[Layers] We need layers tab

[akcharly]

Hi, dear Project Falcon team

It would be great if we had layers and the ability to make any object transparent.
Right now I am working on creating a tutorial and ran into two inconveniences:

1. There are no layers.
2. There is no option to make a model on a layer transparent.

I cut out a small piece from the tutorial to show what is missing. I wanted to subtract the cabin from the cube, and preparing this process is not very convenient. The video is in Russian, but I added the main points in the timing.

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K7lkOUlIPY

Timing:

0:16 - And here it becomes clear why transparency and layer-based workflow are needed. When I want to conveniently subtract the cabin from this box, I cannot see how to position the object to get the result I want.

And one more example from 3D-Coat, where I really like how adding a model, placing it on a layer, and enabling transparency are implemented.

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkO_wlm7Jk8

Timing:

0:00 - When we drag an object into the scene, it is shown in a slightly different color.
0:07 - When we add a second object, we can see transparency and the intersection area during overlap. Very convenient.
0:20 - Especially when the object is inside another object, like in my case.
0:38 - What I really like is that each object can be added to a layer, and that layer can be made transparent. This exists in Maya and 3ds Max. We really need this.

Thank you and have a nice day
Best regards,
Andrew

[bjorn.siegert]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for you feedback. Just some questions for clarification. So, you would use layers for organizing your model. Like similar to Photoshop where a user would then be able to add parts in the scene to a layer and then either hide, lock or change appearance (e.g. make them see through), right?

And in addition you would like to have an alternative rendering mode which would show intersecting geometry. Kind of like an X-Ray mode if you will (as shown in the 3D-Coat example). Should this then only show interesecting parts or also parts which would be behind e.g. the cube in your example? I would guess only intersecting as it would be less noisy then but just want to make sure.

Cheers,

Björn

[akcharly]

Hi @bjorn.siegert ,

Yes, you understood everything correctly. Layers are meant for organizing the models. I just like the idea of being able to toggle transparency on each layer so we can clearly see how we're cutting the model.

If possible, I think it would be even better to take this a step further: when models intersect, X-Ray mode would automatically turn on, letting us see exactly what and how we're intersecting.

Cheers,
Andrew