Better User Interface

let me start of to say that I think FF is awesome. I post my feedback to make it even better

For me the User Interface is really lacking, in several ways.
I will start my suggestions and wishes here in this post and I will add more over time.

1. No limitation on the number of chars in a name for a control. And wider fields for them, possibly adaptable to the length of a name.

2. Possibility to use regular and bold typeface mixed in the names.

3. Possibility to create divider lines between groups of controls.

4. Possibility to create groups of controls by means of different colors.

5. PopUp menus for Switch- and other controls. PopUps should be editable by programmer of the filter. E.g. The Blend control should be controlled by a PopUp which is constructed by the programmer, with e.g. only 3 Blend Modes (not in order, like : 1. Difference, 2.Overly 3. Darken)

It is great that the Presets can have a name now. Thank you

More wishes will follow.

TheBeat

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Beat wrote: 3. Possibility to create divider lines between groups of controls.

YES!!!! This has been already requested many times during many years to be able to just be able to separate groups of control so it could be possible to group more easily and so they are understood better what they do and what is it for, BUT it seems that although this seems to be something easy to add a simple line in the controls, nobody cares about it in so many years

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Beat wrote: 5. PopUp menus for Switch- and other controls. PopUps should be editable by programmer of the filter. E.g. The Blend control should be controlled by a PopUp which is constructed by the programmer, with e.g. only 3 Blend Modes (not in order, like : 1. Difference, 2.Overly 3. Darken)

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Skybase wrote: Years and years went by with this suggestion... yet it never happens.

Yes, I agree totally, now it has been released FF 9, and after so many years requesting and asking for this for blend modes there is still the same as it was 9 years ago

So here's some more wishes

• First of all a simple one, but one that the lack of really is getting on my nerves.
I think that keyboard inputs, that are accepted and standardized in ALL programs, should be honored by the makers of FF as well. So on Mac OSX, command + c (or v or x) should work everywhere. Also in the dialogs.

Also, instead of clicking "OK" with the mouse, one should be able to hit Enter to the same effect. In the Notes that fortunately are now a possibility with the Presets, this does not work. So when typing into this field with of course my keyboard, I have to get to my mouse, move over to my other screen where the filed of the Notes has appeared and click "OK". This is very annoying (it takes me out of my flow) and time consuming and unnecessary. I also don't see why this Notes input field should appear on my second screen, also after having it positioned on my first screen before clicking "OK". I should be able to position dialogues where I want them, and that should be sticky.

• Images that are loaded : it would be nice to see the name of a image that I loaded somewhere.

• This one might be harder to implement, but still very nice if realized.
The first part is : when I change a control, that is hanging unused at that moment, so in a tree that is not active, because another tree is made active by a switch, then moving that control still starts FF to render again. Confusing and a waste of time.
Also, but this is maybe a bit harder (although , I would like to see that 'hanging' controls (as explained above) get dimmed in the UI. So the user can see, that the configuration the controls are in, leaves some controls as 'not applicable' or 'not 'in use' at this moment. By changing a switch (or whatever) they might become active again and maybe other controls get 'not in use', The user should be able to see this. Dimming (greying) the unused controls seems the easiest solution to me.

Ok folks, that's it for tonight. I am sure more will come

Beat

I support that.

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• I wrote : First of all a simple one, but one that the lack of really is getting on my nerves. I think that keyboard inputs, that are accepted and standardized in ALL programs, should be honored by the makers of FF as well. So on Mac OSX, command + c (or v or x) should work everywhere. Also in the dialogs.

I am VERY glad that the coders of FF have taken this up. I don't know yet if it's all across the board, but by accident I found out that the key shortcut now works in the save dialogue box. Thank you so much

I would be great if you could also make the ENTER key work as with most programs, that is, that it can be used in stead of the "OK" box. In the Preset Notes dialogue, the Return does a carriage return, as it should, but the ENTER key does the same, instead of OKaying the dialogue. Please fix this as well, thank you. By the way, in the save dialogue, the Enter key works all right.

Beat

Another ui thing that is super lacking are the controls for HDRI environment sphere and its lights that you can add.
I was hoping for a type in box or something since dragging the sphere around to match angles is kind of a pain. We also cant see where the current spheres rotation is data wise, because its lacking a visual data feedback visual hud. like rotation X 100 Y 80 Z 0

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Tuxmask75 wrote: I’ve been a long time FF user, and the only thing holding me back from updating to a new version is the lighting controls, if we can’t have precision controls for the lighting, it makes the program near impossible to use for our needs. We need consistency and accuracy between making textures and not just eyeballing it every time a new asset is produced...

I'm all for more precise lighting controls - and more flexible UI in general.

As a workaround, you can have precise control over the lighting environment parameters by modifying the ffxml file. It's in plain text and easy to edit. This could potentially be automated with a script. I believe FF needs to be restarted in order to update the modified ffxml.

The exact lighting settings can also be copy / pasted from the right click menu in the Lighting tab (works per light or for all settings).

I guess in most cases one wouldn't want to bake the lighting into the textures, so perhaps that's why the precise lighting controls aren't exposed in the UI.

+1. I hesitate to criticize, but the UI, especially the lighting settings is clunky and can not be fine tuned short of what emme is talking about, editing the .ffxml file. Perhaps a helper app which stays on top, a small window allowing lighting parameters to be fine tuned live then the popup can be closed when you're done. And given that FF has added PBR lighting, this makes even more sense moving forward, especially in the 3d world.

EDIT: I truly believe that if FF addresses the UI issues and modernizes that this product would slay the market and make a lot of money. I say this because I believe in the product and it has given me a creative flexibility I never had before. But on some levels, FF is a very old program, clunky UI, lack of fine tuning, somewhat incomplete documentation. IMHO. I could be full of sh*t.

Rachel, I don't think you're full of shit. I too respect FF for many things and I have made many great filters and use them a lot.
The more pranging it is to see how primitive the U.I. is. Not just old, it's from the Middle Ages. If the programmers would just improve a couple of little things, FF would be SO MUCH BETTER.
With little effort getting a enormous gain. What more is there to want?

Allow me to give me some simple examples :

• If I use a switch in a filter with more than 3 inputs, I have no room in the label field for the switch to write down the choises the user can make with that switch. Even if I use abbriviations for the choises. I think this is absurd. Why not allow more characters in the field, or better the possibility to make a dropdownmenu.

• The same goes for IntSliders that control something, like the BlendMode of a Blend component. The user now has to know e.g. that '15' means different Mode, which I find a bit more than tedious.

• The lacking possibility to group some controls together in some way, as to reflect their functionality belonging together. Just a simple seperator line or color coding would already help. How difficult can that be?

• I could go on, but I hope I've made my point

PLEASE, better the U.I. to make Filter Forge a winner.