Hi Creators,
Last summer we released the Next Gen Studio Preview Beta and, since that time, we have been working non-stop with rolling updates to get everything ready for prime time. We have continuously listened to your feedback (thank you!) and have done our best to incorporate your ideas and suggestions where we can.
The past few months have been mostly focused on ensuring functional parity with the old UI. Our goal was that any action or tool that Studio supports should be accessible through the new interfaces but there were two big missing pieces we’ve now addressed…
Play/Testing Controls
Our initial release only allowed you to run a solo play test. Our design and engineering teams worked closely together to unify all the test and debug modes, including team test, into one convenient interface. In addition we fixed up numerous issues the old UI had with properly enabling/disabling button states, icons, etc. with our all new Contexts system.
We also wanted these new controls to be in a persistent, easily accessible place in the main window and we decided to take the space that was formerly occupied by Quick Access. Which brings us to the next big piece…
Custom Tabs & Toolbars
Customization has always been at the heart of the Next Gen plan. You could add actions to the Quick Access area but there was no control of the ribbon tabs and toolbars. You now have full control over what tabs you see, what tools are on those tabs, and how they are displayed. Just right click in the ribbon area or on a tab to get started.
Creating a new tab is easy! From there you can add any combination of Studio and plugin tools.
Want to tweak the default Home tab? Duplicate it and then add or remove any tools you wish.
What about hiding or reordering tabs? You can do that quickly via the Manage Tabs dialog. Just right click the ribbon to access.
With the ability to access any task that the old UI can provide, we’re beginning the transition to the new Beta interface as the default UI, starting with automatic enrollment this week. If you were autoenrolled into the Beta because of this, please visit the original announcement for more details on the Next Gen Studio architecture that supports all of these new UI capabilities.
Achieve Next Gen Zen
Our next goal is to leave Beta in early June, when we’ll fully replace the old UI with this one. We have a short list of improvements and fixes to make but we strongly recommend you leave this Beta feature turned on and start adjusting your muscle memory to the new UI.
Here’s a few tips:
- Don’t forget about the Menus. We have moved a lot of functionality from the old toolbars to menus. We believe this is a highly efficient use of screen space and menus are always available at the top of your window or screen.
- Don’t forget about Shortcuts. If you find yourself doing the same actions frequently, consider using keyboard shortcuts. There’s no faster way to activate an action and they’re especially great for repetitive tasks.
- Customize your tabs. We have provided the ability to duplicate system tabs, edit your custom tabs, and hide any tabs you don’t need or use. You can put together tool combinations that have never been possible before.
While we plan to improve the space utilization very soon, today you can make the most of your UI space by hiding tool labels or even hiding the entire ribbon…
We want your feedback; if there’s any functionality you think we’ve missed, or any improvements you’d want us to make with the new UI please let us know.
Known Issues
- We will be addressing the overall spacing concerns before we leave Beta. The default state will be much more reduced and we’re hoping to introduce even more compact options in the near future.
- We will be allowing the scrolling of toolbars and getting rid of the overflow dropdown menu.
- Overall colors and styling are mostly placeholders. We are working closely with our design team to incorporate the new design system. You will likely see this appear on the Start Page first and the ribbon interface will follow along shortly.
- Tooltips have a few display issues. This is a whole new tooltip system and we’re still tweaking things here.
- Menu organization is still a work in progress. We are still trying to finalize where some things are in the menus and naming.
- You can’t currently add complex controls like the drop down buttons (we call them SplitButtons) and the snapping UI to custom tabs yet. But as a workaround, you can duplicate a system tab with those controls and modify the duplicate.
- Rearranging tools on a tab requires a right clicks for now. We hope to add drag and drop in the near future.
