Graph Editor: Stacked mode for F-curves #71238
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Reference: blender/blender#71238
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Design proposal for “Stacked mode” for F-curves in Graph Editor:
“Stacked mode” is the mode for Graph Editor where F-curves are placed one below the other
Some advantages are described on Rightclickselect - https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/4jbbbc/
I am not UI designer so examples may look ugly but I hope the idea is clear enough.
PROS:
This mode allow you to show and manage your F-curves more effectively in some cases
to this 
From this
It allows you to see the “flow of energy” in your F-curves in a more comfortable way
Here is a vertical movement on Z axis "flows" into a squash
As you can see there are some mess with F-curves in default mode
It allows you to control you F-curves more precisely e.g. If you move handles of different curves at once when these F-curves are at the same place
HOW IT SHOULD WORKS:
This mode is not default
I suppose menu -View- in Graph Editor is the best place for it, where you could toggle it on\off
Also toggle button next to the normalize button is a good idea
Stacked mode replace the non-stacked view when it toggled on.
Workflow and behavior are almost the same as in the non-stacked view. I see only two difference.
Should be select channels, go stacked mode, those channels appear, unselect one of them it disappears from the stack, the stack rearranges itself to fit the graph editor space, you select an other channel (add) and it will again refresh to accommodate the channels into the stacked view. You deselect a channel in the stacked mode and it should disappear from the stack.
If none of the channels are selected and you toggle stacked mode on it should show nothing (same as none of objects or bones are selected in the non-stacked view). First of all you have to select channels that you need in non-stacked view mode (both for bones and objects) then toggle stacked mode on.
You should be able to rearrange channels in the stack manually (e.g. by mouse drag)
You should be able to change vertical size of a channel string (field? place?) by dragging border of the channel up or down (to give more room for the channel you want). For example Maya does not allow you to change it (this features and the previous one), but Pixar’s Presto does.
Added subscribers: @StanislavOvcharov, @Hjalti, @NachoConesa, @PabloFournier
Hi @Stan1. Even though we enjoy people proposing improvements, it's not allowed to post screenshots / recordings of other, closed source, software. The rights on such imagery is vaguely defined, and generally it's also not that useful. Mockups of how things would work within Blender are welcome, and often give a much better picture of the idea in your head than just "look how someone else does it".
For new feature proposals, Right Click Select is the proper place. There you can discuss ideas, flesh them out, and really build a nice proposal. Also be sure to talk with developers about your ideas in #blender-coders up front, so that you're sure your ideas match the design & UX concepts already in Blender.
Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Archived'
@dr.sybren But we disscused it in the blender chat recently and you said to create design task. I can just remove the wrong screenshots (Done). This request is already on rightclick select - https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/4jbbbc/
Changed status from 'Archived' to: 'Open'
Ok, so as a tip for a future design task: include the relevant info. If there is also a link to RCS, just include it.
As it is now, your proposal mixes a few things together. It describes
Could you edit the task, and maybe separate those things out? It's probably easier for others (including me) to understand if it follows the above points in order, instead of inter-mixing everything.
Also it would be great if you could elaborate some more on the user experience side of things. How would people edit those stacks? Would stacks be enabled by default, and if not, how would people enable the feature? How would stacks interact with other Blender features, like pressing the Home button to zoom out to show all data? What would determine the vertical size of stacks? What happens if there isn't enough room to show them all, how would scrolling work? There are many questions that have to be answered before someone could jump in and actually develop the feature.
Added subscriber: @dr.sybren
@dr.sybren Updated. Should I add more detail or change something?
Added subscriber: @LucianoMunoz
@Hjalti @LucianoMunoz From my end this looks pretty useful. What's your take on it?
Looks very interesting to me, can easily see it being very useful! :)
Nice ! I dont use that as often as normalize (in maya) but its definitelly useful,
maybe the channels visible should be the ones selected (highlighted) instead of clickng and adding channels?
Added subscriber: @WayneDixon
I can see this as being useful. I do think it should automatically 'stack' the selected channels like looch mentioned, but you probably need a limit on this as if you select all the channels for the characters there simply won't be enough room to fit the 17,834 channels in the viewport haha.
And maybe the 'stack' toggle button should appear next to the normalize button only when normalize is active.
Having said all that, I'm not sure if it's a feature I would use all that often as I am not a fan of normailzing the view (which might be needed for this).
I prefer to see how my curves relate to each other according to the real values, and normalizing the view breaks my brain. But I do see the benefit for others and I would be happy to try it out, maybe it would become part of my new workflow.
Added subscriber: @FinbarrORiordan
@LucianoMunoz @WayneDixon Yeah, that's good idea. Only Selected channels in classic view should be added automatically in the stack. What was added in stack stays in stack, you can only delete useless channels by yourself. If you want to add some more channels you should switch to classic view, select other channels you want and switch back to the stack mode. I think the new additional channels should be added in the stack below current selected channel in the stack or below all the channels if none of channels is selected. Right?
Toggle button next to the normalize button is also good idea, but I don't think it should appear when normalize is active only. Because your f-curves should switch to normalize automatically when you toggle stacked mode on even if they weren't normalized before that.
@StanislavOvcharov Yeah, if you select the curves in the order you want, it should stack them in that order. But drop and drag re-ordering after that is nice too.
Is "the classic one" the same as "classic view"? In that case I would name it "non-stacked view" instead to make this distinction explicit.
When does this happen?
When taken literally this says that I can't delete useless channels when friends are around, but I'm fairly sure you don't mean that ;-) Do you mean that it will be impossible to remove channels from the stack?
This sounds rather tedious to me, but then again, INAA (I'm Not An Animator). Why not keep the visibility and selectability rules the same in stacked and non-stacked mode, and either:
The non-stacked view shows the channel list. That's not "nothing".
I see this making people lose their work. Deleting should not be used to hide things, and hiding should not be used to delete things.
What is a 'channel string'?
Fixed.
I meant that you can delete channels from the stack manually only. So if you switch back to the non-stacked view and select some other channels and toggle on stacked view again these new channels will not replace those ones which already were in the stack.
I am not sure what did you mean. I suppose that rules are the same for both mode (except deleting channels). What I meant I have tried to describe just above. - show all selected channels stacked - then if you want to add more channels you go back to the non-stacked view and select other channels then toggle on stacked mode again. I don't think that - show all visible channels stacked is a good idea because we can easy get too many channels in the stack by mistake.
This is btw option B. which allows you to add channels to the stack in a little bit easy way (and maybe a little bit more understandable). As for me I prefer option A where you can add channels manually only. Select channels you want then hit a hotkey or command from right-click or W special menu or something.. It seems to me that you have more control in this way (you have lower chances to add some channels by mistake)
I meant this: None of keyframed objects or/and bones are selected so graph editor shows nothing in the both modes. Also stacked mode shows nothing if keyframed objects or/and are selected in none-stacked view but channels are not added yet to the stack (option A) or keyframed objects or/and are selected in none-stacked view but channels are not selected (option B)
Well.. I meant when you press Delete hotkey you just remove selected channel from the stack but not delete it as in the non-stacked view mode. (also there could be some confirm menu after you press delete hotkey - remove channels from stack)
I meant this field:
Added subscriber: @MaciejJutrzenka
i think to make it work with a lot of data.. i would propose to make stacking only for object that is selected. or curves that are selected for example.
That's exactly how it should work - stacking selected channels only from selected objects or bones only from different armatures because this is one of the main pros to visualize energy flow from one object to another
That makes sense.
Why not just keep the channel list as-is, and just have a toggle option between "on top of each other" (non-stacked) and "below each other (stacked)"?
That's a hard NO for me. Deleting should be deleting. Hiding from some list is not deleting.
@dr.sybren Agreed. Updated description. Fixed all objections for now.
I don't think it needs to 'delete' the curves. Just unselect the channels and they won't show in the stack anymore.
Yes. You switch back to the non-stacked view and unselect unwanted channels there.
This is exactly what I meant here - Only selected channels in the non-stacked view should be added automatically in the stack. If you want to add some more channels you should switch to the non-stacked view, add to the selection other channels you want and switch back to the stack mode. I will update description to clarify this moment.
Added subscriber: @RedMser
couldnt one just select more or less while in stacked view and it refreshing itself according to that selection?
How it should to look like?
the moment you click shift click a new channel (add), it will add it at the bottom of the stack, or inbetween depending on the order of the channels on the left side
I didnt get how it suppose to be to add some channels while in stacked mode. To remove some channels right from stack was a good thought but seems that someone said that it would be excessive.
Oh, it was dr. Sybren - "That's a hard NO for me. Deleting should be deleting. Hiding from some list is not deleting. "
it was answer for my - "Well.. I meant when you press Delete hotkey you just remove selected channel from the stack but not delete it as in the non-stacked view mode. (also there could be some confirm menu after you press delete hotkey - remove channels from stack)"
But maybe I did get him wrong
well yes deleting is deleting,
unselecting is a whole other thing, you deselect a channel and it should dissapear from the stack.
That's how i'd approach it, i just dont have the tools right now to make a mockup, but should be select channels, go stacked mode, those channels appear, unselect one of them it dissapears from the stack, the stack rearranges itself to fit the graph editor space, you select an other channel (add) and it will again refresh to accomodate the channels into the stacked view.
as much as i dont like using other software as example making a mockup would take too long:
@LucianoMunoz Yep. That was kind of misunderstanding, I definitely meant disappearing when I said - "delete channels from stacked mode".
Yes. your example is great and it should work like this.
Stacked mode for F-curves in Graph editor.to Graph Editor: Stacked mode for F-curvesAdded subscriber: @Kristoffer-Landes
Added subscriber: @Excinis
Just tripped over this thread, wow so much work and discussion here for it to just kind of wilt and die on the vine.
@StanislavOvcharov did you end up ever taking this further?
Nothing much to add. The simplest implementation should be that all the normalized f-curves of the selected bones are shown one below the other. Then, when you select the specified channels, only these channels are displayed one below the other.