Assets Window Frustrations

[spencerg]

Is there any possible way to remember the STATE of my assets window preference... the zoom level, the thumbnail view... so I can maximize my viewing space and more easily read the folders?
I've overcome many of the u.i. quirks, but this is one that really bothers me.
I'd like to get a birds eye view of my content without having to go through paging, or trying to reading the partial text under bags (hence I use thumbnail).
Every-time i re-open, there it is again in grid view, with the default zoom level.
IF there is a solution, mod, extension or custom, to improve the u.i. experience of the assets view, I sure love to hear it.
I want to be able to preview and look through everything, and as it stands now, everything feels extremely buried.
I wish there was a normal file management tree, it would make life so much easier finding, previewing and managing files. As it stands now, I get lost.

Has there been any discussion on improving this important panel and making it easier to get a birds-eye of their content without all the drill-down?

While I'm hear, I'm wondering if anyone could recommend me some 'essential u.i. extensions'. .. maybe something that improves the graphics, indicators, arrows, selection ect.

Thank you very much.

[Valyar]

I second that. Asset window needs serious overhaul. I don't think there is mod that fixes this.

[Geometer]

I third that.

I make a lot of use of the Asset manager, and the disparity in performance between this core function and the rest of Fantasy Grounds becomes starker every time I buy a new token pack. Searching it is like wading through treacle, and this is becoming a significant block to the workflow.

For whatever they're worth, the following would make my life easier:
1. A top level differentiation between NPC tokens and Map assets, so when I do a search for "Elf" (for a PC token), I don't have to trudge through every entry for "Shelf" to find it.
2. A list view for quick searches.
3. Customisation. Specifically, the ability to save search results and select from them to compile a "palette" of assets specific to a map or campaign, and then compile those into a "library" of frequently-used assets available to all campaigns.

[Zacchaeus]

You are better adding your suggestion to the wish list (it's probably there already); it'll get lost on the forums. Link in my signature.

[HywelPhillips]

I concur. With the art subscription, a lot of purchased maps, all the Devin Night tokens and a fair few of the other token packs too, the asset window is a significant roadblock to workflow. Now that we have the facilities to make maps inside FGU, the barrier to doing so is often finding the asset you need. Search is slow, the asset window is prone to reset itself at the slightest provocation so at the bare minimum making its state somewhat more persistent and customisable would be a great help. Multiple instances of it would help too - for example having the search for "walls" and "floors" open simultaneously.

I do a lot of my management by dropping back into MacOS, running the search there, then replicating it inside FGU having narrowed it down to a sensible search term. This is OK for maps and map elements using external assets but I don't think it works with stuff in the art pack subscription and it certainly doesn't work for purchased tokens.

Can we come up with a detailed set of suggestions for what might improve it, to punt to the idea informer?

Cheers, Hywel

[Zarestia]

I'm thinking about ending my art subscription at the end of the year because it is so cumbersome to use.

I'd take a look at how other software does things like this. Some sort of tag system and actually visible names instead of hovering over each folder to see what could be inside would certainly help.

[spencerg]

As i stated in the original post,

1. A file management tree view with lazy loading

2. Persistent state

must have

[bayne7400]

Yes and when you search assets by "FG" the FG asset packs you purchased actually show up. I use assets a lot real time and all this would help.

[Valyar]

I'd take a look at how other software does things like this.
Other software products are using proper database, purpose designed schema and various caching methods and background jobs to keep everything performant. There is always the initial pass that index all your files and prepares the environment with thumbnails and etc, depending what the software is doing, but afterwards all is blazing fast.

[spencerg]

You are better adding your suggestion to the wish list (it's probably there already); it'll get lost on the forums. Link in my signature.

Just registered and added it. Thanks for linking me there. I really hope they listen, because I haven't used a file management system this counter intuitive in quite awhile.

Want to zoom out and use thumbs (even thats bad, but not near as bad as using a grid view with paging for the root)...cool. Exit come back in...uh, what happened.

ON Tab 5, in folder B, I want to go up a folder and pick up where i left off... ...oops, now your back at tab 1.

No persistent state of preferences, no tree view, tedious paging...ect. ect. We have all these beautiful assets, art sub, and apart from searching, you can't even get a clear idea of what you have without drilling down through 40+ 's bags, and god forbid you just want to go back up and continue where you left off...back to square one.

rant over, I hope they prioritize this with all the assets they sell...really a shame how bad it is.

[JohnD]

Just registered and added it. Thanks for linking me there. I really hope they listen, because I haven't used a file management system this counter intuitive in quite awhile.

Want to zoom out and use thumbs (even thats bad, but not near as bad as using a grid view with paging for the root)...cool. Exit come back in...uh, what happened.

ON Tab 5, in folder B, I want to go up a folder and pick up where i left off... ...oops, now your back at tab 1.

No persistent state of preferences, no tree view, tedious paging...ect. ect. We have all these beautiful assets, art sub, and apart from searching, you can't even get a clear idea of what you have without drilling down through 40+ 's bags, and god forbid you just want to go back up and continue where you left off...back to square one.

rant over, I hope they prioritize this with all the assets they sell...really a shame how bad it is.

Can you post a link to your wish list post? Might help people who agree to add their thumb's worth.

[spencerg]

Can you post a link to your wish list post? Might help people who agree to add their thumb's worth.

https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=139360

Here is my suggestion on informer. I got the link from Zacchaeus signature, if you check his post above he mentions it.

Really hope they have something planed for this, at the very least, tagging assets as favorites so you could setup a list of stuff you want to work with, and then simple filter.

Apart from that, the whole experience needs an overhaul, and I'm sure they're intimately aware that it does., just takes time.

I just finished overhauling and upgrading the file management system for our products, it was a nightmare, so I sympathize.

But, a user should be able to quickly find/view/preview things, without being buried in paging and non-respected view preferences.

[Laerun]

https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=139360

Here is my suggestion on informer. I got the link from Zacchaeus signature, if you check his post above he mentions it.

Really hope they have something planed for this, at the very least, tagging assets as favorites so you could setup a list of stuff you want to work with, and then simple filter.

Apart from that, the whole experience needs an overhaul, and I'm sure they're intimately aware that it does., just takes time.

I just finished overhauling and upgrading our products' file management system; it was a nightmare, so I sympathize.

But, a user should be able to quickly find/view/preview things without being buried in paging and non-respected view preferences.

I'd already tried to build a catalog module to help address this issue.
I stopped developing because it was right before the Reference manual builder was released. It's an art asset catalog module on the Forge.
Besides making shortcuts on the shortcut slots for the assets you want to use, there is no solution to knowing what you have or what asset sets have which content types embedded in them. I took screenshots of the website store pages, made links and previews for each art asset pack so we could narrow down what to search for.

Demo idea video: https://youtu.be/ARm3zNzK1tM
https://youtu.be/68KPCG5zzcQ

[spencerg]

A year later, and I must bring this up again.

I'm not going to renew the art sub.

The Reason: Everything mentioned in the OP.

Its just too frustrating to use.

I'd love to hear from anyone at Smiteworks on this, because 2 of the 3 major issues with the assets window, should literally be minor projects for any programmer.

[Moon Wizard]

Apologies; it's on our medium term list but has been just out of priority reach when planning. Even though things can be considered "minor projects", they still require context switching from other projects to tackle them.

Doug had some initial prototype features similar to what you want; so hopefully we can find some time to bring those in soon, in between other projects.

Regards,
JPG

[HywelPhillips]

That would be very much appreciated, the asset window remains a significant speedbump slowing down GM prep for me. Thanks!

[spencerg]

I understand, I’m an software engineer myself, believe me I get it. You will not find me complaining usually. Aside from some performance issues on the lua stack, this is one of my only other gripes. It just seems a shame to have all those beautiful assets, and no joke, I absolutely dread having to browse them.

But regardless, I am sooo happy to hear that someone has an eye on it! Made my day.

Ps. love ❤️ this VTT .

[spencerg]

While we wait on a better solution, would it be possible that we could at least get persistence for our preferences - such as zoom level and thumbnail/grid, and make it remember what page we were on when going back to the root?

These two relatively minor changes would do so much in making this more friendly.

When drilling into a bag on tab 5, realizing its not what you want, then going back to the root only to be kicked back to tab 1, its just really rough.

Thank you,

[Moon Wizard]

We're in the middle of some other updates, but we're going to look into trying to slip in some minor improvements through the ruleset side of things over the next few weeks. No specifics yet, as we're making a list and assessing work/risk since we're looking for best bang for very limited time.

Regards,
JPG

[spencerg]

We're in the middle of some other updates, but we're going to look into trying to slip in some minor improvements through the ruleset side of things over the next few weeks. No specifics yet, as we're making a list and assessing work/risk since we're looking for best bang for very limited time.

Regards,
JPG

Thank you for the update moonwizard!

[spencerg]

I see with todays update - it now remembers the thumbnail/grid preference.

Can I ask, what are the chances of seeing.

1. Remember Zoom level - I like to have as much as possible on the screen at one
2. When drilling UP out of a folder - Don't reload/reset the assets window - If I am in Folder Z - and go up to root, can we get it to stay on the page that contained folder Z, rather than send me all the way back to page 1?

[Moon Wizard]

We have some future plans to add some back/forward buttons; clean up the breadcrumb menu (i.e. folder/filter buttons); and change paging a bit. But, that wasn't the focus of this update's changes; just something I was able to slip in before release to help a little.

Regards,
JPG

[spencerg]

Sounds good - I'll look forward to it.