Collections Proposal #54775

New Issue

William Reynish · 2018-04-23T17:59:50+02:00

William Reynish commented

2018-04-23 17:59:50 +02:00

Collections Proposal

Separating Scene Graph from Collections view.

One of the main confusing things, is that we are currently mixing Scene Graph (Parent/Child relationships) with Layers/Collections. This makes it seem as if all children of objects in a collection is also inside that same collection, even if that's not the case. The two views are entirely different, and we should reflect that in the UI.

In the Outliner, we will have one view called Collections, and another called Scenes:

'Collections' shows a list of Collections inside the current View Layer
'Scenes' shows a list of all the Scenes with the scene graph inside each.

Overrides
Overrides are stored in the View Layer. For this reason, we will move overrides to the View Layers Properties section. This way, we can make it so all Collections are always displayed under the Master Collection in the Outliner. We never want to see Collections hanging out independently, which caused lots of confusion.

In the View Layer properties, we have a list of View Layers. each of these allows you to create a list of override sets. These include a list of affected Collections as well as the properties themselves that get affected by the override.

Accessing Collections from the 3D View
We would like to keep a way to access the collections from the 3D view, just as you can in Blender 2.79. It's useful when the Outliner is not visible, and when working in full screen mode. However, the old 'dot bucket list' interface does not map at all well to the concept of nested collections, so we really don't want to use the old interface here. It will only make users confused and have to think about several mental models all at the same time.

Instead, we will create a mini-Outliner view in the N-key area, where users get a list of nested Collections, and a quick way to show/hide items inside it. Later on, we could also support renaming and adding new collections here.

List of UI tweaks that would make working with Collections easier

There's no way to move a collection back to the top level once you've nested it.
New Collections should always be added to the Master Collection, so objects don't immediately disappear when adding them to new Collections
We will do away with the 'Collection linking' concept. If Collections are always added to the Master Collection, we won't need it.
Filtering we can handle better in a popover. The infinite list of mini-icons is not clear and not fun to scroll through
Adding new Collections should be super easy. We will add a clear button to add new ones

This document reflects the current state of the Collections design

## Collections Proposal **Separating Scene Graph from Collections view.** One of the main confusing things, is that we are currently mixing Scene Graph (Parent/Child relationships) with Layers/Collections. This makes it seem as if all children of objects in a collection is also inside that same collection, even if that's not the case. The two views are entirely different, and we should reflect that in the UI. In the Outliner, we will have one view called Collections, and another called Scenes: - 'Collections' shows a list of Collections inside the current View Layer - 'Scenes' shows a list of all the Scenes with the scene graph inside each. **Overrides** Overrides are stored in the View Layer. For this reason, we will move overrides to the View Layers Properties section. This way, we can make it so all Collections are always displayed under the Master Collection in the Outliner. We never want to see Collections hanging out independently, which caused lots of confusion. In the View Layer properties, we have a list of View Layers. each of these allows you to create a list of override sets. These include a list of affected Collections as well as the properties themselves that get affected by the override. **Accessing Collections from the 3D View** We would like to keep a way to access the collections from the 3D view, just as you can in Blender 2.79. It's useful when the Outliner is not visible, and when working in full screen mode. However, the old 'dot bucket list' interface does not map at all well to the concept of nested collections, so we really don't want to use the old interface here. It will only make users confused and have to think about several mental models all at the same time. Instead, we will create a mini-Outliner view in the N-key area, where users get a list of nested Collections, and a quick way to show/hide items inside it. Later on, we *could* also support renaming and adding new collections here. **List of UI tweaks that would make working with Collections easier** - There's no way to move a collection back to the top level once you've nested it. - New Collections should always be added to the Master Collection, so objects don't immediately disappear when adding them to new Collections - We will do away with the 'Collection linking' concept. If Collections are always added to the Master Collection, we won't need it. - Filtering we can handle better in a popover. The infinite list of mini-icons is not clear and not fun to scroll through - Adding new Collections should be super easy. We will add a clear button to add new ones ---- *This document reflects the current state of the Collections design*

William Reynish self-assigned this 2018-04-23 17:59:50 +02:00

William Reynish commented

2018-04-23 17:59:50 +02:00

Added subscribers: @WilliamReynish, @brecht

Erick Tukuniata commented

2018-04-23 23:33:39 +02:00

Added subscriber: @ErickNyanduKabongo

Erick Tukuniata commented

2018-04-23 23:33:39 +02:00

New Collections should always be added to the Master Collection, so objects don't immediately disappear when adding them to new Collections

This makes me wonder why Workspace RenderLayer is the default and not Viewport workspace? I asking because i believe everyone will like to understand what is going in the background, it is not a problem if something disappears as long as you know where to find it.

Let's say Viewport workspace is default workspace when starting Blender, when user adds an new object to a collection, the object gets highlighted and if the collection is closed or nested, it gets collapsed and user can see the newly added object. Note that objects are not disappearing when Viewport is the visible workspace because here Master collection is already visible.

I have been toying with blender 2.8 collection and sometimes it is pretty fast to create a new collection to already created collection and add an object there. No need to create first in the Master collection and then start to move collection over the place.

> New Collections should always be added to the Master Collection, so objects don't immediately disappear when adding them to new Collections This makes me wonder why Workspace RenderLayer is the default and not Viewport workspace? I asking because i believe everyone will like to understand what is going in the background, it is not a problem if something disappears as long as you know where to find it. Let's say Viewport workspace is default workspace when starting Blender, when user adds an new object to a collection, the object gets highlighted and if the collection is closed or nested, it gets collapsed and user can see the newly added object. Note that objects are not disappearing when Viewport is the visible workspace because here Master collection is already visible. I have been toying with blender 2.8 collection and sometimes it is pretty fast to create a new collection to already created collection and add an object there. No need to create first in the Master collection and then start to move collection over the place.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2018-04-24 13:42:25 +02:00

Yes, Viewport should be the default active view layer in the workspaces if we are creating it by default and suggesting users to work within it.

Julian Eisel commented

2018-04-24 14:40:22 +02:00

Added subscriber: @JulianEisel

Julian Eisel commented

2018-04-24 14:40:22 +02:00

Huuuuge thumbs up for the general proposal! I've been very worried about the complexity of the new layer/collection system; this addresses my concerns just fine and is in fact quite similar to what I had in mind.
No more linking, instead you define you're hierarchy once and define a sub-set of it for each layer -- so much yes!

I notice one point though: Why having a master collection rather than a master view-layer? It would behave just like the master collection, you organize all your objects in it and it would be the base of all other layers. View-layers are already a higher-level concept than collections, it feels a bit unintuitive to squeeze another level in-between those two.

Huuuuge thumbs up for the general proposal! I've been very worried about the complexity of the new layer/collection system; this addresses my concerns just fine and is in fact quite similar to what I had in mind. No more linking, instead you define you're hierarchy once and define a sub-set of it for each layer -- so much yes! I notice one point though: Why having a master collection rather than a master view-layer? It would behave just like the master collection, you organize all your objects in it and it would be the base of all other layers. View-layers are already a higher-level concept than collections, it feels a bit unintuitive to squeeze another level in-between those two.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2018-04-24 16:42:05 +02:00

@JulianEisel, I think the scene is the "master view-layer", and the view layers are different "views" of the scene. The scene has a collections and (render) settings that you can override in the view layer. We will be hiding the term "Master Collection" from the UI, there will just be "Collections" in the scene.

Dalai Felinto commented

2018-04-30 10:09:24 +02:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Resolved'

Dalai Felinto closed this issue

2018-04-30 10:09:24 +02:00

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Collections Proposal #54775

Collections Proposal