Would anyone be opposed if I moved the transform settings to be in one spot. The settings area is more condensed, so I would move that to the properties area.
It doesn't seem like a good use of space to have the same information in two close spots.
Thoughts?
The 3D view panel supports editing multiple objects which the properties editor does not. So we can't remove these until that works. It's a bigger discussion that needs a design on the wiki I think, also for handling armature bones, meshes, curves, etc.
I just tested this out and they appear to be doing exactly the same thing. The lock options update each other when they are changed as well. I am not clear on how the transform tools are different. If they are, the UI doesn't isn't communicating it.
Oh, I thought there was multi object transform editing here, but it seems there isn't.
Personally I wouldn't mind removing these but I remember in 2.5 development that people kept asking for these in the 3D view, and that they were eventually added back because so many people requested it. It's not ideal to have this information duplicated but somehow people seem to like having this in the 3D view without having to browse the properties editor.
I see. Maybe this is a larger discussion for later on what needs to happen. I have noticed some conflict between what goes in the 3D View settings and the properties space. They seem to have an ambiguous relationship currently. I also see other things repeated like naming the object in both places.
If convenience is that important, we might need to think about object properties getting their own space to manage object related functions. Right now, the properties space is getting pretty overloaded with functionality. This would be 2.7x territory though.
I agree that these should probably be unified, but also that it's part of a larger issue. Personally I think this would best be resolved with undockable panels, as that would allows us to keep the options all in the properties area, but also to pop them out to the 3D View if desired: T37424
Yes, I'd like to see these duplicated things removed too. The same goes for the Item panel, which is also the same as the name field in the properties.
The only thing that's unique to the 3D View Transform panel is the Dimensions, which is an alternate way to set the scale values. We could add the Dimensions to the Object properties by having a menu to select between Scale/Dimensions, lust like the Rotation Mode menu.
So, to recap:
@William Reynish (billrey), yes I think that's all.
I suspect many people won't like this, as it makes the transform panel harder to get to, but I really don't Object specific items should be in the Viewport Properties. I believe the viewport properties should be focused on things that affect the whole viewport (such as shading mode, grid settings, etc), not specific items.
Here's a layout mockup of a design that could accommodate the Dimensions controls inside the Object Properties:
An alternative, clearer and more compact version:
More thinking: I remember why we kept this panel for 2.5.
The main issue with the idea of removing Transform panel from the 3D View is that it is in fact needed for Edit mode. There's no Vertex Properties in the Properties editor, so instead users can use the 3d View Properties to find the location of the selective vertices.
We could remove the panel in Object mode, but then it becomes inconsistent with Edit mode. Or we could remove these items from the Object Properties, but that's not very hie either as these are clearly basic object properties related to the object datablock.
Can't really think of a great solution within the current paradigm.
It still might be nice to be able to specify Object Dimensions in the Object properties though. And the 'Item' panel I think should be removed.
@William Reynish (billrey) the Edit Mode issue is a good point and definitely a rough spot. With that in mind, I suggest we let this one mull for a while. Keep thinking on it.
These transform properties seem to be doing a lot. Maybe the object properties isn't the best place for this. It is used in quite a few contexts outside of just object properties (edit, multiple selections, other?). It is obviously confusing people, including me, about what it does.
I think this goes back to creating better separation between areas with new spaces, or un-dockable panels. Things could be organized better instead of putting things in larger buckets.
@Scott Petrovic (scottpetrovic): I'm afraid I didn't get any of that. What was your point?
@William Reynish (billrey): the main point is that this tools is more complex than what is shown. Condensing the tool to one area isn't going to fix the fundamental issue. It needs to communicate better with what it is doing based off of the context (selecting one object, selecting multiple objects, etc).
could implementing tabs in the 3d view properties panel be a valid solution? I did a rough mockup on the wiki a while back that demonstrated some possible organization; although some of the ideas there have been improved on already:
I think this would be be a logical extension of T37601
No I think that's unrelated. Adding more layers of complexity to hide stuff is not really a solution. And more specifically, the tabs that stick out of the area it's related to seems confusing as wasting space