[GRASS-dev] more NVIZ updates

[Michael Barton]

On 12/5/06 2:14 AM, "Hamish" <hamish_nospam at yahoo.com> wrote:

Here are some initial comments and questions before I start working on
these...

> 
> some comments/suggestions:
> 
> * "Visualize->Volumes" is confusing as vector volumes can exist too
> (watertower, dinosaur)

I thought about this too. There is no separate vector volumes panel (it
might be nice though), which is why I went with the simpler 'Volumes'. Maybe
call this one...

    Raster volumes
    Voxels
    Grid 3D volumes

other?

> 
> * make the green text of "DRAW", DRAW CURRENT darker. It's hard to read
> against the grey window background. the NSEW placement arrow isn't as
> bad, but I'd still make it and the blue text a bit less bright.

I'll see if I can find a darker color that still looks sort of green. The
idea is to make the "draw" button stand out.

> 
> * In Vis->Vect points get rid of the empty space when no map is loaded.
> when a map is loaded, have the thematic controls toggle down instead of
> always there. aka hide the advanced options so not to overwhelm the
> user with a 747 cockpit of controls.

I'd like to have this one close too. I might have figured out how to do it
in the volume control panel, but I'm not sure. I'll see. Same with the
controls. This is doable but complicated. What makes it worse is that the
code is so old and convoluted.

> 
> * Rast/Vol panels: don't bother with drop down menus for lists of 2 or 3
> items (Drawmode, Style, Shading ; Vis type, Shading) You can have all
> opts on the main panel + a column title without losing much real estate.
> There's plenty of vertical space in those two panels to play with.

I agree. I want to keep some consistency among panels, but it is good to
save space--especially with the very large volume panel. I want to do some
other things to tighten this on up if I can.

> 
> * If you go Vis->Vector pts then Vis->Scaled diff, the points panel
> doesn't close automatically. Same with a number of other combinations of
> panels.

To be frank, I don't know what makes some panels close and others stay open.
The best would be for panels to stay open until a certain cumulative
vertical size is reached and then close.

> 
> * fringe: fix the positioning of the fringe corners. Setting the Raster
> fine resolution to "1" helps a bit. the error depends on that setting.

This is a togl issue that Bob is working on. Might not be fixable.

> 
> * default Label text size is very small. Suggest default font size of
> 17? (16 doesn't exist for me  "Cannot Load Font\nTrying default Font")
> 

Is the same on all systems? I didn't change the defaults because of this
very problem you mention. Any way to find out which sizes might be standard
on most systems?

Michael

__________________________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity
Arizona State University

phone: 480-965-6213
fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton