Blender Bad Defaults (defaults that should be changed)

Hi All,

This thread is for discussing all the defaults that should be changed in Blender.

1.) Particle system cache step should default to 1, not 10. (This default alone, as it stands at 10, generates countless threads about particle systems skipping or acting funny. New users do not understand and assume Blender is broken.)

2.) Compress File should be on by default. (This default alone could save this forum a ton of bandwidth.) Most users don’t know that they can compress a BLEND file so they just upload bloated files to this site. Then people download those over sized files which adds to the bandwidth usage.

Wait for it… From Right click select -> to Left click select
(runs and hides)

I guess there is not a single user that wasn’t like: “why??!!” the first time he figured out how to select something.

http://vimeo.com/76335056 – for your right click select people

  1. i somewhat agree with this

  2. i dont agree with this… should not be enabled by default due to longer save / opening times. most blend files dont end up on the internet :wink:

And again it is a personal preference that some long-time Blender users share, not a “fact” by any means. Even if Sebastian likes it I do not agree with him at all.

  1. Particles cache step to 1, agree.

  2. Compress file on saving, agree.

Moreover,
Remap Relative should be off, too dangerous, if you are not aware you can miss the references forever.

paolo

Show edges property on a object, should by default also enable “show all edges”.
for a very long time I though it was a glitch with some objects.

I hate arguing over defaults … but remap relative is an excellent default choice… good directory structures and portability are something that users really should learn from day one… way too dangerous having absolute paths everywhere…

I’ve honestly only ever lost time and had headaches with relative stuff off…

Sub surf on a object, should by default have “Optimal Display” on.

would rather have some python operators for this: to toggle/set these off or on for the current selection… or rather make it a viewport mode than a per object thing. (like textured, shaded, render etc…)

rather an easy script to write! normally i just do changes like this in console…

Subsurf or multires, “subdivide UVs”. On or Off by default? Opinions?

most of the blender defaults are perfect for me, who uses blender 8 hours per day and 6 days in a week

why is there even a need for a show all edges button? Is there an advantage in the default skipping edges randomly.

“dissolve verts” should be enabled by default from the Dissolve Edge , noticed several cases in support boards with people having nasty ngons left on mesh after dissolving the edges because they didn’t knew that after dissolving edges they had to enable “dissolve verts” in F6/Operator panel

edit : for those interested in a workaround to have “dissolve verts” enabled by default with Dissolve Edge

go to …\2.70\scripts\startup\bl_ui
open space_view3d.py
Change


layout.operator("mesh.dissolve_edges")

into


layout.operator("mesh.dissolve_edges").use_verts = True

with that change dissolve verts will be on by default when you will use the Dissolve Edge function.

EDIT : found a case in which the dissolve edge with a “dissolve verts” enabled by default will make something bad :

By example dissolving those 2 edges :
http://i.imgur.com/iNOvkVp.jpg

with “dissolve edges” enabled lead into this :
http://i.imgur.com/P0modFQ.jpg

instead of the desired :
http://i.imgur.com/tpZvYzi.jpg

Why not make a list of the propositions.

  • Selection button > LEFT
  • Wire Show All Edges > ON
  • Python tooltip > OFF
  • Compress Files > ON
  • Particle system cache step > 1
  • Subsurf or multires, "subdivide UVs > On
  • Subsurf > Optimal Display
  • Remap Relative > ON

the most dangerous choice is ‘relative’ since if something goes wrong you are not able to know what was the original paths of the resources.
Furthermore, if you choose ‘Relative paths’ off in the preferences, then the file browser should follow.
It’s not a fact of personal preferences but rather of coherence.

paolo

The thing with defaults is that they are what a new user gets on first install. Professionals &/or those with experience can change it to a personal preference all they like, but new users need something they can utilise straight away. It is trivial to find people talking about how back-asswards the right/left click select is… especially when it is not consistently applied throughout the application.

However, if people are going to bring up the Sebastian video, here is it’s rebuttal:

0:10 - it’s beyond “not really that common”, it’s nigh on unheard of. Left-click select on the other hand is so common as to be a defacto standard.

0:49 - regardless of which click “misses”, something inadvertent is going to happen. Currently the 3D tool is moved (& may need to be moved back), in the case of left-click select a selection is made that may need to be undone. Missing causes issues regardless of which button is default and so is not an argument for or against left-click select as default.

1:10 - Incorrect. Box select allows you to select the point, not to mention it is a contrived example. I can probably count the number of times I’ve needed to select a point in Blender behind a widget I’m trying to use on one hand. The number of times left vs right click select gets mixed up even after years of use is so far beyond that as to be ridiculous.

2:20 - artificially difficult alternative mentioned. The easy answer is to do exactly what all the other ones do, which is to have a widget (you know, like those in the previous example) that one can drag back & forth. Or even just have scrubbing be a right-click & drag thing. Once again, his personal preference is stated as a reason for keeping something that is counter to most other software professionals will use. He states no reason at all why left is better than right other than that’s the way it is implemented at the moment.

2:40 - as above. Sebastian states that left-click select is bad because it is currently timeline scrub… which can’t be right-click because that is implementing select & drag… which is performed with a left-click & drag in the other applications editing video that set the standard some time ago https://dailyfratze.de/images/smilies/standard2.0/rolleyes.gif

3:35 - He admits that, in general, a modifier is needed to select multiple faces to limit texture painting to them only… but whilst that is apparently fine & dandy for the general use case, it somehow is stupid to simply apply a mask using a modifier like done in every other software. I cannot recall when I last needed to select only one face for masking texture paint and holding shift never really bothered me given it is not really selecting any of the texture, it’s a creating a mask outside which I cannot paint.

3:47 - “that is very easy and intuitive once you learn you select things in Blender with your right mouse button. Couldn’t have said it better myself. One needs to ignore the general standard of selection you use in other applications and even inside Blender for certain areas and just learn that Blender is different. And once you learn Blender is different to everything else you use, and even in some areas internally, then that becomes a good reason not to make Blender consistent with other software. https://dailyfratze.de/images/smilies/standard2.0/rolleyes.gif

4:30
- It’s not a big deal to Sebastian. It is a big deal to the rest of us. Sebastian’s personal preference is not a good reason to violate standards in user interface design. It’s a good reason for him to be able to change it if he likes (and he can), but the defaults shouldn’t need one to unlearn standards simply because Sebastian (& certain core developers) have a preference for right-click.

4:50
- wait, you mean left-mouse allows you to select & drag corner points, just like one has to use right-mouse for in other places (like the example @ 2:40)? I thought this was a video demonstrating why right-click select was the better option… it appears he just undermined his own argument by showing how easy and cool it is to do that using left-click!

5:05
- this one made me laugh out loud. Selecting with the right mouse button is a good thing because selecting with the left mouse is separated! Hang on a second, what side is being argued for here? :smiley:

5:50
- um, Sebastian is using left click to do multiple things and that is why we cannot use left-click to do multiple things? Ignoring the fact that being able to left-click tweak has not stopped other applications with masks from being able to work consistently & intuitively, this is not a reason for stopping left-click to be the default for selection! Sebasitan is simply demonstrating how things work currently, not why they are better than the suggested alternative.

6:20
- and here we get to the meat of the argument. Sebastian agrees we should use both left & right mouse buttons (and no-one is saying otherwise), but he feels it is better to stick select on the right-button for ergonomic reasons. No mention as to why right is better than left for this (other than that is the way Blender does it currently), but he feels the current way is better cos reasons.

6:35
- this applies in both directions. Those preferring right-click select can do this just as easily as those preferring left-click select now. The advantage of left-click select being that most people coming into the application and not knowing where the settings are & what they can change get the de facto standard they’ve gotten used to elsewhere and as applied in some areas of the Blender interface anyway.

depends on how you’re making your maps… on by default leads to less distortion and is a good thing…

  1. show all edges. this in particular, gave me a LOT of headache in the past
  2. disable auto perspective. it’s just annoying, especially since i mostly use the numpad to navigate my scene
  3. yeah michalis, enable subdivide uvs… as well as “uv” option when collapsing edges, sliding edges, removing doubles, etc.
  4. i also agree, enable optimal display
  5. enable receive transparent shadows… BI
  6. enable double sided lighting for meshes
  7. select “full” mode of filling curves
  8. set diffuse intensity to 1… BI
  9. uv coordinates for image textures… BI.
  10. enable preserve volume for armature modifiers.
  11. toon shader settings set to something reasonable. diffuse size = 1.3, diffuse smooth = 0.03, spec size = 0.2, spec smooth = 0.03
  12. continuous grab, emulate 3-button mouse, prompt quit
  13. convert tabs to spaces for python text files
  14. more convenience variables for the console.

I can sympathize a bit with the devs on #9, seeing that coordinates are shared across texture types
and perhaps in some cases, preserving volume on armature modifiers might be unnecessary
As for the mats, perhaps a better option would be to save and load presets.

Edit:
I love my right click select. i find it odd that other apps use left click. i wonder what then they would use to move the 3d manipulator… right click? or the same left click they used to select the object? :smiley:

Ah, i forgot… switching from BI to cycles should automatically set the materials to use nodes (if there’s a cycles node setup already)… and vice versa

I’m sure all this left vs right click talk is gettings the mod’s trigger fingers all itchy.

I’m a diehard right clicker, but I am certainly not using the default mouse controls. 3d cursor on left mouse is dumb, no way around it. I think my biggest issue with making left click select is always what should the right button do then? the usual answer: i dunno, a context menu? Context menus are great, once you figure out which context makes what options appear. Which is pretty jarring for new users too.

I think we can all agree that the mouse controls aren’t being used as efficiently as possible. The default probably should be left click. I would just love to hear more about ways we can make the mouse controls more efficient. And frankly, moving everything onto left mouse isn’t the most efficient.

What things, other than left click select, could be changed in the mouse defaults to make it a better, more powerful, and also noob friendly experience?

the exact opposite to me here… if you have the transform widgets on most of teh time i’ve found it very common for them to get in teh way of left click select… and right click select became natural to me after the first month…

. No mention as to why right is better than left for this (other than that is the way Blender does it currently), but he feels the current way is better cos reasons

actually right click select is a very nice and natural default with a big graphics tablet (where left clicks can often be unintentional being a slight pressure variation after all…

so few programs are good with a tablet as input but for art it’s so important… mouse is for RSI!

At one time i remapped left click on nothing to become a box select, left click on an object to select but leaving everything at teh right click default… (moved teh cursor to ctrl shift left click) was enough for me not to get confused when switching back and forth between maya and back… these days i don’t bother just because… but actually that simple change (as long as you do it in all editors) will work extremely well for die hard old school blender fans and newcomers alike…

then I always have wondered what teh fuss about right vs left is… it’s the way blender does it and once you know is easy enough…

I must admit that switching to left click select in the UI isn’t as good as it should be depending on which context you are working in which is probably more the reason it’s off by default than an idealogical battlefield…

this whole thing is like windows an mac having the maximise minmise buttons on the opposite sides… and that’s not even customisable…

or zbrush’s crazy view nav…

it’s great to question why things are teh way they are but in teh scheme of things right vs left is so minor (as are teh choice of defaults) compared to actual work flow issues (liek changing properties on multiple selected objects or having a set of default brushes for sculpt or paint that aren’t a PITA to merge with existing projects…

always a lot of debate and discussion over something that will probably not change and actually is at teh end of the day yet again just an application specific idiosyncracy that you just learn and do.

right or wrong is clearly debatable but i’d rather just get on with it…

defaults can be changed quick and easy yet there’s always so much debate… “oh teh poor newcomers might have to learn some stuff” but this forum already shows how small an issue that actualy is … so many new users figured it out…

blender seems to be growing its user base just fine…
maybe i should make a thread about workflows… but I know that every issue raised has long been on todo lists… andit beciomes a UI flamewar…

UI debates alwasy seem to concentrate on teh trivial rather than the bigger picture… ho hum