Ok, here’s my version of Natron’s UI overhaul:
I would like to hear some criticisms.
P.S.: @El_Artista I know you like to be all negative and write those huge walls of text, but can I ask you to be more economical with your words please?
I like the word ‘realistic’ a bit better than ‘negative’. I run and manage the Natron Discord server. I’ve been using Natron for years since back when its development was still funded by Inria and have seen what currently seems like it’s slow demise. I’ve seen plenty of people who want to help maintain and develop Natron. I’ve seen lots of those people suggest (seemingly) crazy ideas like making Natron CUDA accelerated and make it sound like they could do it in one night with a single tin of red bull, and the very next day they disappear. Few ideas such as QT5 were actually realized because of the contribution from community developers. I along with the rest of the still standing members of the community can tell you the probable outcomes of this based on what we have seen over the years.
You may but I won’t abide. I prefer to be as elaborate with my words as possible.
In all honesty, this is one of the better designs that I have seen over the years. I’ve seen a lot of people trying to turn Natron into some frankenstein version of Ae, but this is not that. However based on just one image and no breakdowns/explanations of why you chose to make things the way they are, I can’t get behind it. A mockup is just the tiny part of the tip of the iceberg. Every single UI element in Natron has a purpose and there is very specific operational philosophy behind each of those elements. How you would adapt that philosophy into your UI redesign, or completely abandon it in favor of a new (hopefully better) one still remains to be seen. It’s not just shapes, colors and icons. Icons can be updated without a UI change. Colors can be updated in the theme preferences. Many aspects of the UI can be changed using a QSS Stylesheet. But UI means a lot more than that. Design isn’t how something looks, its how something functions. There’s very little that is not left to the imagination in your design eg: what happens when I select a node?, What happens when I select a noodle?, What happens when I try to move something?, etc. Each of these tiny things is part of what makes up the whole of the Natron UI, and consequently the UX and all of those things need to be taken into consideration and be either improved upon or done in a better way for the UI (overhaul) to be considered worth the effort. Without, it simply isnt.
Those things aside, who’s going to realize this design if all elements of it were complete? Current efforts in development and maintenance are dedicated towards keeping the project alive and fixing as many bugs as possible. I have already explained the situation regarding new developers above. This thread has been active for more than 3 years now. That should also tell you everything you need to know about the development status. Yes, a small refresh is needed as Rodlie says above, but an overhaul like Blender, not going to happen anytime soon because we don’t have enough developers and even if we did, we’d rather they work on more important stuff like adding important missing features, fixing bugs, etc.
The current UI isnt a development/maintenance oversight. Not at all. It’s just designed to be from the beginning as functional as possible without adding unnecessary overhead to the software (almost a clone of Nuke’s). UI needs processing power to be displayed on the screen, just like everything else in Natron. The prettier you try to make it, the more overhead it adds. The current UI has the perfect balance. It’s functional, it’s usable, it’s flexible and customizable, and it doesn’t add much overhead if at all. There’s honestly nothing more anybody who’s doing any serious work should ask for from a UI.
@El_Artista You really like to hear yourself talk…
I like the word ‘realistic’
Well, ‘realism’ only got you here, so maybe let’s try something?
In all honesty, this is one of the better designs that I have seen over the years.
I consider this to be high praise coming from you, so thank you!
A mockup is just the tiny part of the tip of the iceberg.
Of course it is, you can’t expect me to work through every aspect of the UI and how everything works right away. It will take several months of work. This is just a demo to show that I have some experience in UI design and wouldn’t you like to have a proper Pro UI instead of what we have currently.
Design isn’t how something looks, its how something functions.
I mean, you’re talking to me like I’m a small child. Of course I understand how big and complicated the task of just fleshing out every aspect of the software is.
The current UI isnt a development/maintenance oversight.
Look, the UI of any software is PARAMOUNT, just get it already. It’s how the user interacts with all the amazing features under the hood. Everything else is secondary. I’ve switched form Maya to Blender as my main 3D app only because of the UI overhaul and so did a huge number of others. The new UI can breathe new life into this project and what happend to Blender post 2.8 is proof enough for me.
It’s just designed to be from the beginning as functional as possible without adding unnecessary overhead to the software (almost a clone of Nuke’s).
Sure, there will be more overhead, obviously. But what do you expect — you have to pay for nice things. But if you do this kind of work, your PC should be able to handle it. It’s gonna be worth it
Anyway I just want to say this:
- I’m able to design everything and think through every feature.
- I’m able create a very good HTML/CSS/JS prototype. Which imo is a good tech option for the final UI implementation, it’s not that resource intensive, it’s mature and is easy to maintain.
- Only thing I can’t do is to actually implement it into Natron.
So if there are some enthusiasts out there who would like to change this whole situation, I’m willing to do my part for free. That’s all I’m saying.
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Aight, buddy. You’ve got just as much dedication as I’ve seen from many other devs who said they’ll take on collosal projects to “save Natron”. If you think you’ve got it, go ahead. I hope you’ll be better than many other wannabe contributiors I’ve seen and wish you all the best. If not, well this thread will drag on for another three years and then some.
Just casting a line to see if something bites.
Let’s stop all the macho posturing, please. It isn’t getting anyone anywhere.
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The mockup looks good for the most part, but the biggest problem is:
It would be a major undertaking to modify Natron enough to look similar to the mockup. Note that Natron has been in maintenance mode for years, only bug fixes and keeping up-to-date with third-party software is worked on.
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The mockup looks good
Thanks! I’ve put my heart & soul into it (jk).
I would imagine that it would be, but so what? That’s why I was talking about crowdfunding or something before — to hire a proper specialist.
UI/UX ≩ fixing bugs and other boring stuff. Better to bitch about bugs than bitch about how bad the UI is.
As somebody who is a UI/UX designer for a job and has also spent a good deal of time on updated UI mockups, it’s cool that designers want to contribute their time to the project (the FOSS world needs more designer contribution!) but it’s unfortunately not the bottleneck here 
Back to Davinci Resolve it is then.
The “boring” stuff is the important part. Real users want something that works.
What’s the point in looking good if you don’t work? you can’t polish a turd etc.
So what you’re saying is: right now Natron is a turd under the hood?
And UI is more about being readable, intuitive and convenient than just “looking good”. Right now Natron’s hood is definitely a turd you cannot polish, you have to throw it out and start from 0.
No. Read what I wrote.
Stop being stupid.
Ok I will, I’m sorry.