Removing Image wb

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paddle
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Removing Image wb

Post by paddle »

Hey guys,

Reading the FC day report from @chennes, I have seen several complains about the image wb.

Currently :
Image workbench :
- Image_Open: Open the img in a (bad) image viewer.
- Image_CreateImagePlane: Create a plane and put the selected img in it.
- Image_Scale: a Dialog opens to scale the image.
Core :
- File/Open + File/import : both call Image_Open.
- Double clicking on the Tree element triggers the transform enabling setting the image at correct position.

Remarks :
- Image_Open is useless. It only opens the picture in a bad image viewer. It is misleading and bad UI because what the user want is Image_CreateImagePlane.
- Having a workbench for only 1-2 tools is overkill + clutter the workbench selector.

Suggestion :
- Delete the Image workbench.
- Move the Image code to Core.
- The image viewer is removed. All tools from the toolbar are removed.
- File/Open + File/import + Paste with an image + drag drop an img, all call Image_CreateImagePlane.
- Double clicking the ImagePlane in tree + in 3DView opens a TaskBox containing the necessary to transform + scale.

What do you think about that?
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NewJoker
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by NewJoker »

Very good idea. Current solution is indeed highly unintuitive and a separate workbench with just 3 tools to open, place and scale images doesn’t really make sense.
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paddle
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by paddle »

-
Last edited by paddle on Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:42 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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NewJoker
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by NewJoker »

paddle wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:20 pm @wmayer
To notify someone, you have to write his username after @ and wait until a list appears. Then select the name from that list.
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paddle
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by paddle »

@wmayer do you have some input on this? Because from what I'm seeing in core Application.cpp, it seems the opening/import of files that are not fcstd is supposed to be done in module.

So I wonder if moving image code to core is the way to go. Or if we leave the image wb in the code, and only remove it from the selector?
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bambuko
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by bambuko »

I use "image WB" heavily in my workflow and agree totally with your suggestion and comments about value of "image viewer".
I would appreciate easy ability to scale separately in either of the axis (it can be done at the moment, but it is not very good) instead of just one scale.
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sliptonic
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by sliptonic »

Looking at the image workbench, it seems like a waste.

The 'workbench' doesn't have a menu at all.
It has a single toolbar:
2023-03-17_10-48.png
2023-03-17_10-48.png (3.54 KiB) Viewed 1173 times
One tool opens an image into a new MDI tab for viewing. This is useless and has been brought up in this issue

Another button creates an image plane.
The last one executes the scale function on the image plane.

Having an entire workbench for what is effectively one tool is a bit silly. I agree with removing it and improving the imageplane functionality.
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bambuko
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by bambuko »

Another thing of dubious value (at least as far as I am concerned) is the option to offset image plane.
Historically it was necessary in old days to offset an image a nominal value to be able to see things on the screen.

Now, with backlight setting in preferences and transparency setting in display properties it's not really needed?
and if someone does need it, image has placement property anyway?
I am using Link branch and Assembly3
you can also download ... and try it here
excellent Assembly3 tutorials here
GeneFC
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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by GeneFC »

bambuko wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 4:43 pm Another thing of dubious value (at least as far as I am concerned) is the option to offset image plane.

if someone does need it, image has placement property anyway?
I use the image plane often, and I always offset by using the placement. It allows the image to be moved slightly off the main xyz planes so that the image is always behind a sketch when the sketch is edited. I do not even see an "offset" in the Image WB, just open (useless), create, and scale.

I have no problems with any of these changes as long as the image functions are not hidden behind 43 layers of clicking.

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Re: Removing Image wb

Post by wmayer »

paddle wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:41 pm do you have some input on this?
I have already thought about this, too. So, does anybody need the image view? If not we can completely remove it and move the rest to the core system. In the Tools menu we have the image creation function and there we can move the function to map an image onto a plane.
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