[Released!] VisualMenus [Commercial]

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  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,142
    bitwelder said:
    RAMWolff said:
    bitwelder said:
    RAMWolff said:
    Hi,

    I'm aware of using the change palette colors but I'm talking about the right drop down menu's, the font isn't a lighter color so I can't read them until I hover over them and they light up, seems like something that can be recified.  

    Thank you!  I'm glad you like my suggestions! 

    Hmmmm...any chance you could post a screenshot showing what you mean? Thanks!

    Here you go...

     

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  • evacynevacyn Posts: 950

    I'm really enjoying this - great work, bitwelder! I spent the night picking out custom icons to add to a new toolbar since I'm awful at remembering a lot of keyboard shortcuts :)

  • Td3dTd3d Posts: 412
    edited November 2018

    Have been playing with this most the morning. Absolutely amazing - especially after watching the linked videos. The potential here is awesome as far as your product goes. My question: Should a menu specific to a vendor's Daz product be created that can be activated via your product, Where does that leave the creator/vendor? What might this use fall under to be exact. Though the file created would require the end user to own this Product first of all. It does however rely upon the use of your product to create the menu/s to add to product files, yes? That is the gray erea I'd like to direct all this too. Would really compliment a product's user experience.

    But hey, Great product.

    (edited: added text)

    Post edited by Td3d on
  • Cybersox said:
    bitwelder said:
    Cybersox said:
     

    2.  How many functions can be attached to a visual menu at one time?  With my current 32 inch main screen I can place around 30 items in a custom scripts menu, but that eats up a lot of screen space when it's open.  I f VM works the way that it appears to in the ads, I have an extra 27" monitor that I could use as a third screen just for visual menus while my second 32" can be used just for rendering and my content directories,..

    1. Yes, all of the menus are shown simultaneously in the promo image for illustration purposes. In reality, you can have one menu open at a time. You press a keyboard shortcut, the menu pops up, you make your selection, and it disappears until you bring it up again with the keyboard shortcut. That way it doesn't take up precious viewport space.  See the beginning of the Introduction video in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa07lbrxdWyQtx0C6BXHypr-lAwjYHcdF

    2. I think answer #1 speaks to this? Since the menus don't stay open after you make a selection from them, they don't take up any space on your screen.

     

     

    Thanks for the answer on part one.  It's disappointing that only one menu can be open at a time, but I rather suspected that would be the case..  However, your reply to #2 didn't really address the main question, which is what is the upper limit of buttons that can be put on a single visual menu?  10?  20?   

    Cybersox,

    This is a video when I was starting to build my menus. You can see how I go from one menu to another.

    This is how my final main menu ended up. The lighter icon shows it's a command (for me) and not a button opening a nested menu like the others.

  • NathNath Posts: 2,713
    edited November 2018

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

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    Post edited by Nath on
  • I suppose if you create a script that point to the content tab that you want, it can convert it to custom action, and then can be used in VisualMenus.

    The problem to solve is made that script .

    Can it be this?

    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/specific_ui/set_content_library_container/start

    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

  • NathNath Posts: 2,713
    GiGi_7 said:

    I suppose if you create a script that point to the content tab that you want, it can convert it to custom action, and then can be used in VisualMenus.

    The problem to solve is made that script .

    Can it be this?

    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/specific_ui/set_content_library_container/start

    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    YES! That does the trick. Thanks for the tip :-)

  • bitwelderbitwelder Posts: 212
    edited November 2018
    3dOutlaw said:
    bitwelder said:

    1. Yes, all of the menus are shown simultaneously in the promo image for illustration purposes. In reality, you can have one menu open at a time. You press a keyboard shortcut, the menu pops up, you make your selection, and it disappears until you bring it up again with the keyboard shortcut. That way it doesn't take up precious viewport space.  See the beginning of the Introduction video in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa07lbrxdWyQtx0C6BXHypr-lAwjYHcdF

    2. I think answer #1 speaks to this? Since the menus don't stay open after you make a selection from them, they don't take up any space on your screen.

    Oh, I completely missed that in the promo video.  You must be hitting the shortcut right after you click the button then?  Anyway, thanks for all the answers, good luck with it!

    I'm not sure what you are looking at exactly, but normally the order would be to 1. press the shortcut key on your keyboard, and then 2. click a button on the menu after it opens up. Looking back at the promo video on the store page, I think it can be confusing...might have to redo it. Thanks! 

    Post edited by bitwelder on
  • RAMWolff said:
    bitwelder said:
    RAMWolff said:
    bitwelder said:
    RAMWolff said:
    Hi,

    I'm aware of using the change palette colors but I'm talking about the right drop down menu's, the font isn't a lighter color so I can't read them until I hover over them and they light up, seems like something that can be recified.  

    Thank you!  I'm glad you like my suggestions! 

    Hmmmm...any chance you could post a screenshot showing what you mean? Thanks!

    Here you go...

     

    Ah-hah! Thanks for the screenshot--I've adressed this in a minor update which I'll be submitting to Daz this weekend. Not sure how long it will take to actually roll out, though.

  • evacyn said:

    I'm really enjoying this - great work, bitwelder! I spent the night picking out custom icons to add to a new toolbar since I'm awful at remembering a lot of keyboard shortcuts :)

    Thank you very much! Glad you are enjoying it. 

  • Td3d said:

    Have been playing with this most the morning. Absolutely amazing - especially after watching the linked videos. The potential here is awesome as far as your product goes. My question: Should a menu specific to a vendor's Daz product be created that can be activated via your product, Where does that leave the creator/vendor? What might this use fall under to be exact. Though the file created would require the end user to own this Product first of all. It does however rely upon the use of your product to create the menu/s to add to product files, yes? That is the gray erea I'd like to direct all this too. Would really compliment a product's user experience.

    But hey, Great product.

    (edited: added text)

    Interesting idea! I've added it to my list of features to investigate/consider. Thanks!

  • Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

  • NathNath Posts: 2,713
    edited November 2018
    bitwelder said:
    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

    I've solved it (for now) with GiGi_7's link to a script to make a custom action for going to a directory. And it's definitely a time-saver :-)

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    Post edited by Nath on
  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,142
    bitwelder said:
    RAMWolff said:
    bitwelder said:
    RAMWolff said:
    bitwelder said:
    RAMWolff said:
    Hi,

    I'm aware of using the change palette colors but I'm talking about the right drop down menu's, the font isn't a lighter color so I can't read them until I hover over them and they light up, seems like something that can be recified.  

    Thank you!  I'm glad you like my suggestions! 

    Hmmmm...any chance you could post a screenshot showing what you mean? Thanks!

    Here you go...

     

    Ah-hah! Thanks for the screenshot--I've adressed this in a minor update which I'll be submitting to Daz this weekend. Not sure how long it will take to actually roll out, though.

    Thanks so much!  :-)

  • bitwelderbitwelder Posts: 212
    edited November 2018

    Attention Mac Users:

    For anyone who may be experiencing weirdness with how this script executes on a Mac, I believe I've solved the issue and will be submitting an update to Daz with a fix this weekend. The issue is: after editing buttons on a menu, you can't close the menu window by clicking on its close button in the upper left...the buttons become unresponsive, as do the buttons on the 'Dashboard' (the main VisualMenus window that you get when you launch the script). Until the update rolls out, the workaround is to either click a button on the menu, or press the "Esc" key on your keyboard, afterwhich the window should close. 

    Post edited by bitwelder on
  • Nath said:
    bitwelder said:
    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

    I've solved it (for now) with GiGi_7's link to a script to make a custom action for going to a directory. And it's definitely a time-saver :-)

    Oh, this is so cool to see!

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 8,745
    Nath said:
    bitwelder said:
    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

    I've solved it (for now) with GiGi_7's link to a script to make a custom action for going to a directory. And it's definitely a time-saver :-)

    Urg!  I need to learn scripting.  That's crazy useful. 

  • NathNath Posts: 2,713
    Cybersox said:
    Nath said:
    bitwelder said:
    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

    I've solved it (for now) with GiGi_7's link to a script to make a custom action for going to a directory. And it's definitely a time-saver :-)

    Urg!  I need to learn scripting.  That's crazy useful. 

    I can't script either, but this is a bit of standard DAZ script: http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/specific_ui/set_content_library_container/start

    Open with notepad or notepad++, scroll down to the last line and change "people/Genesis 8 Female" to the directory you want to link to. I made a subdirectory in the scripts directory to collect all the copies for the various directories and give them logical names.

  • evacynevacyn Posts: 950
    edited November 2018
    Nath said:
    bitwelder said:
    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

    I've solved it (for now) with GiGi_7's link to a script to make a custom action for going to a directory. And it's definitely a time-saver :-)

    Can the script be customized to point to Categories instead of the main My DAZ library?

    EDIT: Nevermind - I scrolled down the script page linked above and saw the example for Categories. Awesome!

    Post edited by evacyn on
  • NathNath Posts: 2,713
    evacyn said:
    Nath said:
    bitwelder said:
    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

    I've solved it (for now) with GiGi_7's link to a script to make a custom action for going to a directory. And it's definitely a time-saver :-)

    Can the script be customized to point to Categories instead of the main My DAZ library?

    I'm not sure this script can do it, but it might be possible for someone who knows what they're doing.

  • dragotxdragotx Posts: 1,134
    edited November 2018

    So far I'm loving this little gem!  It's exactly what I've been needing that I never knew I needed!  I have run accross one minor bug (extrememely minor, I've already worked around it) though.  When I was first playing with it I tried adding it to my Scripts dropdown (turns out completely unneccessary to do that, but it's what I experienced) so I could launch it easier to create new menus.  However, when I did this, any time I tried to add a keyboard shortcut to the new menus Daz crashed when I hit accept.  All of my undocked tabs disappeared and came back when I hit apply, but the program continued working fine.  However, when I hit accept, it would crash every time and lose the keyboard shortcuts I'd just assigned.  When I don't add VisualMenus to the script dropdown, it works perfectly. 

    It's a very minor bug, and one I've already decided was an unneeded step.  Just letting you know in case something else comes up that this info might help diagnose.

     

    I am curious though, is there any way to export the settings for this to another machine, or do I need to set it up all over again on a different workstation?

    Post edited by dragotx on
  • nicsttnicstt Posts: 11,714

    There's video on exporting; first one iirc.

     

  • dragotxdragotx Posts: 1,134
    nicstt said:

    There's video on exporting; first one iirc.

     

    Doh, missed that, thanks!

  • dragotx said:

    So far I'm loving this little gem!  It's exactly what I've been needing that I never knew I needed!  I have run accross one minor bug (extrememely minor, I've already worked around it) though.  When I was first playing with it I tried adding it to my Scripts dropdown (turns out completely unneccessary to do that, but it's what I experienced) so I could launch it easier to create new menus.  However, when I did this, any time I tried to add a keyboard shortcut to the new menus Daz crashed when I hit accept.  All of my undocked tabs disappeared and came back when I hit apply, but the program continued working fine.  However, when I hit accept, it would crash every time and lose the keyboard shortcuts I'd just assigned.  When I don't add VisualMenus to the script dropdown, it works perfectly. 

    It's a very minor bug, and one I've already decided was an unneeded step.  Just letting you know in case something else comes up that this info might help diagnose.

     

    I am curious though, is there any way to export the settings for this to another machine, or do I need to set it up all over again on a different workstation?

    Thanks for this report! I will take a look at it and see what I can do. In the meantime, one shortcut to opening VisualMenus dashboard is to launch any visual menu, then select "Open VisualMenus Dashboard" from the menu actions button at lower right of the menu...see attached screenshot.

    You can export your menus from one machine, and then import them into to another, *however*, not everything on them will carry over. Daz Studio commands should carry over fine. With content items, it attempts to find any that you have installed (although as of right now, their icons have hard-coded paths, so the icons don't show up--I'll have to take a look at fixing this), inline scripts should carry over, references to script files probably won't because it uses a hard-coded local path. Any icons you've set to a button also likely won't carry over. Not sure if references to other visual menus will carry over or not--haven't tried it yet. References to custom actions will not carry over, since they are specific to your machine and Daz Studio release cycle (i.e. General Relase, Beta). The general structure and style of your menus should be intact, though. 

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  • evacynevacyn Posts: 950

    Can we convert a menu to a different template after its been created? For example, if I create a menu that's a 5x5 and then apply a 8x8 template to it. 

    If not, is there any way to import items from one menu to another?

  • bitwelderbitwelder Posts: 212
    edited November 2018
    evacyn said:

    Can we convert a menu to a different template after its been created? For example, if I create a menu that's a 5x5 and then apply a 8x8 template to it. 

    If not, is there any way to import items from one menu to another?

    Currently not possible, but a likely feature for an update. 

    This is not a great solution, but one way to do this right now is to use the "copy action" and "paste action" items from a button's popup menu (alt click, or click the toggle button at lower right of menu). If you have the VisualMenus dashboard window open in the background, you can "copy action", close the menu, open another menu, and then do "paste action". For as long as you have the VisualMenus dashboard window open, the clipboard for the action is maintained. You end up copying and pasting each button individually. See attached screenshot...

    Incidentally, you can use that same basic procedure ("cut action", "paste action") to move buttons around easily inside a menu if you want to organize the buttons as you are creating a menu.

    copypaste.jpg
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    Post edited by bitwelder on
  • evacynevacyn Posts: 950
    bitwelder said:
    evacyn said:

    Can we convert a menu to a different template after its been created? For example, if I create a menu that's a 5x5 and then apply a 8x8 template to it. 

    If not, is there any way to import items from one menu to another?

    Currently not possible, but a likely feature for an update. 

    This is not a great solution, but one way to do this right now is to use the "copy action" and "paste action" items from a button's popup menu (alt click, or click the toggle button at lower right of menu). If you have the VisualMenus dashboard window open in the background, you can "copy action", close the menu, open another menu, and then do "paste action". For as long as you have the VisualMenus dashboard window open, the clipboard for the action is maintained. You end up copying and pasting each button individually. See attached screenshot...

    Incidentally, you can use that same basic procedure ("cut action", "paste action") to move buttons around easily inside a menu if you want to organize the buttons as you are creating a menu.

    Thanks! I've realized that I didn't plan some of my menus out very well :) This will work but hopefully there will be an easier way to apply templates in an update.

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 8,745
    Nath said:
    Cybersox said:
    Nath said:
    bitwelder said:
    Nath said:

    Would it be possible to use this to set navigational shortcuts, not to items, but to (sub-)directories? So that the directory opens in the Content Library? That would be a real time-saver.

     

    Cool idea! I've made a note of it.

    I've solved it (for now) with GiGi_7's link to a script to make a custom action for going to a directory. And it's definitely a time-saver :-)

    Urg!  I need to learn scripting.  That's crazy useful. 

    I can't script either, but this is a bit of standard DAZ script: http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/specific_ui/set_content_library_container/start

    Open with notepad or notepad++, scroll down to the last line and change "people/Genesis 8 Female" to the directory you want to link to. I made a subdirectory in the scripts directory to collect all the copies for the various directories and give them logical names.

    Awesome!  thanks!  I'm spending my weekend moving my main DAZ directory to a new drive (I completely filled a 3TB, gulp!,) but assuming that goes well, I'll be playing with this next week. 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,049
    edited December 2018

    I'm having the same problem as RAMWolff, as far as the text being too dark to read (just so you know he is not the only one with this problem).

    Add me to the list of people who would like to change the template after creating a menu. I wish I had chosen a larger size to add more commands. I saw your cut and paste workaround.

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    Post edited by barbult on
  • bitwelderbitwelder Posts: 212
    edited December 2018
    barbult said:

    I'm having the same problem as RAMWolff, as far as the text being too dark to read (just so you know he is not the only one with this problem).

    Add me to the list of people who would like to change the template after creating a menu. I wish I had chosen a larger size to add more commands. I saw your cut and paste workaround.

    Thanks for the screenshot! Looks like I overlooked how different people set their palettes, its good to know. And I'll chalk up another one for changing templates.  Are all the dialog boxes/menus hard to read like this, or just these ones?

    Post edited by bitwelder on
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