I'm sad to see Softimage go and I feel for the user base, but I'm glad to see some of them here and contributing an outside perspective. So thank you SI users and thank you SESI for stickying this thread and participating.
I like most of the suggestions on McNistor's page.
I have a few RFEs of my own that I plan to submit, in no particular order:
Separate orientation picking for geometry and handles. During a given modeling session I will probably re-align the transform gizmo dozens of times, but I can't actually remember having ever used orientation picking to directly re-align a geometry selection. It seems like a lot of time could be saved by skipping the step of first detaching the handle, then re-attaching it after orientation picking. So I propose the current method be broken down into two separate actions, one that affects only the handle and one that directly transforms the selection.
Allow the standard add/subtract/replace selection options during orientation picking. Right now, if you select the wrong edge during picking you basically have to start over again; hit Esc, gizmo disappears, hit Enter for it to reappear, begin again. Unnecessary keyboard travel.
Component highlighting. It sounds like this may be in the works already but just in case. Much like object highlighting, but for primitives, points, vertices and edges at the SOP level.
Edge-loop selection improvements. I think the improvements that McNistor proposed are really good and I could certainly live with that. Here is an alternative setup:
Select edge loop: Double-click LMB on edge.
Select partial edge loop: Single-click LMB on starting edge, double-click LMB on ending edge.
Select edge ring: Double-click MMB on edge.
Select partial edge ring: Single-click MMB on starting edge, double-click MMB on ending edge.
Select primitive loop: Single-click LMB first polygon, double-click LMB adjacent polygon in the orientation you want the loop to go.
Select partial primitive loop: Single-click LMB on starting polygon, double-click LMB on ending polygon.
Select point loop: Same as primitive loop.
Select partial point loop: Same as primitive loop.
Unselect loops: Same as the above but with Ctrl as the modifier.
Automatic local handles for primitives, points and edges. Exactly as shown in katana's second gif. I would be fantastic to have in Houdini and would probably save people from having to do as much orientation picking.
Hold option in addition to Toggle for things like detaching handles and snapping. Another thing that Maya does right as far as modeling IMO. This may be a personal preference, but I found that holding the keyboard shortcuts for detaching the handle and snapping (often used in conjunction) made for a more fluid experience.
Make Reselect for Current Tool more robust. Quite often I find myself having to hit Escape then Enter to make it work. I think you can reproduce it like this:
Default Geometry Display set to Show Display Operator (like a sane person
)
Say you have a polygon torus, PolyExtrude a face. Invoke an Edit SOP by selecting a face and hitting t (translate), r (rotate) or e (scale). Set your display flag back to the PolyExtrude and hit ` to re-select your extrusion face. Nothing happens.
A bridge tool. Pretty important as far as polygon tools go. Maya has a solid implementation.
Improved PolyBevel. This one will be its own post. I have some ideas on how it could be made more spiffy.
In case anyone finds this useful, here is how I've set up my shortcuts.
V - Point Snapping (broken in current H13 builds??)
C - Detach Handle
X - Begin Orientation Picking
Z - Toggle Global/Local handle for PolyExtrude
I have my most used modeling operations bound to mouse buttons:
