since the last attempt at unchaotifying the toolbar panels was somewhat of a failure, I figured I'd ask your input ahead of time.
Instead of hiding a lot of components from the toolbars, I've now created separators that visually group related components. It requires more screen estate since separators take up an additional 10 pixels each, and not all icon columns are now fully used:
It is fairly trivial to draw the icons the old-fashioned way, so I can add an option for this feature if a lot of you are appalled and disgusted by this new scheme.
I don't think you can call the search keyword feature a true command line. For example: if I type polyline and hit return without using the arrow keys I get the Reduce component and if I type Poly line I get the Line component.
I find very neat the clustering. And i don't think rhino tabs is the option
In another hand, I absolutely agree with Karthik, vvvv right click is really quick, to see both classifications.( I was about to post it and then I read it)
another option would be to use a force-based graph inside the canvas once rightclicked, to navigate throught the two, three or further steps throught the branched tree of tools (like a revision of maya gui).
I don't use vvvv often enough to (or rather, I haven't used it often enough in the past) to be aware of the GUI tricks. Can you elaborate with some screenshots what exactly it is that works well for you?
As I've already said this is a killer idea! Would be neat if we could record our "design patterns" and share them to see how things are converging or not! Something along the lines of what Rob Woodbury has been doing over the years.
this is maybe slightly OT, so ignore this if it is spoiling the thread.
david: is it possible to invoke the "GH command line" via keystroke/short cut.
using a keyboard+mouse setup (no trackpad) i find myself moving my hand from the keyboard over to the mouse to double-click and back to type, repeating this for let's say 6 components i need to create.
if i had a wish for 2010 ;-) it would be:
being able to create 10 different components in a row by keyboard input only (no clicking).
e.g. in max/msp you can type "n" for "new object" and continue typing the object's name, hit enter (object is created) and go on repeating this. i am not sure how the placement on the canvas is done... but i am sure there are some easy ways to deal with this e.g. at starting mouse point, center of canvas, following components can arrive with offsets...
i figure the fact that keys are send to rhino might be causing trouble, estimating how this can be avoided is beyond my capacities for tonite.