Dalai Felinto follows up on his previous demo of the new render layers and collections system. Most of us had no idea what he was actually showing - today he explains the new concepts.
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About the Author
Bart Veldhuizen
I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.
13 Comments
I'm glad you got this one :) Indeed the last one was a teaser, with some of the features still half implemented. While now I was able to walk through it showing it for real. I hope you liked it.
And for those interested on the third video of the serie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe9Z7EDXNf8
Be aware that this is also more like a teaser. A more teaser. If people like it I can make a longer version with explanations, as I did this time.
"If people like it I can make a longer version with explanations, as I did this time."
Yes please. We are eager to know more about the capabilities of the new view-port.
Wow, this is totally different to all the layer systems I know so far (AutoCad, Rhino, C4D, Photoshop, etc). It seems to be more complicated but I can see the potential. I didn't realy get why first create a "geometry" scene layer in the properties panel and then again in the outliner and how they are connected but I am really looking forward for the next video :)
hmmmmm.. It's just me that thinks this looks a bit confusing? I don't understand why this new layer system works like this. In my opinion it should be viewport layers in the outliner and the render layers shouldn't be changed. Maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture?
What do you do with your junk objects ? No more layer 20 !
Layer 21! :)
Hey !
I've seen the third video and it's evolving quite fast compared to the first one !
things are getting very good shape , and if I'm not misunderstand when you're tweaking matcaps you're doing some overhide ?
Also I guess it's very hard to come up with a design that allows all these cool new features without loosing too much the fast and simple workflow blender has now. I guess that's an iterative process and things get clearer as you go.
From an user perspective it's sometime a bit scary because we interpret things "as final" like when a bad director see opengl preview and say "what is this? the colors are totally wrong" ... But in the other hand seeing how it evolves and all the attentions that goes into blender development , I'm sure you'll come up with pure awesomeness that will please everyone !
Keep up the good work guys !
So is this is going to be a whole new way of organising objects, as I didn't see any layer selectors in the 3D View? Like Chris A said above, what to do with with junk objects? Currently, pressing M followed by a single click is a very fast way to dump objects on different layers. I hope the new system doesn't make basic operations like this become a laborious three-click thinking process...
Also hiding objects with H is cruicial. Now that is linked to object visibilty in the outliner. Dalai wrote that that and the render toggle will be removed from 2.8. So will I have to make a collection just to be able to hide stuff separately?
I hope we won't have to do these preparations for basic tasks!
I'm sure there will be a quick shortcut to move things between collections .
To me it's just like what we have now but with a more clear definition of what you're doing.
If you're modeling you just need a layer and a few collections (like junk) ,
Or maybe if you're modelling a robot you may want many collections to separate all the robot part.
when rendering you create more layers and other collections if needed. Or a collection with all your robot part inside. You can still return to your modeling state with all the separated part, or leave it behind and concentrate on the rendering. It's not very far from what we have now but with more control, and no more 20 layers limitations .
I'm a bit confused too because we'll need to change our old habits, but the more I think of this the more I see that this is not so different from what we have now, just more well organized , with proper names and as many layers/collections as you want, and also some possible separations between what you're doing.
It's still work in progress and I'm convinced that all the easy workflow will come for sure !
When they'll had a shortcut equivalent to the M button, and maybe another one to switch between collections in the 3D viewport, all of this will calm down the sceptical minds.
Next time, for the sake of CLARITY, create a new file instead of modifying an existing one. And I still don't know the REASON for making layers so unintuitive. Is the idea to have more than 20 layers? And Numpad / works like a separate layer either. Try adding new tools ,kudos for i.a. KnifeProject and Solidify, don't change the system. It's good as it is now.
Hmmm ... this looks useful, but I agree with others it feels complicated. Right now, when I'm modeling, I use different layers to hold different parts of a scene. So where I put lights, cameras, and junk vary depending on the scene's complexity. And I sometimes run out of layers and find myself reorganizing to recover a little more 'room'. So this new system looks like it makes things more consistent, logical, and more open-ended. But it lacks the simplicity of hitting 'M' and clicking the layer I want to put the object on. AND it seems to take up too much horizontal landscape, shrinking the all-important 3D viewport. Organization is important, but so is that viewport and ease of use.
I really feel like we need a video that starts with the very basics of how the new system works and how it's different from the current way, with simple individual examples: This is how you organise objects with the current system, this is how you do it with the new system; this is how you make render layers for a simple composite in the current system, this is how you do it in the new one.
Currently, I still don't really understand what collections are and what they're for or what the render layers do compared to the old render layers. Even seeing it in action I don't really understand what I'm seeing or how I would use it. I mean, I can see a new render layer being added and a new collection added (assigned?), but I don't know *why* this is being done.
I understand that the teaser was released as just that, a teaser and then people, including myself, wanted an audio description, but in some ways it just complicates things further to have a video that only half describes the features or at least describes them from the perspective of already being familiar with the new concepts.
Not trying to have a go, just trying to give constructive feedback. I understand making good videos can take a lot of time (that you might not have).