Slide 0.97_05

Basics   Multiselection   Percent/WorldUnit   Repeat   To do/Previous versions

  General info :
 Slide vertices along their attached edges, or edges on their lateral edges; the constrain choice is done by 'drawing' it (indicating by mouse move). It is now possible to slide loop/part of loop.


 What's new :
 - Toggle between absolute and relative distance : use key 'a'. It can be done while dragging.
 - Multiple edge sliding (inside the same loop) : trigger multiselection mode by shift-clicking one the edges of the loop.
 - Repeat toggle : use key 'd'; it is possible to repeat with a vertex a move done on an edge, absolute/relative distance toggle is also kept.
 - Does not use the filtermax variable anymore. As Tweak_s plugin, it uses now a circle of 30 pixels radius around the click position as filterzone. This might remove some compatibility problems with on MacOs and Linux. This might be also a too small/too big radius for screen resolution above 1200*980/ under 1024*768; please, let me know if this seems to be the case for you (plugin making erratic choices when it has to decide on which edge to slide on).
 - RMB while dragging will cancel the move.
- Esc will exit the plugin anytime, keeping any changes done with it.


  Installation & compatibility :
 - erase all previous versions of the plugin in your wings directory (if unsure where you precedently copied the plugin, make a search on wpc_slide*.beam). You can erase also the C_pref file that the previous version had (or should had.. :( ) created in the wings root directory, it won't be used anymore..
 - download wpc_slide_097_05_bis.rar here and unrar in wings/plugins/commands directory ( 2 files : wpc_slide_97_05, and c_utils_97_05.beam; let me know if the rar (btw winrar 3.0) packaging cause problems on non-windows platform, and show me how to make a compatible one :) ). It's released for wings 0.97_05, but might be backwards compatible with all 0.97 series.


 Basics :
 Again, it's a tweak-like plugin...
 It is started by Tools/Slide (i use alt+s as shortcutkey). From now, only vertex and edge can be selected; selection mode can be changed using icons, hotkeys or smart-highlighting.
 Left click and hold (keep pressed) on a vertex, and drag it towards the other vertex of the edge you want to slide on. In the example, it'll be slided on the vertical edge (the arrows indicates all possible choices..) see left pic below, the right one shows what would be the choices for an edge.

 The status line is :
 FILTER ZONE means that no dragging will happen until the mouse has moved at least 30 pixels on the screen ( the options on the right of the status line are discussed below).
After that, the drag will begin, on the edge indicated by the mouse move; see below :

 the status bar is :

 50% represents the actual length of the edge the vertex is slide on, compared to its original length (more on this below).
 Additional features :
 - when dragging, the move can be canceled by right-clicking.
 - as in tweak, undo/redo/undo_toggle work inside the plugin; the whole plugin session can be cancelled after exiting by undoing it.
 - pressing Escape will immediatly exit the plugin (even in multiselection mode) and keep any changes done in it.


 Option : multi-edge selection :
 It's triggered by shift-selecting one of the edges of the loop. The plugin is then switched in multi-edge selection mode, all edges of the loop selected except the end ones if the loop is not closed.

  The status bar is:

 It is now possible to remove/add edges from selection (even end loop ones) by clicking individually each edge, or paint select; it's not possible to add edges that are not on the same loop. If the selection set becomes empty, the plugin will be switched to normal mode, i.e non multi-selection. There is no highlighting with this selection mode.
 When the selection is done, right-click to confirm it, and click&hold on one of the selected edges to start the drag as usual (filter mode etc..).


Option : distance :
 There is now a toggle to choose if the move is done proportionally to edge length (PERCENT), or in world unit (WORLDUNIT). Following the same example (the end loop edge has been added) than before :

 Both images correspond to the same mouse move, first one in percent mode, second one in world unit.
 On the left each vertex is moved proportionnaly to the length of the edge it's slide on (PERCENT).
 On the right each vertex is moved the same distance (WORLDUNIT), the slided loop will not tend to acquire the 'aim' loop shape.
 Note that changing distance unit can be done anytime during the plugin session, even while dragging. You'll need to move a bit the mouse to see the change.
 Note also that in WORLDUNIT mode the move towards the 'aim' loop will be limited to the smallest edge length.

 Here is another illustration of the difference between the two modes :
 - start from a cube smoothed twice, start slide, multiselect the central loop.
- slide it slightly on the right to lock the slide on the right adjacent edges, keep lmb pressed.

 - slide the loop fully on the left, in percent mode this will be similar to left pic, in world unit similar to right one.

Option : repeat :
 Toggle repeat by pressing 'd' key. It's only possible to do so if at least one move has been done before in the plugin session. Select and drag as usual (even multiselection), as soon as the mouse is out of the filterzone, the move will be automatically repeated in the indicated direction.
 Note that it will remember if the repeated move had been done in percent or world unit. A bug might be hiding somewhere here, i didn't test all the possibilities, and seem to have sometimes strange behaviour..


To do :
 - some sort of store/recall selection.
 - alternative way to start with multiselection with one edge only ?.
 - look inside highlighting and marquee selecting to see if adaptable.
 - precision step via +/- keys.
 - display distance as in 97_05 move/free command, top left of the screen, display repeated move as well.
 - might add slide on face.
 - move the multi-selection code to c_utils, now!.
 - change PERCENT/ WOLRDUNIT to something like REL/WU (rel stands for relative), screams less ?..


Previous versions :
 wpc_slide_97_01 : all wings 0.97 serie : download and install here.