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I have used quiet a few programs in my day. The "power" of a program in my opinion is not about 50% of what a program should be rated out of. I would say one of the most important aspects of a computer program is its interface.
The reason I posted, was to get everyones opinion of what program has the best user interface. You can suggest any program from firewalls to paintbrush programs to compilers. Any input is welcome.
Norton Commander 3.0, circa 1990
Poser 4.
I've never seen a program so complex have an interface so easy to use. Even a complete newbie to 3D can pick it up in a matter of seconds due to the overwhelming user-friendliness of the UI.
Marcomedia Flash mx 6,
With its easy and professional mode. All its drawing tools in one simple location, along with the easy to use "frames" selecter. And with all the "sizes" and "font" setting right infront of you it's in my opinion the best interfaces I have seen.
I have not used flash 8 yet so it could be better.
I have to agree with Mario F.
NC3 had a very clear UI
I'm using Far Manager that clones it and I'm still happy with what it provides, even it is a Consol Application for Win32
The problem with deciding on a ui is that no two people will see it exactly the same.
I would pick the pctools that predates norton commander [ it became notron commander ] for a better ui.
I dislike the large goopey buttons of poser 4, Bryce [ every metacreations graphics app ]
though it is a fairly clean design.
Nodtveidt,
take a look at Daz's Studio app, they give the base away free as competition for Poser.
[ Poser 7 released monday ]
I detest the perspective only view of most 3d applications, I like the 4 pane top left front perspective view.
for a ui that works well and is functional acros many application types, I prefer the ui of CorelDraw! Suite < V10.
more user customisable than any other application, clean look if wanted, or cluttered. ;)
with only the menu bar locked into one location in the UI, everything else can be placed where the user wants it.
That's the reason for the post.Quote:
The problem with deciding on a ui is that no two people will see it exactly the same
A other program with great customability is gmax. It has a very decent, basic ui and all the tools are pilled not deep and it is spread out.
Jaqui, thanks for the tip! DAZ|Studio looks promising, gonna give it a spin now.
The version of Poser I use has a number of views you can set (various split-frame views) but I tend to use the single-frame projection view only, and switch back and forth between the main and aux cameras.
The latest versions of Softimage XSI offer one of the best UI in my opinion.
3d programs have so many tools you have to use, XSI makes it rather intuitive combining keyboard and mouse.
Firefox also has great UI, speeding surfing the net.
The GNOME Open dialog box! :D (It's one of the worst.)
Microsoft Paint. Seems a lot of kids know how to use that before the parents have figured out how the computer itself is used. :p
webroot spysweeper has a great interface. Everything in colourful and all in a pictured list. It uses a uniqe format that I personally love.
I like my text labels for controls, since most images are not intuitive.
[ new, open save print.. the basic toolbar images are fine, it's the specialised ones that you have to know the app to read the images. ]
glo, I actually like Maya's ui over XSI's
but then that was my point, unless a ui is completely customisable you'll never satisfy everyone.
Nodtveidt,
I've irritated my wife with her copy of Poser4 pro pack, she spent an hour trying to position a prop in Vicky's hand properly in the default view, I switched it to the hand camera when it was near enough to be veiwable in it and did a drag and drop in perfect position.. 30 seconds start to finish. :D
[ I can use the perspective view, I just prefer to have the other three for reference as well ]
if you have been active in any of the online Poser communities, you probably have met my wife on them, or have seen her work. She is actually now one of the admins at Daz's forum site.
[ and nope, I never try to get her to change a decision on it. She does her job as Daz wants her to, I stay out of it ]
I am currently running 3ds max which I think is below average in every aspect. I have tried to get maya but I couldn't get the free version working. And to purchase it is something like $1000 dollars so...
max is a real memory hog, and yup, the ui does leave a lot to be desired in terms of functionality.
it is also one of the most capable 3d applications available, directly comparable to maya and XSI.
gmax is a version of max built for game models, I had thought it was the same ui as max, just tuned for low poly models.