wishlist for 5.0: "Hiding" of certain GUI-actions during different phases of workflow

dust wrote on 11/27/2003, 1:27 AM
Hi all,

I often do FX-corrections (like color correction) on my project as last step/phase, after I already positioned all my events. Unfortunately, thanks to my butterfinger, I often accidentally move an event when I just tried to change its Video-FX settings because I missed the little icon in the thumbnail and maybe moved the mouse slightly while the button was still down. Of course I can use an undo if I notice the problem immediately, but it is still a nuisance. Also, this sometimes happens if I just want to select events (worst is if I Ctrl-select events and so often unwantedly copy events because I dragged the mouse). On the other hand, when I want to move events, sometimes I accidently hit the Video-FX icon and have to close the window that pops up.

One possibility to prevent such "accidents" could be to add a feature that globally blocks/hides certain GUI-features (only GUI, actions performed by scripts should not be restricted). For example, I could imagine to hide all Event FX/PanCrop icons within thumbnails, or to prevent all actions that change event edged/offsets/creations/copies/removals. It would be comparable to the eventwide lock mode, but with higher granularity as of what to lock, and affecting the whole project, not only single events.

This would also reflect to set the GUI in certain workflow-specific "phases" of a project: A phase that only activates GUI-actions that allow project composition (but no FX, envelopes, etc), and a phase that only activates finetuning within a project (but doesn't allow the modify event edges). Eventually, such "GUI-activation-templates" could even be created manually. I could also imagine using specific keyboard shortcuts in different templates.

Just an idea, but maybe there are other ways to deal with the problem.
Andy

Comments

kameronj wrote on 11/27/2003, 2:11 AM
...or maybe the user takes a little more time when working with the application at later stages of production to ensure only desired actions are completed.

Then, there is the undo button.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/27/2003, 5:53 AM
A shortcut to lock all events, or all in view, would be very useful. I would enjoy that.

:)
JJKizak wrote on 11/27/2003, 6:04 AM
Yeah, I do that all the time too but do not have an answerother than double click.

JJK
rmack350 wrote on 11/27/2003, 11:26 PM
Okay then, how about another edit details view (or maybe savable custom views)? The new view could be events sorted by tracks and could have all the toggles you want.

Actually, Event View comes pretty close and just needs a few refinements:

--Ability to sort by column A then column B then column C
--Ability to toggle checkboxes en mass-perhaps like AEFX and Photoshop do it by mouse rollover, although that might be tightly copyrighted or patented
--Ability to save custom views
--Check fields to enable and disable the tools you want.
--Quick links to the edit details window when you right-click an event. A little more detail than "Properties" because you could use it on a lot of events at once.

Rob Mack