Ive just been curious how useful a 3d file manager would really be. Ive come to some serious conclusions that seam to kill the idea fast.

1. File names are sometimes very long and become cluttered in a 3d file manager.
2. the user spends more time navigating the file system rather then actually working with the files




with that said I once had an idea for a 3d file manager but seams like the usability would be an issue here. Proper spacing for file names and the ability to actually see the file names are problems that would need addressing. I think alot of this possibly can be resolved by making a 3d operating system interface rather then just a file manager.


Think of this.

you boot your system and you are booted into a cathedral. you can walk around using your normal keys ASDW you have a mouse pointer too. the file manager is in the middle of the room/cathedral as a spinning cube with many smaller cubes in it. you can access the cube with the right click this pulls up the first side of the cube witch contains some of the directories in the cube. <-- being in linux this would be your home directory. Now each cube is really a square at this point and if everything cant fit on this view then you can rotate the cube to see other directories / files.. <-- i understand that you still have file name issues with this. when accessing a directory in the cube another smaller cube slides out of position and becomes the current cube you see. <-- if anyone has played the x box game riddick then you have a good idea of what i mean even tho not exactly like that and i had the idea before seeing that but it was neat to see something similar that worked well.


other then the file manager you also have other rooms in the room / cathedral you are in. The rooms would be special places like the devices on the system in one and maybe your etc directories. The rooms have doors witch represent file permissions if you have read access the door would have a special color if root then the rooms have no door at all. and if no permissions then the door would be locked.


In a linux environment i guess the whole room idea is kinda mute because on linux parts of the system are really all files and folders. I have played with the idea of scrapping the whole cube idea and just use rooms and drawers in the rooms to access files.


With all of these ideas I still see issues. Navigation in the rooms and being able to use files in a good way would be problematic this is because the mouse is really used more for looking and not for clicking on things or file access.

Being said I wonder if any interest in this is out there or is a 3d file system just something that will never work.


I know very little c programming so this really isn't a project just a disccussion.

A 3d file manager can work, just not a "first person" file manager.

The cube idea is cute but unusable. Anything that involves rotating a 3d object just to see everything is not good!

IMHO, the best way to do a "3d" file manager is to stick to a traditional 2d model, but to also take advantage of OpenGL accelerated graphics for neat looking 3d icons and to introduce smooth zooming and motion.

For example, rather than a directory being represented by a folder icon, it could be represented by a doorway with a miniature view of what's within. When your pointer passes over the icon, it smooth zooms so you can clearly see and even click on icons within. When you navigate into a child directory or to the parent directory, smooth zooming makes the transition look like 3d motion.

With 3d icons, you can use special lighting effects to show when something is highlighted. It could literally be highlighted, using some spotlights! Then when you actually select icons, they could rotate or vibrate or whatever. When you copy or move files, they could tumble over to their new locations. When you open a file, it could twirl in place rapidly to indicate that it's being opened.

There's a lot of potential for a really cool looking 3d file manager, without abandoning the familiar 2d icon paradigm.

Yea thats a good idea too. I really like the spinning icons idea. I wish I knew more about programming to see if this would able to be done.


Alot of the 3d file managers ive seen out there use towers to indicate file sizes witch in my own opioion is a bad idea. <-- makes them hard to see.


the beset one i have seen to date is the one used in the movie jurasic park. would be better with better graphics and no file size implimentation.