onsdag 1. oktober 2008

Some Big Interface Changes

I'm working on the Stickman 5.3 version, and I'm very thankful for the feedback I get. There seem to be a lot of people interested in the new version, since Stickman is moving from a rich color interface to a neutral professional looking interface.

I hope people enjoy the new render window, with YouTube, iPhone and DVD alternatives. A new function that has been asked for many times are the GIF export alternative.

A young man with the name Jonatan told me that he couldn't figure out how to move the background behind the figures. That can be done with the 'Draw Order' category.

Jonatan's brother, Bjørn Sverre, told me that he didn't like the F1, F2, F3 ... shortcuts. Bjørn Sverre asked me whether it was possible to use the numeric keyboard instead. A man from Australia with an injured arm has also asked me about this.

Yesterday morning, when I got out of bed, I started working on shortcuts. I found it difficult to use the numeric keyboard without typing numbers other places in the interface. Luckily, I found out that holding Ctrl blocks the input to text boxes.

The new keyboard shortcuts are like this (Ctrl+#):

Stickman
0 - Preview
1 - Figures
2 - Camera (animated)
3 - Matrix tool
4 - Control points tool
5 - Design camera
6 - Switch tool
7 - Path tool
8 - Speaker tool
9 - Volume tool

Elemento
0 - Run debug
1 - Selection
2 - Bone tool
3 - Placement
4 - Control points tool
5 - Camera
6 - Switch tool

While working on this, I suddenly had a brilliant idea. I merged 'Draw Order' with 'Figures' and got this new interface:



Then I found out that 'Containers' can be merged with 'Animation', visible when 'Matrix Tool' or 'Path Tool' is activated.



I hope this will help new users to overcome some of the new beginner struggles.