Well , :

As I mentioned , I later found almost all of these solutions
myself , so this post was more about what a typical new user
might experience , as well as one who has worked with RS  .

  The new V6 manual is awesome ! The new interface upgrades
are worth the upgrade price. The new Tools are worth the
upgrade price . SP1 will spell relief to many users , of
course .

  3D creation is one of the most time consuming tasks known to
mankind . It should be done in teams where one person can help
another person when they have hit that wall of frustration .

  I think that's what Realsoft had in mind when they released
V6 ... add many more powerful tools , including many more
user features that will speed up the creation process , as
well as make interface navigation much easier too .

  V6 is a huge upgrade ... and at a low cost (money , not
manpower hours) . I think Vesa/Juha and many others too must
be very dedicated to pull off this release , with so many new
features , plus a new manual too .

  However , I don't think it is clear to some people how
important that everything work as it should . What a new
user might automatically expect to be there ... should be
there for them ! If it isn't ... try to make it so ! Don't
make excuses for it , or just ignore it .

> How about Uncheck the 'Hide Coordinates Handle in Edit Mode'
> in the 'Wire' Tab of the 'Select' Window

  How about you drop the sarcasm ? I just looked several times
for a "Wire" tab in the Select window . Not there . Finally
found a Wire Tab on the 'Property Window' . Thanks , but now
maybe you see how important that _Exact_ steps must be used .

  3D S/W is so incredibly complicated that one tiny little
malfunction and everything grinds to a halt . That goes for
missing icons and menu items as well as inaccurate informa-
tion , missed bugs and ignored interface flaws .

> How about using the good old HotKey for it (Alt + Space Keys)

  You automatically expect me to know hot-keys for features
I never use ? Seriously ? Do you think we are all like you ?

> Which you would otherwise found out, if you set 'selection painter'
> as a keyword in the manual, and also found out that you can set 
> 'Soft Selection' for the 'Selection Painter' as well as using the
> 'Soften Tool'.... Or searched the 'Hotkeys' list...

  I didn't know it was called "Selection Painter" . How can a new
user key-word search for something that they don't even know the
name of ? The video shows the icon "SelPainter" . Type that in .

 Doesn't matter anyway . As I said , I found it , so was very
happy , but it would have been nice if the release version had
the icon on the Creation Tab , right ? That was my point .

> How about with the manual open, and in the field for a keyword,
> type in 'select', Select Tools shows up

Again , how does a user type in the name of a tool they don't
know ? They will do what I did , search and search the inter-
face , _then_ the manual page by page .

  Obviously you have no patience for users who are less skilled
in RS than yourself . Some expect users to "already know stuff",
which is maybe why some things are not getting caught in the
testing phase . The best testers look at S/W from the viewpoint
of a brand new user , not from the viewpoint of a "know-it-all" .

> > 22) Find "Soften" tool on the 'View Control' (???) later .

> Yep, some things are abit too little documented...

 My point was "The Soften tool icon does not belong on the
View Control window" . It belongs on 'Creation' or something
similiar . Did you not notice that ?

> Still, you could have got a clue to it, if you typed in
> 'soft' in the keywordfield, and the 'Soften Tool' would
> show up in the manual, showing its Icon, which could have
> let you found the toolbutton faster in the 'View Controls'
> area...

No , wrong again . As I already said , I watched the video , so I
knew what the Icon looked like , but I still could not find it in
any of the Tabs or any of the Pulldown Menu's . Don't you get it ?

  I am only trying to convey a user's continued frustration when
trying new things with this S/W . Some of us are finding items
that should have been found long ago .

> > 23) Find "#4" is hotkey for Freehand Selection (later) .

> You have used RS prior to V6, so how can this hotkey be
> such a big news to you..?

... and there you have it , in a nutshell . You expect people
to already know stuff , instead of finding small flaws and
suggesting they be fixed so that new users can work with RS
much easier (which is why I started this thread) .

  If I was testing , it would have been a very simple matter
to suggest a few things to plug these tiny little holes ...

1) Add a 'Freehand Select' icon to one of the related Toolbars .
2) Move the 'Soft Select' icon to the 'Creation? Tab' .
3) Move the 'Paint Selection' icon to the 'Creation? Tab' .
4) Add 'Soft Select' to the Tools/Creation pulldown menu .
5) Add 'Show Handles' icon to the SDS Edit toolbar or compass .
6) Suggest to make 'Show-ing Handles' the default state .

  I mean , this is what I'm going to do this morning ... make
these changes to my default interface , as well as add a wire-
frame mode icon to stop that annoying OpenGL/raytrace thing .

  I certainly don't expect Vesa/Juha to read these long posts ,
but I do certainly expect the testers to . To read them , see
that maybe , just maybe some points have validity , or take
those points under consideration , then , if so , make sugg-
estions on the testing list . 

Your method seems to be ... find flaws in the user instead .
Ignore any lacking in the S/W , even if it's pointed out to
you . Blame the user for not being as adept as you are ,ig-
nore the points they make , and in fact , try to antagonize
them when they do point out any obvious testing oversites .

  With this approach , it's no wonder certain bugs remain ,
release after release , and certain new bugs go unnoticed
in the beta phase .

Enjoy your testing ! (I know I won't)
 
garry

> SteFan Gustafsson ( Beg-inner )

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