Transform Effects rebrand/rework proposal #449
Description
Transform effects are confusing and not really practical, to newcomers it is hard to use them and find them.
Some thoughts about a possible revamp :
Here is the list of available Transform effects in friction : track, follow path, follow object, follow object relative, parent.
To me the naming is not right, these "effects" do not apply a filter or generate pixels, they only move existing ones. After effects does not have a real equivalent, but Blender calls these "Constraints".
I think this wording is clearer, describe better the purpose of these to a newcomer. You will constraint a layer to a path/object and it will be moved accordingly.
Another issue with transform effects : they are buried in the transform section of an object. You have to expand the properties needed to manually move this object, when your purpose here is to setup a constraint/effect which will makes the object automatically moves. Quicker access would be far better. To me another top section would be more appropriate. It would not appear unless there is a constraint. Apart from that, it would behave exactly like transform effect section, but at the top level.
And last but not least, these constraints/effects are important. An object can be totally controlled by one, they create a hierarchy. The user should be able to tell if an object has constraints or not, which ones and which object is the target.
A simple icon, next to the lock icon, could be grayed out if there is no constraint, full white if there is one or more.
By clicking on it, a popup (blender style) would show a line per constraint, with constraint's type, target as info, and the eye (active inactive icon) to toggle the constraint active or not.
On a last line, an add constraint sub menu (as right click -> actions -> raster effect menu).
If there is no constraint, this popup would only show the add constraint sub menu.
Here are some mockups where you can see the popup menu and constraint section in the timeline.
And to be coherent with the rest of friction, an entry in the right click action menu would help. For now you cannot add transform effect from there, i think this is confusing and i don't really see the point. All other effect types can be added through this menu...
I think friction would benefits a lot of these clarifications, what do you think ?
Cheers !