Travel distances and smooth programming flow

Is it just me or isn’t the mouse pointer travel distance just to god damn high in this program?

nedladdning

Almost all commands you need to travel straight across the screen. I would suggest VC to take a look at the mouse pointer logistics/flow.
Of cause, customization of shortcut key could have helped a great big deal, but…sorry, unavailable

VC is sadly missing (or maybe not missing, but at least not possible to use) some of the key feature of fast and smooth programming (according to me).For the VC-software to be a worthy, and one of the great competitor in the simulation world it needs to help the simulation-operator reduce the workload and in the end the time.
Software is really nice, and the concept with simulation and python blended to a milkshake, is a super great ide. But the operating/interpreting needs to be in the focus now.

Some of the key feature, witch would have made my day and stop losing hair, missing:
Why is it not possible to step up/down in robot program position list with key up and down?
OR use ctrl +C / ctrl +V in the same list?
I will in the end develop carpal tunnel syndrome of this.

Some other things witch would make the whole operating much more convenient and most of all, quicker:

  • When using Alignment option, selecting source geometry from component list would be nice.
  • When the PnP manipulator is used, ONLY if you have the pointer inside blue circle it would be
    possible to move the selected item. Now you don’t even have to look at the object and by accident
    move it not knowing of it, believe me when saying it happens more often then you think.
  • Why in the goods name cant you UNDO everything? I meant, one time, by accident I pressed Blockify
    from right click menu. I did not know, but i do for sure now. Blockify is irreversible. Only thing solving it
    is to reimport model and start over. 1 hour of coloring and kinematics waisted. Thank you guys, blockify… what would i do without it. What a splendid function (ironic).
  • Output window is the biggest are of waisted, valuable, screen cm2, i have ever seen. The window is most of the time empty. A black hole shaped into a square. Only time i have seen it coming to use a little bit, is when you working with python. And even then it is very space with information. Take a look at Autocad f.ex. they print more or less EVERYthing you do. Not just inform you about errors and distances.
    And hey, while talking about output window. Let me be a little bit wild and crazy here, but what if you
    could connect it to undo button? Everything you can undo, you print in the Output, everything you print
    in the output, you can undo!?! Just make sure the list is long. not just the last 5 events.
  • UCS - User frame? Like setting the object frame of the world… Take a look at Robot studio.
    Most useful i must say.

You know i could go on al day. But the hidden message in this is - …VC, step up!! Start to improve the operators possibility to work with the software not on the software.

Have a nice weekend.

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Those are some valid points, but let me show you an another viewpoint (excuses, really). :smile:

You do realize you can arrange all panels however you want and they will appear where you placed them? The ribbon also has this shortcut system that you can trigger by pressing Alt.
There is actually also a keyboard shortcut binding system for all actions, just no UI for configuring it.

The robot program tree is a bit messed up system, with legacy and OEM product related constraints, long due for a full refactor that probably can’t be done without breaking changes (and breaking changes are practically never allowed to maintain backward compatibility). In comparison, the Process Modeling’s editor is using a new UI system already and there you can even copy and move statements between processes.
You should be able to copy-paste robot statements and move between them with keyboard, though?
Also, its a bit misguided to try to use VC for any serious robot offline programming. The partner products such as Delfoi and Octopuz are for that.

The software was never designed to have universal undo functionality. So having undo for some action is an exception that has been tediously implemented for every action separately.
Implementing undo in a software like this where many actions manipulate complex interconnected object hierarchies is quite difficult. Adding universal undo would either require a really major archictectural refactor to support it (with breaking changes), or doing some kind of brute force approach (save a copy of whole component / layout after each action) that could make everything way too slow.

Basically if you are not saving at least every few minutes you are just having way too much trust in yourself and the software, i.e. asking for trouble.

The output panel is mainly for runtime errors and debugging your own Python scripts using “print”. AutoCAD has completely different (and ancient) approach on how the software is used, their “output” is really a command line terminal from where you can do all your actions instead of using the GUI. That is not something VC is aiming for at all.
If the panel bothers you so, why don’t you just resize or unpin or move it to second screen or something? Also if you can afford a VC license you can afford a nice set of big screens too. :smile:

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Workspace
There is one default workspace for the panels. Would more than one default workspace/layout of the panels help you?

For example, some users create a tabbed group of the eCat + Properties panel, Component Graph + Properties, and Program Editor + Properties + Jog. A few others prefer to keep some panels floating and no output panel. And then some have most commonly used panels side-by-side but not tabbed.

Personally, I only use the default workspace only when I am required to use it. Otherwise, I unpin most of the panels and my mouse sensitivity is high enough to do small flick to go back and forth. I am still not used to using the Teach Overlay Menu, but that’s mostly because I don’t use the software that much these days. With remote work, I can only use one screen, so my UI layout issues are mainly where to put the Statistics dashboard, script editor and mapping editor.

Shortcuts
Would you like a keybinding section in the backstage for configuring all actions accessible via the UI? Would it be a requirement to support add-on shortcuts as well, i.e. list keybinding for action made by yourself or others.

The Quick Access Toolbar is old at this point, so would you rather have a panel of actions/commands that you can customize and move where you want it and get feedback if action is available or not? An alternative to the panel could be the ability to hide/show a sidebar in 3D world that allows you to do same thing. The 3D world toolbar on the left side of the viewport sort of does that but you cannot customize what is shown there.

Key up/down
Sounds good.

Alignment
Do you mean you want to filter what node/component the geometry can be selected from or select the geometry from a list?

Selecting geometry from list is something might help if you can preview the selection by browsing through list. I would prefer to use shortcut or have option to first set the face or geometry set of where I can select from, and then select the point. A bit moot though if you are familiar with the component’s structure and know what you are looking for or have frame to select.

Undo
Undoing everything is a goal to consider, but let’s discuss some small steps first. Ability to undo blockify and cylindrify, is good! The ability to undo any drag and drop operation, is good too. I see one conflict when it comes to undoing things done via scripting, but anything done via GUI is something to work towards.

Output window
To me, it’s only job is to display messages and help troubleshoot things.

UCS
It was supported in older VC products, so let’s see if it makes a comeback.

Misc
The situation you described sounds like you would have benefitted from auto-save or additional prompt for you to confirm that blockify operation cannot be undone when applied. Did you forgot to save or check for backup file?

You might have also benefitted from a paperclip/purple monkey in the bottom right corner or just a simple popup that informs you there have been several operations/modifications done to the layout/component and it is recommended to save or click here to quick-save the changes. You don’t always want to see the paperclip, so naturally an option to turn off the helper. It has also been suggested in the past that a helper/intellisense could monitor a layout/component and have a section that displays warnings or recommendations on what to do to improve performance, etc. of the layout.

It is definitely not 2016 anymore, and going virtual has entered the fast lane. Feedback is always good, and you’re input helps improve things.

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