Allow designation of groups of models as members of a composition

[dserhienko]

In the case of very large models, such as dragons or terrain buildings, the model often only exists as a collection of smaller parts

It would be helpful if we could mark that set of smaller parts as being, effectively, to be treated as a single model For purposes of searching and initial display

[rubenwe]

Hi @dserhienko! That's exactly one of the things I'd love to add 👍
I think this plays very well in conjunction with #56!

I haven't done much on the tool in the last month, but I'm currently thinking though this very thing.
It's not a super easy problem, because the expectations of how this should be represented in the library are somewhat spilt between the people I've talked with about this. I'd also love to get your feedback here, as you've obviously given this some thought.

Case A: On one hand, there are static models that are just split up:
In that case, you would assemble the parts and the library could show a "combined" model. You could still enter the 3D view from there and you'd be able to select/highlight/modify items that make up the combined model from there. That's not trivial but I think it is somewhat intuitive.

Case B: BUT, there is a second workflow that I'm thinking about - and that's variants:
Especially when you are into tabletop gaming you might want to create variations of models.
So you have maybe 3 bodys to choose from, 5 heads, 10 right arms, 10 left arms and a whole set of bases.
Even worse: A lot of these have modular weapons and stuff that is interchangeable between classes of models.

In case A I'd think you'd be fine with the items that go into a model being "consumed". So you just get one combined model shown until you drill down into that item. That's probably a lot more sane that showing all the parts AND the combined model that was created from that. Especially if we pair that up with #56 where you would now end up with a ton of somewhat identical images.

For case B - well, that's a whole other thing. Would you want a combined model shown for every reposed model? How do you find parts if you want to create a new one? How do you find variations that use the same parts? How do you swap out parts?

Maybe I should only go for case A right now. But, what I want to do, because that's what I need it for, is case B.

If you have ideas, please, do let me know :)

[thetrebor]

There are roughly three types of models that I see:

Whole model
Split parts that form a whole model
and option parts that are combinatorial
(fourth case is split parts with combinatorial options, for example a split model with a NSFW option for two of the parts)

Whole model case is handled

Split parts I think you tag parts as a group towards a whole. So you select 5 models, click a button to group them and mark them as components towards a whole. Then I think it adds a virtual model made up of the parts with a thumbnail and (optionally) hides or rolls up the individual parts.

Options (for your example of modular weapons and whatnot), I'd love for you to integrate with something like desktop hero to make a model builder. But the quick fix I think is that "option parts" can be grouped similarly but the resulting virtual model and picture is a more grid like layout. For instance a 6x6 grid of orc heads. Same way the option parts may be rolled up or hidden to keep interface clutter down.

I think you don't handle the fourth case.

That way you can easily group things that are interchangeable, keep the organized and tagged. You can group things that are meant to be together conceptually (like a multipart model) and find it easily because it looks like what you expect (and not puzzle pieces) and doesn't require extensive case by case handling of classes of components. The only decision in the UI is asking the user if these should be listed in a grid or using the coordinates of the models (aka, are they parts or options)

[dserhienko]

The workflow I envision is something like this:

Let's say you want to print out some new members of your tabletop army.

You search for 'pikemen' and you get everything that's been tagged such.

Some of those, though, are 'corporate/combinatorial' models, meaning they aren't single, whole pieces. In those cases, what is found and presented is either:

1 - a joined model like you suggest, where the pieces have been manually assembled into a single model or
2 - an image ala #56 which shows a photo of a prerender that comes from some external source*

• there should be some indication like a badge or icon on the corner of the preview letting you know this is a corporate model

What we won't see are any of the individual 'component' pieces of the corporate models... until we click on one of those models.

Then we get to see all the parts.