Feature Request - Quick & Light Layer Selector

[meslin]

Hello friends!

My favorite innovation in TVP10 is the spatial compression of the interface, since my tablet PC is 1024x768.
I recognize that Lemec effectively made a tool that served this purpose, but I decided to give it another re-imagining, since my goal is a minimal UI (especially when not in use).
The most fiddly task I routinely perform in TVP is scrolling up and down the timeline panel, looking for a layer. I'm almost always on the right frame in time, but I may not have named my layers yet. On the tablet, I find the bouncing-up timeline to be a little disturbing, since it happens accidentally whenever I rest my hand on the edge of the screen, so I leave it pinned open, but very slim. I realized recently that the only task I need the whole timeline for is to find my layers.
Another thing I noticed is that I have never used the pixel report in the lower-left corner of the screen.
My proposal is this: why not have a "Quick Layer Selector" window that opens in the lower left hand corner, springing upward to show the full layer stack? While hovering over each layer (holding the mouse down to keep the menu open), it would shake the layer to visually identify it (this way, you may occasionally discover that you are actually *not* on the correct frame, and you need the regular timeline). This smaller bounce-out menu would be less visually disturbing for me, and would not require that I spend valuable Y pixels on the timeline, and its UI breaks for Notes, Sound, etc (I only have 768 of 'em!!). If I decide that I need the timeline, I would switch to another room.
With this feature, I estimate that my use of the timeline would diminish by half. Even the most empty interface for sketching requires that I be able to identify and select layers, but the timeline creates quite a lot of visual clutter for a small screen. I do applaud the improvements that have been recently made, though; it makes the experience noticeably better for tablet PC.

I've attached an image that I mocked up.

Sincere thanks for any feedback,
David

[ematecki]

Have you tried the ',' (comma) keyboard shortcut ?

You hit ',', then click somewhere on the screen, a popup will show all layers that aren't transparent at that spot and you can select one of these.

[Sewie]

How is that function called in de keyboard shortcut window?
My shortcuts are modified and the comma is assigned to something else.

[Svengali]

How is that function called in de keyboard shortcut window?
My shortcuts are modified and the comma is assigned to something else.

Layer:Pick Layer

I think you can just open the configure Keyboard Shortcuts, then click on File / Default KeyMap to load up the original assignments. Save out a copy as "original shortcuts.cfg" then just press Cancel.

Sven

[meslin]

I just played with the Pick Layer tool for the first time. It is very smartly designed, and it worked perfectly in all the situations I tested it in.
So I guess that renders most of my suggestion redundant, except for idea of shaking the layer as you hover the mouse over it, which would help for poorly named or small/faintly visible layers.
Great tool, thanks.
David