Old UI (Pre 2.0.0)

[vasile_bulgac1]

Hello,

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with the new 2.0.0 UI interface. As a die-hard fan and long-time user of your software (one of the best in domain and trust me, I have tried many RT solutions), I found the older version (1.8.4) to be significantly more user-friendly and efficient compared to the new one, which is ...I don't know how to call it.

The previous UI design had an intuitive layout that allowed me to navigate through the features seamlessly. It was straightforward, and I could easily locate the tools and options I needed. However, the overhaul update 2.0.0 has completely altered the interface, and I find it cumbersome and counterintuitive, at least in my case.

The new UI feels cluttered and lacks the simplicity that made the older version so appealing. Important features have been buried under multiple menus, making it frustrating and time-consuming to access essential functions. Additionally, the organization of the interface seems chaotic, causing unnecessary confusion and hindering my productivity...I have the feeling i have to re-learn again all the interface.

Furthermore, the visual design of the older UI was visually appealing and had a cohesive aesthetic. The new design appears disjointed, with conflicting color schemes and font choices, making it visually unappealing and difficult to focus on my work.

I strongly ask/urge you to reconsider the changes made to the UI interface and take into account the feedback from loyal users like me. Reverting to the previous UI design or implementing improvements based on user feedback or an ability to change between UIs would be greatly appreciated and would enhance the overall user experience.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I hope that my feedback will be taken into serious consideration, as it directly impacts my satisfaction and productivity while using your software.

If there are others like me and I'm sure there are, I strongly suggest'em to have the courage and write here.

Seriously I start to believe again...Got my hopes up high...Got disappointed. The cycle never ends...

Best Regards,
Vasile B.

[digital_technologies]

I would like to partially contribute to these comments , mainly on what has to do with multiple clicks in menus in order to find necessary functions that you use constantly
i still prefer the previous UI, even though the aesthetics of the new one is more beautiful, never the less less intuitive and functional

[vasile_bulgac1]

I would like to partially contribute to these comments , mainly on what has to do with multiple clicks in menus in order to find necessary functions that you use constantly
i still prefer the previous UI, even though the aesthetics of the new one is more beautiful, never the less less intuitive and functional

From my point of view I still prefer intuitive and functional over newer aesthetics.

It is like throwing to trash an Eizo CG319x because it's having an utilitarian design and choose an AOC or Aorus monitor for simple fact it is more cool and trendy in the looking...

[davide_paolini]

Hi everyone,

I'm completely agree with vasile_bulgac1 , I was so in love with the perfect funcionality and minimal estethics of the old GUI, I think it was perfect!!!
The new one as Vasil wrote "Important features have been buried under multiple menus, making it frustrating and SUPER time-consuming to access essential functions."

Best Regards


Davide Paolini

V-Ray Trainer
3D Graphic Academy

[Alexander.Atanasov]

Hi all,

Thank you for the feedback! Can you list your most commonly used features and settings so we could improve the UX in the future?

Best regards,
Alexander

[vasile_bulgac1]

The problem with the new interface/UI it's very similar of what have done Adobe in July 2022 with Adobe Acrobat. Loyal customers protested and somehow Adobe released a patch that allowed users to be able to switch between the old and new UI by choosing it from the options menu.

Right now my only advise to you, is to think how to implement something similar, I mean a function something like this "View > Enable/Disable New Vangate" or "View > Switch to Old Legacy UI" etc.

Seriously nearly all vital features/functions have been buried under multiple menus. I don't know who's behind this overhaul, but a program like this does not need UI overhaul, it needs technical updates, like 3ds max. Old UI was more than perfect.

I'm 100% positive you know the sayin' "If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”. Never “fix” anything unless it’s a problem, and you have evidence showing that the problem really exists. Vantage didn't needed a UI overhaul.

I still have hopes that Chaos maybe will revise or rethink this UI strategy.

Best regards,
Vasile B.

[npg]

Making UIs is hard. Because there's never a right answer, it's all about opinion. There were opinions that the old UI had to be changed...

Apart from style changes (icons, colors, fonts), the UI is mostly the same except for the top toolbar. I agree that the toolbar may be less convenient now. We may reconsider the toolbar changes. Do you find other areas that are more difficult to use than before though?

Adding an option to switch to the old UI is not likely because this was not planned so we removed old UI code. It would take a lot of time to revert (which we don't have) and will also mean we have to maintain two versions of the UI code in the future (more work, more bugs, etc.) ...

[vasile_bulgac1]

...Adding an option to switch to the old UI is not likely because this was not planned so we removed old UI code. It would take a lot of time to revert (which we don't have) and will also mean we have to maintain two versions of the UI code in the future (more work, more bugs, etc.) ...

We'll see...Time will tell.

Adobe said the same with the new UI, until tens or hundreds of thousands of complains started to flow and in a few months they got time and implemented the old and new view.

This new user interface is the most inconvenient, inexplicable, poorly organized user interface I have experienced with any Chaos product.

Also, scrapping the UI codes of the previous version is not a wise decision...at least from my point of view.

My opinion is that in the future, interfaces should be tested with real live users and not code writers...

[npg]

This new user interface is the most inconvenient, inexplicable, poorly organized user interface I have experienced with any Chaos product.

As I said, most of the UI is pretty much the same as the old one that you say you liked, apart from color and font changes.

Can you give more constructive criticism, such as which part is bad in particular and why (e.g. takes an additional click to toggle color corrections; or X is in Y panel instead of where you expect it, etc.) ?

[vasile_bulgac1]

As I said, most of the UI is pretty much the same as the old one that you say you liked, apart from color and font changes.

Can you give more constructive criticism, such as which part is bad in particular and why (e.g. takes an additional click to toggle color corrections; or X is in Y panel instead of where you expect it, etc.) ?

The first example that comes to my mind right now is the "Advanced Scene Settings". Removing the dialog from File menu, and scattering it's settings in so called "convenient places" is very inconvenient.
- Second is the symbols without text and description, like it was in the old one.

- Third one is the rollouts in the Environment tab UI. AO is very hard to find.

In the mean time I will take my time and compile a list with about 20 points, that in my case nearly killed my fluent workflow that I had with the previous version.

It's like erasing 2 years of knowledge and now I have to start over to learn this revolutionary "revamped user interface".

[davide_paolini]

Dear Alexander.Atanasov and npg ,

I made a simulation with Photoshop regarding some modifications to the User Interface. I'm attaching two images, the first one is the main one, and the second one is just a detail.

In the first image, you can see some things that I consider very important:

These icons should always be visible and not tucked into a submenu as they are now, because during the workflow, they are used very frequently. Having them in a submenu requires three clicks instead of just one, and when you use commands frequently, it becomes frustrating: Rendering Pause, Denoiser On/Off, Post On/Off, Quality, Exposure bias, Focus Target, Composition Guide. All of these are very important in my workflow, and if they were always visible, as in the old interface, it would be much better.
For Pause rendering at the moment I use the keyboard shortcut "Pause" button but, working on two monitor you have always to do one click with the mouse on the screen with Vantage and then press pause button, otherwise if you are working with the mouse on another monitor obviusly the pause button refers to the other application and not to Vantage. If the "Pause rendering" button were always visible, I would only need one click.

At the very least, there could also be an option in the current UI to make these icons always visible, like when the submenu is open... so those who want them can keep them visible all the time, and those who don't, don't have to.

I really appreciated the side icons/folders in the old interface that I have reimagined in the first image. They are much more functional because this way, you can also have more free space for future integrations by adding other items, given that there is a lot of space. This approach can also keep the entire top horizontal line free to add any new icons and functions to the central top bar.

In the second image, I've suggested an alignment proposal because at the moment, it's distracting while working, as it's not organized and creates visual confusion.

I hope this is helpful.


Best Regards


Davide Paolini

V-Ray Trainer
3D Graphic Academy

[vasile_bulgac1]

Dear Alexander.Atanasov and npg ,

I made a simulation with Photoshop regarding some modifications to the User Interface. I'm attaching two images, the first one is the main one, and the second one is just a detail.

In the first image, you can see some things that I consider very important:

These icons should always be visible and not tucked into a submenu as they are now, because during the workflow, they are used very frequently. Having them in a submenu requires three clicks instead of just one, and when you use commands frequently, it becomes frustrating: Rendering Pause, Denoiser On/Off, Post On/Off, Quality, Exposure bias, Focus Target, Composition Guide. All of these are very important in my workflow, and if they were always visible, as in the old interface, it would be much better.
For Pause rendering at the moment I use the keyboard shortcut "Pause" button but, working on two monitor you have always to do one click with the mouse on the screen with Vantage and then press pause button, otherwise if you are working with the mouse on another monitor obviusly the pause button refers to the other application and not to Vantage. If the "Pause rendering" button were always visible, I would only need one click.

At the very least, there could also be an option in the current UI to make these icons always visible, like when the submenu is open... so those who want them can keep them visible all the time, and those who don't, don't have to.

I really appreciated the side icons/folders in the old interface that I have reimagined in the first image. They are much more functional because this way, you can also have more free space for future integrations by adding other items, given that there is a lot of space. This approach can also keep the entire top horizontal line free to add any new icons and functions to the central top bar.

In the second image, I've suggested an alignment proposal because at the moment, it's distracting while working, as it's not organized and creates visual confusion.

I hope this is helpful.


Best Regards


Davide Paolini

V-Ray Trainer
3D Graphic Academy

I totally agree and support your suggestions.

Right now I'm simply forced to use 1.8.4 because of the UI