"modified by expression" visual indicator in input

Hi. I think I have already said this before, but I'll say it again anyway... fantastic software!!
I am teaching grasshopper at the university of Concepción, Chile, and I have found a graphic problem that affects definition sharing/teaching and they may have a simple solution.

There is no way of seeing if a component, or one of his inputs, is being modified by an expression. This can be very confusing for a student since he will copy the definition exactly as he see it but it won't work. The solution would be to use a colour or an asterisk for the modified input, to make clear that it is being affected by an internal expression.

Thanks

Frane Zilic

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 16, 2010 at 8:24am

Frane,

I agree, I'll add the Asterisk approach to 0.7.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Evert Amador on April 16, 2010 at 9:17am

Hi,

I think this is a really good idea, I use a lot of expressions on components inputs and as Frane says there is currently no way to tell if there is something in them apart from actually looking at the inputs.

The asterisk approach sound good!

Cheers

Evert

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on April 16, 2010 at 10:15am

Why not use the F(x) Expression Components when using expressions to manipulate your streams and write the formula in a Panel for the world to see and likewise use the Flatten Component instead of hiding in a component.

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on April 16, 2010 at 12:21pm

I meant to say "why not in the mean time...." sounds quite snooty when I read it back

Permalink Reply by Boris Yundelson on April 16, 2010 at 11:19am

I agree with Danny, its a matter of organization, its understandable if you want to keep your definition as uncluttered as possible, there have been multiple times where i have gone back to old definitions and i can't figure the problem out for the life of me because i didn't use a panel or have a flatten component

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 16, 2010 at 11:38am

Everybody agrees with Danny, that's the whole point. When we make it obvious that an expression is in place or that the Flatten option has been checked then it's no longer confusing.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by robert cervellione on April 16, 2010 at 2:46pm

maybe even integrate some color in the fancy wires.

on anther note i do not like to use the flatten component because it duplicates the geometry, and if your scene is already heavy it will slow it down that much more.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 16, 2010 at 3:02pm

Robert,

it won't actually duplicate the geometry, but it will draw the same geometry twice. If you disable the preview it should be a minimal impact.

In Grasshopper geometry is not duplicated unless it is changed.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by robert cervellione on April 16, 2010 at 3:05pm

that a good distinction i did not know about. what constitutes a change. is rotate, scale, or move a change?

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