Linked meshes

BinaryCats

Hi,

is it possible to make these images more distinguishable
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its not very clear that they are different, one being that you can edit the mesh.

Also, the workflow of knowing which one should go in a placeholder or not is confusing. Moving the attachments around causes the image path to go wonkey:

Maybe it would be best to not allow the source mesh to be visible (at all, unless mouse over or edit mesh selected)?

Nate

You posted this in 2 places so I deleted your other post. It makes it confusing both to respond to and for others to follow.

We wanted to keep the linked mesh and source mesh icons similar, since the main takeaway from a glance is that they are both meshes. I think it's ok if it's only noticeable which one is the source mesh on closer inspection.

Re: new skin placeholder icon, that has always been the skin placeholder image. We have actually redone it just today though! Shiu had a cool idea of using a hanger and shirt. The next 3.5 Spine release has refreshed graphics throughout, it's pretty sweet!

Re: workflow, there's no problem putting a source mesh into a placeholder. Why does it matter which one goes in?

It's true moving them around can rename them and set a path. Maybe we should rename an attachment that has a path once it goes in a skin placeholder? Attachments under a skin placeholder don't have name restrictions (when under a slot they must be unique for that slot), so it's usually (always?) what you want.

BinaryCats

I replied to that topic because it was about usability of spine. The fist part of the post (images) regards that, and is not the bulk of this thread, but sure discussing it here is fine.

Our artist is never sure which is the source and which is which. I literally had to open the magnifier to show him. These similar images, on small high res screens are the same unless you squint.

If you Put the source mesh in a placeholder, you can no longer create linked meshes when you create a new skin? or am I missing something? It seems the best workflow would be to not have the sourceMesh in a placeholder, that way it is available in new/all skins, to be used to create a new linked mesh for that skin.
Why does dragging the source mesh, into the placeholder delete the linked mesh, and unsource it?

hmm, interesting, ill think about it over the weekend? :beer:

Additionally if you where to accidentally place the source in the placeholder, you would have to go through the skins to find which one held the source image to edit the mesh

Nate

Guess I could have left skin placeholder part of other post. Was confusing to post same stuff twice.

A placeholder can only have one attachment, so if you drop another attachment in it, the existing attachment is deleted. If the existing attachment is a source mesh, it is moved out of the placeholder instead.

FWIW, it says Linked Mesh in the tree properties:
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There is some juggling to get linked meshes in other skins. I believe there's an issue to improve that.

BinaryCats

The not allowing sources in placeholders was for helping the work flow of putting linked meshes into other skins 🙂 I thought about a dropdown menu too (of which linekd mesh you want to put in the placeholder) but I feel that would be annoying if you had lots of skins and lots of source meshes.

And yeah, that's how I'm having to tell my artist how to know if its a source or a linked mesh. but still involves having to click it, would be nicer to visually see it in the hierarchy. 🙂