Post by LL in Feature Requests

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LL24 days ago

I have a few suggestions, but they are mostly accessibility/QoL changes:

Being able to click and drag .blastfx files from the file explorer into the window to open them instead of having to do "File > Open..." and then selecting them.
The ability to double-click .blastfx files in the file explorer to open them in the program, and associate all blastfx files with BlastFX after installation.
Ability to reorder dock and undock windows, like a "canvas" in drawing programs, and lock and unlock this so I can't move them around after I find a configuration I like. I tend to utilize different sized monitors and I like the ability to have all of my parameters on the right-hand side.
In the Emitter Properties, all of the sections get very overwhelming to navigate when the text is mostly the same weight and hierarchy. This is compounded when one or more of the sections are expanded and I need to sift through the list collapse them again. Ability to change the theme or color of these so that they are more clearly divided would help a lot. (Sorry, if this doesn't sense, let me know.)
Being able to use the mouse to click and drag to reorder entries in the Effects Chain without having to click on the small-ish arrow boxes.
Icons in the Emitters panel seem to be pretty small and it's difficult to tell when things are Locked or Unlocked, Hidden or Visible.
Ability to change the overall BlastFX theme and choose between light, dark, or use custom hex colors for the user to swap between?
A brief explanation/tooltip when the user hovers over the Emitter properties and other categories. I know you can access online documentation via Help > Online Documentation, but maybe I need a brief refresher without having to open an external internet webpage.

Thanks for your consideration!

MNKY24 days ago(+1)

1. Should be doable

2. There isn't any installer currently, so you'd have to associate the files manually, but I should be able to make it compatible with that

3. I'll have a look into this, it should be possible, although I'll admit the program was originally intended to be a single screen application, but I know not everyone likes work that way

4. I get what you're saying, I'm still trying to figure out a good way to make the sections easier to navigate without getting overwhelmed/lost, but I'll take your suggestions into consideration

5. This is on my to-do list, hopefully in the next update

6. I agree, I was supposed to use proper slightly larger icons, but forgot to update them. I'll make a note of that

7. I'll have a look into how easy it is to theme with the UI library I'm currently using

8. The majority of properties should have a tool tip when you hover over them, I'll check to see if I've missed any

LL24 days ago

For point #3, it's fine if the panels can't be fully undocked from the application itself and free-floating (ex. BlastFX on Monitor 1, Emitter Properties are on Monitor 2). If the Panels can be reordered within the main program window, that's sufficient for my use case. Admittedly may be scope creep, but allowing these panel preferences to be saved to a file so that I can use the same configuration across multiple computers. Feel free to ignore if implementing this has diminishing returns.

For #8, there are tooltips for the entries after you expand the parent categories under Emitter Properties, but there aren't any Tooltips for the parent properties themselves. This ask is born from my reluctance to open up categories but may become unnecessary when point #4 is addressed. I'll make another separate post after I spend more time working with this program in my workflow.

MNKY18 days ago

Please take a look at the latest 2.0.3 update change log as I've managed to (hopefully) address a few of your points

LL17 days ago

Oh yeah, these changes in 2.0.3 help out quite a lot! The Collapse All button helps a ton, and the ability to reorder layers is very useful. The color-coded Parent Properties and their tooltips definitely help me parse the list better, along with the Hide/Unhide icons. For any other new suggestions, would you rather me create another post or continue to reply to this one?

MNKY17 days ago

You can keep replying to this thread if you like

LL12 days ago

Sliders require a lot of precision to click and drag. This is mostly a problem when the Export Range marker and the scrubber bar are nearly on top of each other. Maybe increasing the handle size or length?
An option to use the Export Range marker as the endpoint for the animation preview instead of looping only at the 3 second mark. (If the export Range is at 2.10 sec, Loop the preview from 0.00 -> 2.10 sec instead of looping 0.00 -> 3 sec)
Click and drag to toggle lock and visibility of multiple emitters in Scene panel in a row, and/or using Shift + Click to select multiple entries in the Scene panel so I can add them to a folder in one go.
Ability to align or center layers to the canvas.
Ability for the user to preview the loop that would be exported without having to play trial and error of exporting and deleting the GIF/video if I don't like it. The output window won't show things like FPS changes. (May be a stretch, but I've had to export and re-export multiple times whenever I tweaked something like FPS).
Ability to manually type in the exact value for the Export Range by clicking on the seconds value instead of relying on fine tuning with the mouse and the slider handle (it's not very pleasant to use when using a Steam Deck or a mouse with high sensitivity)
I want to be able to type in the exact value for the Simulation Bounds and Export Area instead of only using a mouse to resize the window for specific dimensions.

Thanks for your consideration, and I apologize if any of these are unclear.

MNKY12 days ago

Thanks, those suggestions make sense and should be fairly easy to implement, I'll try and get those sorted soon

itch.io

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