Drafting Tools Improvement: improve offset distance entry for the offset tool

[Anonymous]

Improve the workflow for the offset tool by allowing the operator to enter offset distance without the need to click in the offset box in the options bar.

This workflow would make this tool act more like some of the other drafting tools where we can enter distances immediately as the tools is being used.

I also wonder if the options bar is the best UI for tool options. It is often missed by novice Revit users and it is disruptive to the flow by requiring the operator to shift her attention away from the task at hand. Perhaps one way to improve this would be to make the options bar into a floating panel thus allowing the operator to place it where she would find it most convenient. Optionally we might want to have a setting that makes the options panel automatically appear near the mouse pointer when using tools which have multiple options available.

[ipselute]

You are absolutely right, sir. Options bar is very disruptive for ALL users ! Shifting attention from the object "at hand / at mouse cursor" to the top of the screen is very tedious and tiresome for the eyes (very small, very easy to miss Options bar).

Autodesk should implement some floating Options bar at mouse cursor, like in MS Word, Excel, etc. Or something like DYNMODE (F12) in Autocad, allowing user to choose between fixed Options bar and floating Options bar.

P.S. Please vote for this HUGE productivity improvement.

[fadilDJDYT]

Hi @Anonymous, You are right. I was also looking for direct entry for offset distance without clicking on the option bar field. I don't know if it is already taken care of. I was using Vectorworks before and they had a nice option to directly reach the distance entry field through keyboard and Revit should also consider something for this.