Hello!
I have been using modeling with Blender for a while now and I’ve noticed a feature that has a very nice and practical use, which is the radial buttons that appear after pressing a specific key. I loved the idea of this and have decided to make a plugin that is a bit similar to the feature itself.
What would you use it for?
The plugin is basically a shortcut for builders who need a fast way of doing certain actions (e.g. inserting parts).
How does it work?
Upon installing the plugin, it’ll automatically load up and you are set to use it however you please. To open up the menu, just press set the keybind (A keybind must be set first in order to use the plugin) for the plugin on your keyboard to open it up, and pressing the keybind again closes the menu! A tutorial on how to setup your keybinds is shown at the end of the post!
Features
- Creating parts, wedges, cylinders, balls, etc…
- Grouping selected parts together
- Putting selected parts into a folder
- (More features to come! Please give suggestions on what should be added)
Demonstration
Installation
You can install the plugin via the link below!
Final Notes
This is the first plugin that I’ve ever made, so feedback would be highly appreciated especially on extra features I should add.
There is a Reload UI button on the plugin’s toolbar if the UI happens to not break in anyway.
Update v0.0.1 (12/05/20)
- Precise Selection (Suggested by @VegetationBush)
- Keypad Number support
- Bug fixes
Demonstration of the Precise Selection
Upcoming Features
- Union and Negating
- More shapes
- Welding parts together
- Clamp UI’s position
Setting up your keybinds
To setup your keybinds, you need to open up the Customize Shortcuts window which is located at File > Advanced > Customize Keybinds.
This window should show up once you click on the Customize Keybinds button.
Next, look for the search bar and search for “Radial Menu”. Once you’ve found the action, you can now choose what keybind you want to use by clicking on the empty shortcut box and inputting the keys you want to be the keybind for (PS. You can set multiple keybinds and if you made a mistake you can double click on the box, then right-click on the box again, then press Clear Shortcut to clear all the shortcut.)
Next, search up for the word “Create” in the search bar. Scroll down until you find the 8 actions, from there you can do the same thing as you did with the Radial Menu action.
Picture of how I what you should look for and how I have my keybinds setup
Finally, you click the “Ok” button to confirm your keybinds and do not press the “Cancel” button as it will discard all the changes you’ve made making you go through the entire process again.
Quick demonstration of what I just explained above
