Work on modern icon theme

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1D_Inc
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by 1D_Inc »

st_phan wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:57 am
chrisb wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:31 am We had some time ago a discussion about the polyline icon. User are with some regularity surprised about the famous M key which makes the polyline so much more powerful. So we talked about an icon which was not only a zigzag bit had a curved line at the end.
Hey Chrisb,

I actually created two (but exported the zig zag one in the rcc file). I think I took the idea of the left one from Fusion360, but then stayed closer to the current FreeCAD one.
Is that something like you had in mind or something different entirely?

polyline.png


PS: Such feedback is very welcome, since I don't know FreeCAD as thorough yet
We also faced the same polyline icon problem here https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 87#p292208
Can be interesting
(we've chosen the left one)
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st_phan
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by st_phan »

Hey all, another update!

This time I focussed mainly on the icons for the Sketcher workspace :)

preview.png
preview.png (137.16 KiB) Viewed 5425 times

——— You can download the new .rcc file here ———
demo.rcc.zip
(55.7 KiB) Downloaded 317 times

Note: Some icons don't seem to be loaded/detected properly ... I haven't figured out why though yet.


———

Thanks @1D_Inc, @czinehuba @chrisb for the feedback, I tried to encorporate it :)
And sorry for not getting back to you @balrobs – the reason was simply that I didn't have all ready yet at the last time.

———

Here is the comparison between the current icons and the new ones:
comparison.png
comparison.png (351.13 KiB) Viewed 5425 times
I wanted to highlight a few things:
  • (Construction lines) The current icons are blue, because in drawings that is default construction line color. I switched to a dotted style to make it easier to switch from or to FreeCAD (in other tools commonly is dotted) — it also feels a bit more intuitive.
  • (Driven constraints) I reused the dotted approach there too — it just felt natural.
  • (A) I added the construction lines of the spline points, I believe this helps understand the principle of how splines work better.
  • (B) The hyperbolic and parabolic icons are only partially drawn to indicate that this is possible. The full ellipsoid shape is indicated which should make it easier to understand the tool.
  • (C) I worked more with arrows because I liked that in OnShape and it's also how they actually look like in FreeCAD.
  • (D) I found lock to be a bit confusing, because it normally refers to disabling something. I think this new approach is more self-explaining while keeping the lock.
  • (E & I) To have toggles inside a menu bar is not a very common functionality, but I tried to make it a bit clearer by adding a toggle to the icon too. I also simplified the curvature comb a bit and tried to make the other icons to be a bit less abstract.
  • (F) Those two were really hard for me to understand, so hopefully those are a bit more intuitive now :D
  • (G) The current ones didn't look much like copying from another sketch – I hope the new ones do. I also try to keep a consistent icon for sketches/drawings.
  • (H) Just tried to add some consistency and make especially confirm and edit a sketch more intuitive.
Opinions are very welcome :)

———

I have two questions where it would be cool to have some help/opinions:

(1) Icon variations such as Sketcher_Element_Arc_StartingPoint:
I saw that e.g. for Sketcher_Element_Arc there is a variant for _StartingPoint, _MidPoint, _EndPoint and _Edge. However I haven't seen those variants used inside the interface. Where are such variants used?

(2) Publishing this icon set:
I am thinking of publishing the icons also separately from FreeCAD since many of the icons could be useful in other projects too.
One question is what you think of this?

And the second question is regarding a license: I was thinking about picking CC0, because as a designer it can be hard to incorporate the license, especially for when you just need e.g. one icon for a certain project. So I'd rather make it more accessible even if it means I lose all ownership.
Any experience/thoughts/opinions on this?

———

Next steps:
I noticed that sometimes the contrast is not that great and that lines get very thin. But more importantly I wanted to get some consistency in how the colors and style is chosen (which are the main elements; which ones get generated/selected/set; etc.).
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Kunda1
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by Kunda1 »

st_phan wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:17 pm (1) Icon variations such as Sketcher_Element_Arc_StartingPoint:
I saw that e.g. for Sketcher_Element_Arc there is a variant for _StartingPoint, _MidPoint, _EndPoint and _Edge. However I haven't seen those variants used inside the interface. Where are such variants used?
Maybe @abdullah could kindly help us here?
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Cyclonit
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by Cyclonit »

I really like the look of those icons. They are much cleaner than the old set and I will definitely use them. Great work thus far!
balrobs
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by balrobs »

Cyclonit wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:52 pm I really like the look of those icons. They are much cleaner than the old set and I will definitely use them. Great work thus far!
+1
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by abdullah »

Kunda1 wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 12:24 pm
st_phan wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:17 pm (1) Icon variations such as Sketcher_Element_Arc_StartingPoint:
I saw that e.g. for Sketcher_Element_Arc there is a variant for _StartingPoint, _MidPoint, _EndPoint and _Edge. However I haven't seen those variants used inside the interface. Where are such variants used?
Maybe @abdullah could kindly help us here?
abdullah wrote: pinged by pinger macro
Aren't those the ones appearing when using the Elements widget for starting point / endpoint / mid point selection?

Just create in a Sketch a circle and a line. Go to the elements widget and press 'z' to iterate the selection mode.

BTW somebody sorted the icons into directories. Many thanks.
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dulouie
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by dulouie »

I love the new icons, when you combine them with my freecad-modern-config and a few more addons, it makes a really great interface.
In the pictures below I used the LinkStage3 branch and the SelectorToolbar, but you can also use the Glass addon from triplus.
I would like to point out that maybe the geometry elements and the contrains can be distinguished more clearly by color, then it is easier to find the things.
newIcontheme.png
newIcontheme.png (432.35 KiB) Viewed 5116 times
IconTheme2.png
IconTheme2.png (310.74 KiB) Viewed 5116 times
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Petert
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by Petert »

Started using them, much easier on the eye then the old ones. Looks great with Linkstage3 version and the transparant tree on the left side.

I just hope that there will be no copyright issues with the greedy commercial cad programs. We all know they are just after our money, one way or another.
Screenshot_2020-11-26_13-32-03.png
Screenshot_2020-11-26_13-32-03.png (173.91 KiB) Viewed 4933 times
I am a refugee from Fusion 360. Switched over to FreeCAD and am spreading the word. After years of very little progress I switched again to another solution. I wish you all the best!
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st_phan
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by st_phan »

Cyclonit wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:52 pm
balrobs wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:59 pm
Thanks :)

———

abdullah wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:46 pm Aren't those the ones appearing when using the Elements widget for starting point / endpoint / mid point selection?

Just create in a Sketch a circle and a line. Go to the elements widget and press 'z' to iterate the selection mode.

BTW somebody sorted the icons into directories. Many thanks.
Ah yes, there they appear! Thanks a lot for the hint.
I haven't fully figured out what it does yet, but at least I know where to find them :)

———

dulouie wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 2:44 pm
Thanks a lot for posting that image! It's really cool to see people already using it even though it's not done yet :)
It really looks awesome – almost wants me make to stop working on the icons and work on the whole interface :D but one step after each other.

And thanks for the feedback regarding the color. I am always a bit hesitant to work with too much color in icons because there is always the question of what a certain color now means, but you brought a good point that it would make it easier to differentiate the different groups so to say. I'll see what I can do for the next "release".

———

Petert wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:35 pm
Thanks for posting the image. As I mentioned it is really cool for me to see people trying it out already (especially in their themed version of FreeCAD).

I don't really see a reason to be worried about copyright. Most CAD programs have somewhat similar icons because obviously they express the same things mostly (lines, chamfer, drawing, etc.).
Also I make all the icons manually, so it's also a unique creation (that has somewhat its unique style ... of course in the detail but still, its different looking to other CAD programs) :)
abdullah
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Re: Work on modern icon theme

Post by abdullah »

st_phan wrote: Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:08 pm
abdullah wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:46 pm Aren't those the ones appearing when using the Elements widget for starting point / endpoint / mid point selection?

Just create in a Sketch a circle and a line. Go to the elements widget and press 'z' to iterate the selection mode.

BTW somebody sorted the icons into directories. Many thanks.
Ah yes, there they appear! Thanks a lot for the hint.
I haven't fully figured out what it does yet, but at least I know where to find them :)
The elements' widget allows to perform actions on individual geometries or part of geometries. It started to work-around the problem that overlapping points or lines could not be selected (today you can for example choose that construction geometry is shown on top, this was not available back them). Basically think that you can create any constraint without your mouse leaving the elements' widget. It allows more than that, but that is how it started if I remember correctly.
ElementsWidget.gif
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