StreamLine Tools

Todo

Explain what StreamLine tools are and what are their advantages over standard tools. For now, I copied everything from the .chm manual. Include a video demonstrating a StreamLine Tool use case.

A StreamLine Tool is a tool package that can hold multiple Streamline Basic Tools and also action commands. A StreamLine Tool is bound to a set of customizable hotkeys so it can be activated and deactivated by pressing down and releasing its hotkeys. It provides a number of mouse events through which its subtools or commands can be executed.

What Are The Advantages of StreamLine Tools?

Streamline tools makes it easy to open and drop off a tool. The hotkey management can also be simplified through streamline tools as multiple tools and commands can be packed into one StreamLine Tool. This brings great benefits into workflow.

How to Setup And Customize StreamLine Tools?

Contents of StreamLine tool and its hotkeys are customizable. Besides application-defined StreamLine Tools, users can also create their own StreamLine Tools to suit their own workflow.

To customize a StreamLine tool, enter Edit→Customize StreamLine Tools to open the Customize Modelling StreamLine Engine Tools window.

To customize StreamLine Tool’s hotkeys, choose Edit→Customize→Tools to open the Customize Tools window and navigate to StreamLine Engine Tools group.

Alternatively and preferably, change the hotkey directly inside the Customize Modeling StreamLine Engine Tools window using Set Hotkey button.

How to Use StreamLine Tools?

Once a StreamLine tool’s hot key is pressed down, the StreamLine Tool will be activated. By default, a StreamLine tooltip Instant Help will appear on the screen. In this tooltip you will find description on how to use the current tool. To change the tooltip behaviour, uncheck Edit→Options→Show Instant Help.

Alternatively, StreamLine Tools can also be activated from Radial Menus, SmartTips and Tool Search Window. A special command is dedicated to activate last used StreamLine Tool: Activate Last StreamLine Tool.

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Add links to SmartTips and Tool Search Window in the paragraph above.

If the StreamLine Tool is not activated with hotkeys and is activated from SmartTips, Tool Search Window or Radial Menu instead, then it won’t be sticky. NMB action and the On Tapped event will not work at all in order to prevent unexpected results from occurring.

Once StreamLine Tool is activated, user can click and drag a mouse button, or even move it without pressing any buttons, to perform an action defined in the StreamLine Tool’s settings. Once a mouse button is depressed or the mouse is moved, StreamLine Basic Tool will be activated. And operation will be performed by dragging the mouse.

Some StreamLine Basic Tools are marked as enabled for soft selection. What it means is that in any StreamLine Tools that use those Basic Tools, once they’re activated, scrolling a mouse wheel can be used to adjust soft selection range.

Some tablets doesn’t have a scroll wheel. There is however a WMB-UP and WMB-DOWN simulator commands that can be used in such case. They can be found in Common Shortcut Tools group.

For some tools, number keys from 1 to 9 are used to set number of cut lines. WMB can also be used here to adjust this parameter. Space key is utilized to change options before or after the operation has started, and is customizable.

A StreamLine Basic tool may be linked to a visual tool, which does the same or a similar thing, but offers more options. Once a StreamLine Basic Tool is activated through a StreamLine Tool, pressing down the End key will cause the StreamLine tool to close and the linked Visual Tool to be activated. If an operation is already in progress, it will be cancelled. This is useful for accessing a Visual Tool through StreamLine Tools in order to take advantage of options that a Visual Tool offers.

Option Dialog can be opened for a StreamLine Tool once it is activated. It makes possible for StreamLine Basic Tool to use different options for an operation it performs. The dialog will remain visible until a different basic tool is activated or you exit the StreamLine Tool. All the tools containing additional options are indicated by a “#” suffix.

Most StreamLine Basic Tools only work with a specific subset of possible options. However, if the option dialog is opened, then the options that you choose in it will be used instead.

Some StreamLine Basic tools are more general than the others. For example, a Polygon_Extrude tool always works with the options chosein in the dialog [???], no matter if the dialog is opened or not.

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The above paragraph is unclear.

There are two ways to open a hidden options window:

• Click LMB or MMB while the tool’s activation mouse button is being kept pressed.
• Press Home key once the basic tool is activated. This can also be used to permanently hide the options window.

If you wish the option dialog to pop-up every time you access the tool, tick the checkbox next to Auto Show option in the options window.

If the Sticky options is enabled, the StreamLine Tool will stay live after its hotkey is released. This makes it possible for numeric input in the options dialog.

If the StreamLine Tool’s hotkey is a combination of two or more keys, it is possible that other StreamLine tool will be activated while releasing the current StreamLine Tool’s hotkey. To prevent this, keep the mouse button depressed while releasing other keys. This option will be unchecked once the option dialog is closed [?].

There is an option for user buttons, Streamline Tool Sticky Settings, for each mouse button. Once it’s on, if a streamline tool is activated either directly or indirectly by a composite tool from the button by that mouse button, the cursor will be locked inside the buttons and cursor movements will be transferred to viewport to perform the operation. This option is useful for reduing the time needed for moving cursor between user button and the viewport.

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Correct the paragraph above.

Specifications of StreamLine Tool Options

Activate NMB Action on Activated

This option can be used as a shortcut to performing the steps needed to execute a StreamLine Basic Tool. Use case example:

1. Edit→Customize StreamLine Tools.
2. Select the LoopCut/Slide Edges tool.
3. Assign the Edge_Loop_Cut/Slide_Proportional StreamLine Basic tool to the NMB action.
4. In the Options group, tick Activate NMB Action on Activated.
5. Create a box primitive.
6. Switch to edge subobject mode.
7. Hover the cursor over an edge.
8. Press down S key on the keyboard. An edge loop should appear as soon as the tool is activated.

Allow Tapped to Stay Live

If this option is on, the tool will stay live even if its hotkeys are released or if its hotkeys are depressed and then released without any action performed.

To avoid triggering the tool’s On Tapped event, press down StreamLine Tool’s redirect hotkey (Caps Lock) before releasing its hotkey.

This can be useful for some tools, like the Cut tool which needs to stay longer in order to allow the artist to perform more operations.

Once a StreamLine Tool is “tapped to stay live”, if any boolean selection keys is pressed down (Shift/Ctrl), the program will perform a selection operation instead of the StreamLine Tool’s defined operations. This is to allow users to perform selection operation within a StreamLine Tool without having to leave the tool.

There are three ways to exit the tool: * Hit Esc key. * Press down tool’s hotkeys, then release them. * Activate another StreamLine Tool.

Allow Event Action on Highlighted

Turning this option off can be used to prevent the On Activated event action from executing on highlighted subobjects.

Viewport StreamLine Tool

A viewport StreamLine Tool can be activated by mouse button only (without keyboard hotkeys). It will work if there is a selection in the scene or there is an object under cursor, so no keys are required to be pressed. It provides a fast way to access the most used tools.

Mouse Event Timing

Edit→Preferences→General→StreamLine Mouse Event Timing (default = 0 seconds). If value is not 0 and both: mouse event and function tool are assigned, MouseDown/Click events fire only if the interval between tool activated and MouseDown is under this specified time. Mouse function tools can only be activated after this time.

Click Event Timing

Edit→Preferences→General→StreamLine Click Event Timing (default = 0.15 seconds). Click even fires only if the interval between *MouseDown and MouseUp is under this specified time.

Perform Selection Operations Within a StreamLine Tool

Once a StreamLine Tool is activated, there are a few ways to perform selection operations without dropping out of the StreamLine Tool.

• Some StreamLine Basic Tools have On mouse up without action event, which can be used to perform selection operations. See StraamLine Basic Tool Specifications.
• Many StreamLine Basic Tools work on preselected items under cursor. If these items do not exist, this means no selection or object/subobject under cursor, the program will not activate the StreamLine Basic Tool but instead perform selection operations in mouse click/drag events. That is provided that the StreamLine Tool is not activated by key or has been tapped to stay live and no command has been assigned to the related mouse button events.
• LMB/MMB + RMB click to change object selection in any selection mode.