and start to use it, without much searching or guesswork included. While new UI may be effective once used to, it does not come with much of a common sense, and I do not think my proposal is any less effective.
If anyone agrees with me, i would be very happy for some voice of support.
EDIT:
Practical example. Right now, if i want to have just 3 essential rollouts available to me on my 1920*1200 resolution screen, even if i stretch window vertically as far as i can, i have to scroll: