Navigation - coordinates - inital view
I am thinking about the initial viewpoint when opening blenderbim, and how we can help users to understand the coordinate system.
In the initial display we are looking from south-east, slightly down to north-west.
Why not instead use the numpad-7 viewpoint from the start, to get a plan-view, where north is straight up on the screen, east is horizontally to the right on the screen, and we are watching straight from top down to the bottom (through the screen).
I am also thinking, it could be reasonable to replace the initial cube, with something more pedagogical. Such as a wall or something similar.
And it could also be nice start with an annotation that shows the map navigation arrows. Arrows that have the symbols of north, up and east in the right directions.
This is just some ideas for discussion.
Comments
I like the idea of starting with a plan view. I'm not sure how much sense it makes to replace the cube as it won't be an IFC object and will be deleted anyway. Thoughts?
What type of annotation do you mean? Do you mean something you'd place on a drawing?
I am thinking about:
1. To initially start with a straight plan view in orthographic perspective, just like most other BIM-software.
2. To initially display something that explains the coordinate system for the user - at least in terms of "were is my north and east". It is not obvious what XYZ means in terms of plan view or map coordinates.
3. Maybe replace the intial cube with an IfcWall that will be deleted. But maybe this mean there has to be an IfcProject from the start.
4. Maybe one could also initially display an IfcGrid that can be deleted.
But I don't know if these are good ideas. It is just for a discussion.
Maybe some arrows that reads:
X = east, Y = north, Z = up.
I guess the suggestion about north and east was bad, because you want to be able to set the north and east independent of X, Y and Z.
But maybe it could be possible to show where north and east is set from the start, before there are any changes to the coordinate system.
I like the idea of having a 3D gizmo drawn on the screen to indicate North in the top right corner.
But X, Y and Z should IMO not be relabeled from the get-go - up, down, right, left, north, south, etc are conventional directions that depend on how you interpret and project the model, while 3D coordinates are tangible, factual data.