Re: Size
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2023 9:24 pm
A very interesting conversation. It should perhaps be moved to the Module Designer part of the forum, but so long as Rob doesn't mind then I'll add my thoughts.
Zooming/resizing individual modules is currently not possible as the VM architecture gives devs a fixed panel to work in.
Popping up a window wouldn't work as VM's cable management system would not know where the sockets were.
It would be possible to use a module's panel as a viewport onto a wider canvas but again this wouldn't work with sockets. Same issue with tabbed pages.
One could have sockets on a fixed part of a module while the rest is a viewport or tabbed but it's all pretty messy and goes against modern UI design thinking where information obscuration is rightly avoided.
On a grander scale a tile based GUI would be another approach but these tend to end up like puzzles even when the tile sizes are restricted to integer multiples. They only work smoothly when either the horizontal or vertical sizes are fixed but then we end up back with the "Eurorack" model.
So IMO the "Eurorack" setup works pretty well. But this need not be as restricted as the current VM system. A relatively easy modification would be to allow resizing to occur at the level of individual cabinets. So in the example Rob gave one could place a mixer and sequencer in one cabinet and expand it to occupy much of the screen and then have regular sized cabinets above and below that contain auxilliary modules. This approach would work without any existing modules needing to be changed. All that would be required is a little bit of imaginative graphic design to make the change in plug size look less than comical.
I have a vast catalog of suggestions for improvements to VM but post less and less on this subject as time goes by as I've come to the conclusion that VM is unlikely to have a major overhaul. However this isn't the place to go into my reasoning.
I will keep pushing for proper CPU/buffer metering though!
Zooming/resizing individual modules is currently not possible as the VM architecture gives devs a fixed panel to work in.
Popping up a window wouldn't work as VM's cable management system would not know where the sockets were.
It would be possible to use a module's panel as a viewport onto a wider canvas but again this wouldn't work with sockets. Same issue with tabbed pages.
One could have sockets on a fixed part of a module while the rest is a viewport or tabbed but it's all pretty messy and goes against modern UI design thinking where information obscuration is rightly avoided.
On a grander scale a tile based GUI would be another approach but these tend to end up like puzzles even when the tile sizes are restricted to integer multiples. They only work smoothly when either the horizontal or vertical sizes are fixed but then we end up back with the "Eurorack" model.
So IMO the "Eurorack" setup works pretty well. But this need not be as restricted as the current VM system. A relatively easy modification would be to allow resizing to occur at the level of individual cabinets. So in the example Rob gave one could place a mixer and sequencer in one cabinet and expand it to occupy much of the screen and then have regular sized cabinets above and below that contain auxilliary modules. This approach would work without any existing modules needing to be changed. All that would be required is a little bit of imaginative graphic design to make the change in plug size look less than comical.
I have a vast catalog of suggestions for improvements to VM but post less and less on this subject as time goes by as I've come to the conclusion that VM is unlikely to have a major overhaul. However this isn't the place to go into my reasoning.
I will keep pushing for proper CPU/buffer metering though!