January 15, 2012, 12:42:46 am
Congratulation on trying to produce a new interface.
But, and this is a BIG BUT, .....Lumion is not the first kid on the block that has tried to evade the Windows way of doing things, Apple has its limited group of followers. Unfortunately its way too late to make such changes in light of the fact the Windows way of communicating is still on 90% of the worlds computer. Far too many computer users expect programs to perform in a Windows type of way. I'm not making a value judgment here, that's simply the way it is.
Its often been said by others "If you want an appliance, you buy an Apple, If you want a computer you buy a PC". I'm a PC guy. I want to remove an replace my own HDD, unlike Apple users that have Apple do that for them for a $350.00 fee.
Lumion has many shortcomings, when it comes to the Windows way of integrating with other 3d programs, yet it hopes to provide easy integration via import, and then expects the user to get used to a whole new "simpler" way of doing things, the Lumion way.
Unfortunately the Lumion Interface is very clumsy. I probably use 20 different window oriented programs every day, and it becomes automatic after a while, no matter which new program I use, I can and do become quickly used to any new program, mainly because the of the Windows standard.
A short list of what I think believe needs attention:
01.The complete disregard of a right-clicking-context-menu is a main programming fault in Lumion, in my opinion.
02.The Eye dropper icon like in PS is missing: so I can readily use and change the properties of my imported terrain, to paint Lumion terrain.
03.The ability to quickly high lite objects from my imported scene: so I can delete them if required. (right click menu item)
04.The option of displaying a Windows menu bar (on/off): so I can quickly go to File/save, Import etc. I'm not impressed by having to learn a whole new bunch of Icons, when simple words will do.
05.Being able to turn on/off if terrain changes will or will not interfere with imported objects, such as walls, foundations etc.
06.Road and Path building Tools.
07.Being able to create a Mirror effect: without having to remember a whole bunch of slider settings.
08.Open source access: being able to add objects to Lumion material list.
09.Open source forum: sharing of materials, and objects in Lumion: like Maxwell.
10.Development of an API scripting language: like Ruby for SketchUp
There are many programs that have developed excellent quasi Window interfaces, which also deserve mention: ArtRage, Cinema 4D, Maxwell, to mention a few. also Lumion should definitely consult with its users via a beta testing program.
Cheers!