[ Advanced GUI/Feature Suggestion ] Back to the Future Like History

[Anonymous]

Hi. It'd be nice of the history wasn't linear and it very advanced enough that you can take different parts from differen history.

Usually with the current history when you want to change something you go back to the history (cmd-z) or forward (redo shortcut or on the panel like with photo editing tools) but as we all know going back destroys the work above it.

An analogy would be: after you have created a very nice building, say, a romanesque Catholic Church, they later found out the foundation needs to be completely demolished, there's no way around it, not even a reinforcement. They need to start from scratch destroying every nice art that's been carved on top of th facade. It'd be nice if somehow they can suspend all things that don't need be destroyed while they're replacing the foundation.

It'd be nice for Stingray to have this very advanced back to the future like history wheren when you go back (maybe using a panel like Photoshop), you can choose not to rewind (effectively destroying it) work that's already been done, the work that's on top of it. Same thing goes in reverse, you can kind of freeze the things made in the past as you move forward in the history then reattach (probably within reason if it fits) to future you need to attach that past work to. It'd be a great innovation if somehow the edits you made are not only connected but at the same time has the ability to be independent, that they are not knots in one linear string but rather individual knots (knots representing the edits) in a string that's bundled into one huge knots of string and you can untangle individually if you have to so it is preserved going back into the past and going forward in the history's future.

This would be the ultimate non destructive edit.

This would be extremely helpful of when a client wants to suddently revise something and is willing to pay for the revision (and sometime they of course do not understand that it'll take time coz' the parts are connected and changing or moving a part will affect the others).

If Autodesk can do this, this'll be great for all kinds of applications a revolution so that documents and other things created from the apps would be easier to revise.

Thank you. God bless (all dreams must serve the dream of dreams, the ultimate dream, the king of all dreams: Rev. 21:4)

[dan.matlack]

Hi Alvin,

Could you give an example in 3d engine work where a 'revert' panel holding history states would make sense? Most objects in a 3d world are independently editable in and of themselves and with scripting/coding, it's all text-based so very easy to revert/change/step through. How do you envision this feature being helpful in a 3d work environment?

[Anonymous]

Hi. Thanks. That's true, the elements (vertices, edges, etc.) are editable at any stage but this attempts although I'm not sure it's possible coz' it's like making time travel possible, it's very abstract, this attempts to eliminate the problem wherein many edits forward you realize that you need to edit something or when you've made too many vertices (a million a thousand vertices for example) and editing each one by hand would take too much time that it's better to just start over and do everything again. In a usual redo and undo type of history, it destroys the one above it (the one in the future). It might be possible to have different histories (even if it's limited) like different independent history or timeline.

Say, each edit has a different timeline or history independent of the next edit which will have it's own timeline. It's very abstract, the closest thing I can imagine using 3D engine is how linear it is, usually to eliminate complication, you have to do things a certain way else cutting too much for example will produce too many vertices which may be too much to handle later if you align or edit them individually (like if it's a million or so vertices). If each edit can be stored via their own history or timeline, you can combine things from different histories. Sometime with that too many elements to edit it's just better to delete everything and start over again.

In the diagram, in history 1, is a dot, history 2 is two dots, history 3 is four dots, and history 4 is five dots making up say a line, history 5 which is a dot and a knot (knot representing something you made so complex and time consuming) but then you changed your mind or your client changed his or her mind and wants just two dots (in history 2) and the knot in history 5. If it's possible to have a kind of back to the future history, you could just tap in history 2 and history 5 (which was is history 4 projected onto history 5 like a clone + the knot = history 5) to create your target (your new history or timeline). If the current history apps usually use you could go back to history 2 but you will destroy the ones above it (the future ones) like that knot you made for months or so. You could do that but it'll take months again to recreate the knot (represents something complex).

It's very abstract but I hope it strikes a kind of algorithm on how it can be done if it's even possible, for Auto 🙂

God bless. Rev. 21:4

[dan.matlack]

Hi Alvin,

Your example makes sense, thanks for illustrating. I feel though what you are asking for is more along the lines of versioning/version control -- something Perforce could handle quite well for you. Any time you make a major change to your project, level, mesh, etc ... just check that change into your source control and then it will always be there for you to revert back to if needed. As for a use case in Stingray, I will definitely pass along your thoughts to the design team, thanks for the input!