I just wanted to give you a quick heads-up regarding three minor tweaks I uploaded to the HM3 Alpha this morning:
- The manual entry box for resizing items used to be limited to 200%, but now goes all the way up to 999%. That should allow for some interesting effects.
- The label formerly known as "Scale" has been renamed to "Size", on the recommendation of UI specialist Mark Shute. I agree with him that this is a much more universally understood way of saying what the tool does.
- While you could previously click on the three "current color" swatches to change color areas just as if you'd clicked on one of the buttons over to the side, you can now also click directly on the numbers themselves to do the same thing. Before this tweak, the numbers were not clickable, creating a non-functional blank spot right in the middle of the swatch.
- It doesn't get much more minor than this, but I added "%" indicators to the manual entry boxes for the Size tool.
One question for you all, is it obvious that you can manually change the settings in the Transform area?
Awesome! I was hoping you would change the scaling limits!
Nice ideas, esp. the increased scaling possibilities: this will actually help me with one drawing I’m doing right now.
Previously I had to scale everything else down to make an item appear bigger than twice the original size, and then zoom in to take the print screen… That used to be a pain in the… Well thanks anyway for changing that. π Huge help
1. Aw, yeah!
2. Dang, my recommendation was “KΓch thΖ°α»c.”
3. That does help quite a bit. The swap buttons were small.
4. Again, makes things simpler. Less math is always good.
Thanks again, Jeff!
To answer your question Jeff, “is it obvious that you can manually change the settings in the Transform area?”
I’m not sure how intuitive it is. For those of us who new what to look for it really was quite easy to sdjust to. For new users however it may be less clear. I think anyone who takes any time to review it will figure it out though.
I like that we can scale items larger now. That should prove very useful.
Sweet! I was trying to figure out how to do an effect for an upcoming illustration, and I couldn’t resize one element to be large enough. Now that shouldn’t be a problem.
@Myro: They got a pill for that.
Atomic Punk (6): LMAO! I get spam for that almost every day.
Nice tweeks Jeff, I wonder if it is possible to address the issue of flipped objects reverting to there regular non-Flipped status when resizing them ?
Yay! I was also wishing for bigger scaling limits! Though it would have been nice to have had it before the last contest, since originally I’d wanted the hand in my poster to be a lot bigger…
While I think it’s fairly obvious that you can transform items manually (I’ve only been using HM3 a few weeks and I think I figured it out pretty quickly), it’s not obvious that you can scale items past 200%, since the grid still doesn’t go past 200% and people might not immediately try to go past that manually.
It isn’t immediately apparent you can manually change the settings but I bet new users will eventually try to input their own numbers. As someone familiar with the program I can’t say for sure. I should have my wife give it a go as a true test.
Kaldath (9): Yes, that’s on the list.
I’m wondering if maybe instead of the pushed-out button look of the manual text fields, I should maybe use a plain white instead. But then you still have to know to click in there and type something in.
Alright! Greater scaling should really help with small items like Insignias. Though right now, those get freakin’ huge…
Actually, now it’s OFF the list, because I just updated the program to retain flip values when resizing. Why? Because me=awesome, that’s why.
Let me know if this breaks anything. It does get confusing if you’ve flipped and mirrored something, then you rotate it, and then reset sizing. It all works properly but it doesn’t make intuitive sense just looking at it. Anyway. Enjoy!
Incidentally, I incremented the version to A.21, which as Worf pointed out isn’t actually right, but let’s just roll with it.
Maybe you could add a tooltip that explains it Jeff
Yay! My dream has come true! Now we can make Leyfield=esque giant pouches to go with the tiny feet! :p
Seriously, that’s awesome that we can do that now.
Flipping+Resizing does work! Woohoo! Jeff=awesome indeed! π
It’s like every little thing I had a problem with is disappearing right before my eyes. Thanks, Jeff. Or Captain Awesome as they say in some countries.
Thanks to the latest scaling update, this tribute to Jeff was made possible. Captain Liefeld!!!!
http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=76279&d=1301178332
Jeff: I was playing around with the Size and Flip functions and found a small bug. Flipping and then scaling an item maintains the Flip when using the slider or inputting numbers in the Y (height) vector, but if you input a number in the X (width) vector the item flips back to its original orientation. Has anyone else encountered this?
Good report, thanks dblade. I’ll look into that.
I forgot to credit Tigerguy786 (16) for the Captain Liefeld idea. Although after he sees it he may not want to be associated with it in any way. π
LMAO! Captain Leifeld (16) was hilarious, dblade. Just reinforces the idea that Shatterstar’s egregiously stupid costume needs to be ripped a new one on Bad Costume Wednesday.
We can scale past 200%? You made my day. π
dblade (19): I’m trying to figure out the problem with your pic. Either it’s that the feet are visible, or that they’re anatomically correct. π
dblade (19) Nice. Just make the legs ridiculously long and add a huge friggin gun, and it would be perfect!
Dan (26): Doh! That’s what I forgot. Long legs and BIG GUUUUUUN!!!!
Thanks Jeff the larger scaling will come in very handy. I had found myself limited more than just once, because of it
I would recommend one more minor tweak, allowing the color swatch transparency to carry over between colors
In regard to your question, I found it easily understood, and rather like the setup
Captain Liefeld updated. Now with Ultra Legs and BIG GUUUUUUUUN!
http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=76281&d=1301190071
Oh man, the large scaling is extremely useful. I foresee many large insignias in my future.
Captain Liefeld just made my day, thanks for the laugh!
I have to say I don’t think it’s obvious that you can manually change the settings in the Transform area. Per Kaldath’s suggestion, tooltips in general are not a bad idea, if they’re possible. What about (I don’t know what to call it) up-and-down arrows that you click & hold down so percentages scroll by; the longer you hold it down the faster they go, or one arrow=slow, 2arrows=fast. Also maybe impossible, or more trouble than they’re worth. Maybe just a label under the box that says “999% Max.”
Of course it’s obvious to ME; I’m considering the benighted noobs.
Less obvious is the black-on-dark-grey highlighting you get when you go to enter a new percentage.