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Inspiring
November 17, 2023
Open for Voting

Blender way of managing nodes please.

  • November 17, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 326 views

Being accustomed to Blender node system it feels  so inconvenient in Designer . For example to make  a dot node in Blender we could just  SHift + pen stroke accross  sevral lines  and you have a dot in each of them if they are unrelated or  lines get merged if it's same data.      In Designer I sometimes  need multiple Alt+pick  tries to do same.   More complex it is harder it's to do.

 

To erase a connection you can Just Ctrl+ pen stroke acrros a line or several of them at once .

 

To insert a node you  don't need to select a line first, just move a node closeby and it  gets connected automatically.

 

To make  your own tool you do just group  Ctrl+G  and thats all.   No tiresome exposing .  Quick an simple.   If you need to share same input in multiple nodes you do "driver"  and copy/paste it into input sliders of other nodes  making them violet aka driven.   No troubles with green lines.     If you want a new edition of same tool  you just make the group unique .

 

Blender is like a breath of fresh air after Desiner.   I use Designer since  Map Zone    and always feel uncomfortable.  Please  copy Blender approach  as optional.  It's so much ahead of anything  in UI  and convenience.

2 replies

kirkr5689Author
Inspiring
November 20, 2023

Yeah, you can't select and "Delete" , but you can  select the  connecting  input dot  of a next node , pick and move the line away  .   So all done without  moving your left hand across the keyboard for "delete" button.    No shortcuts at all . Besides I don't consider   Ctrl +pen  stroke  a shortcut.   It's rather like Photoshop  hot select  with Ctrl .   Instantly recognizable  and intuitivly  adaptable . All the controls are right in the  bottom left  corner of  you keyboard,   always under your left hand.        It's super convenient with Wacom pen  while  in Designer I have to constantly switch in between pen and mouse.

But my most loved things is violet "drivers" and "make unique".    No need to create inputs, make one thing  functions ,connect green lines.  The whole "exposing"  in Designer is so tiresome , especially  when you merelly need to  sync  same crop or transform for couple nodes.

 

 

Cyril Dellenbach
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 20, 2023

Hi @kirkr5689,


Thanks for the suggestions.

 

I appreciate Blender's shortcuts and its approach of UI too. With that being said, I don't think everything from Blender would work seamlessly in Substance Designer.

For instance, Blender relies heavily on shortcuts, and some basic manipulations are missing from the soft (I always found it weird that you can't simply select - delete a connection). Designer is already not friendly with new users, so I'm not sure we should straight copy Blender's approach on everything.

 

However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't consider making adjustements in the UI behavior, and Blender has for sure things to be inspired by.

 

Best regards,

 

Cyril Dellenbach (Micro) | QA Support Artist | Adobe