A month's worth of requests

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this - it is a compilation of all the unresolved stuff I've discovered since my work purchased the software, but here goes. Considering I have had to remove nearly half of the items from this list because they have already been added or fixed, I’m assuming that several of these requests are already on your radar

-----"Minor" changes-----

The Trim tool in patch mode sometimes trims the wrong side (reloading the file usually solves the problem). This has been a big headache when working in patch mode with complex surfaces derived from t-splines. Fortunately, the reload trick usually works.

When patch surfaces are separate/disconnected, treat as multiple bodies. Otherwise I have to create an offset copy of each surface set to have them as separate elements.

Select through / select other. I often need to be able to select features within a part and constantly creating section views would become a hassle.

Sketch should have priority selection while in sketch mode. I currently need to constantly hide/unhide bodies or make them unselectable to create a sketch on a plane that is within a body.

Show only. I often want to hide unselected as I am almost always working with multi-body files. An alt-click (or equivalent) on the light bulb would be great.

Working with sketch constraints from the origin often causes a crash (fixed?)

Save pivot orientation. It would be nice, especially in sculpt mode, to reference a saved pivot orientation. This becomes helpful when working with parts that are oriented irregularly in 3d space. Currently, I create a reference plane and use that as a pivot reference, but I have to re-orient on every new selection.

Quickly orient pivot normal to surface or edge in sculpt mode (this is becoming less of an issue the more I work with the pivot modification).

Loft guide curves (am I missing something? This seems pretty major). I watched a tutorial on convert to rails, but with no effect - perhaps I am just approaching this wrong; but even if this happens to solve the problem, it is still unintuitive. I would prefer one selection for profiles and one for guides.

Mesh surfaces (imported or converted)  are not colorable when outside sculpt mode. This comes into play especially when exporting to a renderer like octane, which requires obj files with material separation (see next)

Save multiple meshes to single obj - when working with 20 parts, this could be a major workflow helper. If this is already possible, I haven’t figured out how to do it.

Save to obj files without the need to convert them in the software first. Since .stl files can be saved by simply right clicking on one of the bodies in the tree, I would assume that the same could be done for .obj files as the resultant mesh is essentially the same.

Default bridge to single face (I rarely see a need to create more than one face with this tool and it is always one extra step to change - and I use this tool often). Another option would be to default bridge tool faces to whatever was used last… again, I don’t think I’ve ever used the default of 3.

Free-form splitting with insert point consistently creates messy and unpredictable geometry when trying to redefine loops - this is after points are merged to create quads and the edge flow is cleaned up. I haven't run into this problem lately, so it may have been fixed.

Insert .ai .dxf or .dwg to a sketch - this is especially helpful when you need to create an embossed or debossed logo.

Allow me to stay in edit form while I perform bridge, weld, insert edge, etc. This is simply one of those click-saver requests, it would bring it closer to the interaction that many are familiar with from 3ds max/ modo/ etc.

When working with high-resolution scanned mesh data, saving to the cloud takes considerable time (can take a few minutes). I’m not sure what the solution could be for this, as it is simply a matter of uploading large files, but perhaps there could be more intelligent saving - as an example, it could use mesh data as a referenced file that only needs to be uploaded once and any subsequent saves ignore that portion when there are no changes to it.

----Interface changes----

Allow for further uncompartmentalization (I may have made that word up, but it is essentially about bringing tools up to the toolbar). Without going on a rant about having four to five clicks to get to certain tools, I’m just looking for further efficiency. I’ve maxed out the number of tools that I can have on the top bar… I almost want to create another bar if I desire. Along these lines is the separation of model and patch modes; for the way I work, these toolsets are often used concurrently, which means constantly switching between the two modes. I wish I could have both menus available to me at the same time. It’s not about the two clicks it takes to switch modes, it is more about the few seconds of delay for me to realize that I am in the wrong mode before switching… to me, these two modes are one in the same.

Save and share interface setup. We'll probably purchase additional licenses for the office, I'd rather not have to set them up individually. In the past, every major update would reset the interface - if this happens again, this feature would solve that problem.

I had a whole section on rendering, but I think this is enough for now.

Stellar work so far.

[dunderhead]

Interesting, I largely agree - but in some cases the functionality may already be there (?)

----"Minor" changes-----

>>The Trim tool in patch mode sometimes trims the wrong side (reloading the file usually solves the problem). This has been a big headache when

>> working in patch mode with complex surfaces derived from t-splines. Fortunately, the reload trick usually works.

just click the surfaces you need cut, they toggle on/off (red or not)? 

>> When patch surfaces are separate/disconnected, treat as multiple bodies.

>> Otherwise I have to create an offset copy of each surface set to have them as separate elements.

I always get them as separate bodies, I thought that was a rule!

> Select through / select other. I often need to be able to select features within a part and constantly creating section views would become a hassle.

You can use 'slice sketch' perhaps? Select through is default on. You can left-click and hold for choices.

> Sketch should have priority selection while in sketch mode. I currently need to constantly hide/unhide bodies or make them unselectable to create a sketch on a plane that is within a body.

Roll back the history to right after the sketch before editing it?

>  Show only. I often want to hide unselected as I am almost always working with multi-body files. An alt-click (or equivalent) on the light bulb would be great.

Absolutely, yes, much needed!

> Quickly orient pivot normal to surface or edge in sculpt mode (this is becoming less of an issue the more I work with the pivot modification).

Hear, hear, the local coordinate system proposed is often wrong -- need more 'natural choices' as you suggest.

> Loft guide curves (am I missing something? This seems pretty major). I watched a tutorial on convert to rails, but with no effect - perhaps I am just approaching this wrong; but even if this happens to solve the problem, it is still unintuitive. I would prefer one selection for profiles and one for guides.

 There was a discussion about this elsewhere I think.

> Allow me to stay in edit form while I perform bridge, weld, insert edge, etc. This is simply one of those click-saver requests,

> it would bring it closer to the interaction that many are familiar with from 3ds max/ modo/ etc.

 I agree, there seems to be an unnecessary mode around here? And if you're in edit mode and select insert edge and you back out, then you've lost the selection! That's annoying, too.

----Interface changes----

>>  it is more about the few seconds of delay for me to realize that I am in the wrong mode before switching… to me, these two modes are one in the same.

Same for 'select mode' -- I don't like that I have to scan the tool bar to find out that 'select mode' is active or not --- this is especially confusing in sketch, with its numerous sub, subsub, and subsubsub modes (depending on how much you've selected for a constraint for example). The mode (and submodes) should be communicated through cursor shape in my opinion. Not anything too fancy, use color and a couple of shapes.

[brianrepp]

Hey Kevin - really appreciate you taking the time to submit this list.  Unfortunately, because they weren't submitted individually (which is necessary to gauge community interest on an idea by idea basis) we will need to archive this post.  The PM team has reviewed and noted your list, however.  Although I realize it might take longer, in the future please submit each idea individually so that we can properly track.