... like every other application
RUBE works the same as Blender does. But you are right, this control method is in the minority for sure.
...select area, then click and drag to move. Simpler than pressing T all the time.
Once you already have something selected, the location of it on the screen is a redundant piece of information when it comes to manipulating it. Is it really easier to move the mouse over it a second time (requiring finely detailed hand-eye coordination and risk losing the selection if missed by a few pixels) than to just hit a key?
The method used in RUBE/Blender has these advantages:
- no need to select location on screen twice
- no chance to unintentionally lose selection when starting a manipulation
- since mouse cursor does not need to be on top of the thing being manipulated you can get a clearer view when lining up small things
- items can be moved out of the view completely, because the mouse does not need to go with them
- not needing to hold down the LMB while moving makes it easy to pan and zoom the view during a manipulation (otherwise you would need to use RMB or mousewheel simulaneously)
- not needing to hold down the LMB while moving makes large movements and placing things precisely much easier when using a trackpad
- for rotation, the mouse can be placed at an appropriate distance from the rotation center to get a fine or coarse rotation as necessary
- for scaling, likewise
The key layout attempts to keep the most common actions on keys pressed by the left hand, so that there is a natural synergy between the balance of work done by the right and left hand, similar to how the qwerty keyboard was designed. I have to admit though, if you use the mouse in your left hand, this control scheme would be pretty terrible.
There is a case to be made for simultaneous selection and movement with the LMB, in situations where a lot of selection and movement of single items is done in quick succession, without needing to keep the selection state for any longer than during the movements, as in this recent thread:
https://www.iforce2d.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=157 The case pointed out there is somewhat of an exception to the norm, and I will most likely add another sub-mode to help with that.
When I first started using Blender I hated this control style too, because it was... not like every other application. But if you give it a chance, I think you'll find it to be more efficient in the long run.
