Model Coordination // Move the Levels to the Model Browser panel // Undock the Model Browser

[Chad-Smith]

Two years ago, I proposed moving the Levels toolbar button and floating panel to the Model Browser panel.

This seemed like a simple and logical request to help with navigational efficiency.

Today, and as per the September 2024 Product Release notes, this has been moved to a dedicated tab and panel on the left side. This is an objectively terrible decision.

With the Levels now as its own docked panel, levels cannot be visible/accessible at the same time as the Model Browser panel. The user now must move between two docked panels to access all the model 'browsing' tools. This has now become a sequential process, rather than parallel as it previously was.

The Levels should have been put on the Model Browser panel. After all, moving between levels is a form of 'browsing'.

Model Coordination has now made the same mistake that exists in the Design Coordination viewer.

But that's not even the core problem.

The problem is that the Model Browser (Navigational Actions) is a docked panel that sits alongside other docked panels like Clashes and Issues (Tasks).

Model browsing is an Action that you constantly perform while completing a Task. They are not equals, and thus should not exist at the same level in the UI hierarchy.

Levels needs to be moved to the Model Browser panel, and the Model Browser panel needs to exist in the UI independently of the left docked tabs/panels.

This "improvement" of moving the Levels panel has made the model browsing process worse.

[Chad-Smith]

To follow up, here's an example between the Levels tab and the Clashes tab that creates a destructive workflow.

1. Navigate to the Levels tab and select a level.
2. Now navigate to the Clashes tab.
3. Select a few Clash results for objects that run vertically through the building. These clashes are selected in readiness for creating an Issue.
4. I now might want to trace those objects vertically through the building. So, I navigate back to the Levels tab and select another level. But hang on, the Clash colours are now disabled because I moved away from the Clashes panel, now making the model harder to read.
5. So, I navigate back to the Clashes panel again only to now find that the previously selected clash results are now deselected.

As you can see from steps 4 and 5, the navigation between Levels and Clashes is destructive to the overall workflow.

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This speaks to a broader problem with all the model viewing UIs across ACC, not just Model Coordination. The UIs struggle to clearly identify the three parts of model management and coordination.

• Configuration (Permanent and Done Once) - Models, Model Browser Filters
• Tasks (Ongoing and Managed) - Model Viewing, Clashes, Issues
• Actions (Temporary) - Model Browser / Object Table, Levels, Colour Overrides, Sectioning

All Actions need to be flexible to use while working on Tasks.

However, some Actions should also be saveable in the Configuration as a default state, such as Levels, Sectioning, Colours.

[Chad-Smith]

Ugh, the problems continue.

Similar to the Levels + Clashes, using Levels + Model Browser is even worse.

After taking careful consideration to turn model Categories off in the Model Browser > Model Tree so that I can see exactly what I need to review, moving over to the Levels tab then turns everything back on.

Even if the Model Tree visibilities were maintained while moving between it and the Levels tab, the process is still far too sequential.

At least the older floating Model Browser from the Toolbar remains so that it can be open on screen at the same time as the new Levels tab.

PLEASE, move the Levels back to the toolbar while you work through this.