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»» forums  subject: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it? 214 replies on 15 pages. most recent reply: 25-Jun-07 01:01 by jackman6

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ed »» models »» homepage the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 06-May-02 11:37   »»  The sodaconstructor user interface has been with us for a while. Many model makers have done great and suprising things with it. However I'd be the first to admitt that it is in places flawed and difficult to use. Previously we've had many good suggestions in our inbox, requests for new features to make sodconstructing easier such as undo & redo, grids, copy & paste etc. Sodarace will require some updates to sodaconstructor, however it could be an opportunity to respond to your feedback and make the general sodaconstructor interface more user friendly and powerful. We can't promise to have the time and resources to implement all your good ideas, but use this thread to brainstorm potential improvements to the sodaconstructor interface, we'd love to hear your ideas.

mordred »» models Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 06-May-02 16:58   »»  the only suggestion i can think of is when i create something, and then when i simulate, it may mess up, or fall down (or something like that) anyway, if there could be a feature where you can "quicksave" the model before testing it, that would rock. then if it fell apart, you wouldnt have to re-create the whole model all over agan.

flying_toaster »» models Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 06-May-02 16:59   »»  As it has been brought up before, it would be really nice to have a pallet of set angels and lengths or a gray super imposed grid to build on. Also this is just me, but I find the muscle interface kinda hard to control. Mabye if there were a couple of set points where a 2 muscles place on these would be in phase, or half phase, or out of phase etc. I think one of the bigger problems is the springs. After you make a spring, you can't connect a mass to the middle, so you can't connect anything to the middle. There are some brilliant ways to get around this as are demonstrated in Kevino Trii models but it would be really nice to be able to make a spring and then connect something to the middle. This could lead to some very interesting walking models. Just some ideas.

ed »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 06-May-02 17:07   »»  mm, good ideas, keep 'em coming. What do people think of the whole browser/login interface that's hidden behind the file button? Myself I think while it works well it doesn't look or feel very nice. Do people care what it looks and feels like and are there any ideas for new or modifed functionality in that whole file/browsing/login side of things?

missjchang »» models Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 06-May-02 23:13   »»  Why not make a button that would set that model to successfully go backwards when it hits a wall? Or perhaps left gravity or right gravity?

qwertilliopasd »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 02:49   »»  The few things that would release restrictions are as follows: *Fixed length springs-never change length, not even in "construct" *Multiple wave lengths-have two different wave lengths and speeds *light grey grid in the backround-already mentioned Just Ideas... have a croniulant day :) -Qwertilliopasd

qwertilliopasd »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 03:06   »»  Just another thought... *a window(similar to "File")with 2 text boxes, one where you set the number of masses, and one where you set the length(in pixels), then 'play creates a "multi-mass spring", where the masses are evenly spread

Lectvay »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 03:52   »»  I really appreciate the simplicity of the soda constructor interface, and in general would not support adding or changing much. Here are the main things which I think would be wonderful. * A configurable grid option. You could toggle the grid on and off, it would be semi-transparent, and you could configure the length and height of the squares. **Also, you could toggle on and off a "snap to grid" option, only available when the grid is on. When this option is on, masses can only be created/moved to points on the grid. This would be very handy. (Regarding the ideas of "fixed lengths and angles"... First of all, I'm not sure what is meant by fixed angles. Springs are completely rotatable around masses, and so any angles that appear in models are simply the result of the length of the springs and the way they are connected. Which only leaves fixed lengths. And a grid solves that, in my opinion.) *More guiding lines at the muscle control... Right now there are just lines which divide it into fourths. It would be nice to have more divisions, possibly different colors to make it easy to tell them apart. *Some option regarding the size and shape of the constructing space... It would be really helpful to have a square-shaped constructing space, for some designs which desire vertical, horizontal, and diagonal symmetry. *When sodarace comes along, there will be terrains. It might be interesting to have that option incorporated into the sodaconstructor for everyone to use. In addition to mass/spring tool, there would simply be another tool, where terrain could be drawn. It could be placed anywhere, and just needs to create an enclosed area.

Coaldiamond »» models Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 05:20   »»  I like most of the ideas given by the other makers, but I didn't see anyone adress the issue of the save/login interface. As far as I'm concerned, I like it. It seems very functional. The only improvement that I could suggest for it is that it be possible to switch between the simulate and construct mode from the save/load menu. Occasionaly I have had to reload a saved model because I was not prepared to simulate it yet. Secondly, I don't know if there is a limit to the number of models that can be saved. But I have almost run out of space on the save/load screen. Does anyone know the limit of models under a login name?

Lectvay »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 06:00   »»  I agree that it works well. And the simulate/construct option is definitely a good idea... I've got some suggestions that are all kind of related to each other that I'll try to throw out. When you have the applet open, and you click, say, on a model link in the sodazoo, I believe it completely reloads the applet (at least on my computer). Could it be made so that it simply loads the new model in the same applet? Wouldn't it be faster? And also this sort of relates to some of my other ideas. On the same train of thought, it would be great if in the file screen there were a textbox where the "name" of any model could be typed in and loaded. I think the URL syntax is getmodel=display+modelname for sodazoo models, or getmodel=username+modelname for personal models (correct me if I'm wrong). Well, it'd be nice if we could enter that display+modelname or username+modelname and load any model in the database. I have some favorite sodazoo models, and I have the names memorized, and it would be nice to be able to load them without fishing for them in the zoo. Ok, another thing. In the file screen there is that list selection at the top, that has the "sodaplay" collection and your username list, etc. It would be great if there were always a list up there called "temporary." Even if you weren't logged in, you could save and it would be put there. Then you could work on multiple models without being logged on, and they would be available for you to switch between until the session was over. Furthermore, any models you view while the applet is open (by clicking links in the sodazoo, or using my previous textbox method) would be listed in this temporary list. So that after browsing around in the zoo for a while, I would have a neat and tidy list of everything I've looked at, and I could scroll back over them at will. This would require that the applet did not reload each time I click a sodazoo link, because otherwise the "temporary" list would be cleared each time. These ideas would make browsing models sooo much more fun and convenient for me. Am I making any sense? I'm pretty tired right now, and I'm afraid these ideas didn't make much sense.

guest: palm Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 16:11   »»  I would be nice to be able to vary the spring constant of individual springs, or to have solid bars that do flex at all. The ability to vary the mass of individual masses would be nice but probably difficult.

flying_toaster »» models Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 17:04   »»  Solid bars that dont flex would be exteremly helpful. Also, I sometimes test my walkers legs and so, to keep them in one place I use a couple of fixed masses. It would be nice to be able to convert a fixed mass to a free mass and vice-versa. Also once you have built a componet of your model, It would be nice to be able to "group" it together and move it into position.

Lectvay »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 07-May-02 21:37   »»  Another idea I had related to the file screen... It would be cool if in our personal accounts we could designate models as either "public" or "private." Then, somewhere in the file screen you could type in an account name, and it would open up a sort of gallery of all that user's "public" models. You could browse them much the same way you can browse to default sodaplay models. This would be a great way to share models with each other outside of the zoo, and would make it easy to look at our favorite constructor's work without digging through the zoo. Another benefit of the public/private thing is that right now, we could theoretically use the username+modelname trick to guess the names of people's work and view it, and steal ideas from works in progress, for example. I know this isn't a competitive community or anything, but privacy is important when people want it. So I would suggest that only models marked "public" can be viewed using the username+modelname method.

qwertilliopasd »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 08-May-02 02:21   »»  * I noticed that the forum log-in has an "auto-login" box. That cookie could be downloaded when the applet is initialized, so you don't have to log in every time.(my screenname is very long)

dryguy »» models »» homepage Re: the sodaconstructor interface: how would you improve it?   posted: 08-May-02 03:03   »»  For an example of where fixed angles would help, suppose youwanted to make an equilateral triangle or a regular pentagon. I'm sure this can be done with a grid, but it can be a pain to get the masses correctly positioned. With fixed lengths and angles turned on, you could simply set the angle to 60 degrees for an equilateral trianlgle, or to 36 degrees for a regular pentagon. This is even handier when you want to make several different sizes of the same shape; with a grid, the ones that are not convenient multiples of the grid spacing will be a real pain. It is true that the angles can flex when you turn the model on, but in some cases, it is still important to get them geometrically precise when you are in construct mode. See Kevino's ShapeShifter for an example where this wuold be important: http://www.sodaplay.com/constructor/player.htm?&getmodel=display+ShapeShifter

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