From kde-kimageshop Wed Apr 09 16:49:01 2008 From: Valerie Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:49:01 +0000 To: kde-kimageshop Subject: Brush presets management proposal Message-Id: <303518.47291.qm () web39605 ! mail ! mud ! yahoo ! com> X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-kimageshop&m=120776179621971 Hello again! I've been speaking of a preset management system, so here it is: http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/8462/drawersxl6.png It would represent a big part of a final workspace implementation. Now I know some of you don't like the term ¡°drawers.¡± Basically, I'm leaving it to the final designer to chose what best term to use. :P Basically, by clicking the visible drawer icon (whose presence is necessary to make the users aware of the existence of this feature at all, though may be turned off as an option in favor of right- clicking), the user can replace the current set of presets with another one. The way presets are organized are much in the same way bookmarks are organized. This allows the user to manage a lot of brushes and access a whole set of tools at a time. Note that brush presets and brush shapes are separate. Basically, some presets use custom algorithms, some use bitmap brush shapes. Click on a brush shape and if that preset doesn't use custom algorithms, it will start using that shape. For example, in one of the Computer Graphics brush sets, there could be a preset with a position, size and color jitter. The user can assign any leaf, flower or bubble shape to it for quick effects. Now on brush sets: there should be master explanation page of brush sets. Also, each default brush set comes with a page of explanations, like this: http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5117/cglineartyr7.png Major shortcuts and such are also repeated in an explanation bar at the bottom (like explanations with Inkscape). Major notes: On parameters and shortcuts: - in the central shortcuts area, for ¡°tool properties,¡± you have the option of ¡°increase parameter 1¡± , ¡°decrease parameter 1¡± ,¡°increase parameter 2¡± etc, along with which keys you want to assign to them. - you define what ¡°parameter 1¡± etc is for each brush within the preset's options area. It may be size for one, opacity for another, angle for yet another and jitter for another. Basically, it's my compromise between concentrating all shortcut definitions in a central area (as I understand is necessary by KDE standards), and having enough keys for all those different types of brushes (knowing that for each type, only a few would be frequently modified). Modifiers such as ctrl, alt, shift and their combinations though are defined only in the preset's options area, not in a central location. There are fewer of them, so they should fit. Usually you can't chose these behaviors by yourself at all, but I think the users would appreciate the possibility. Also, I've forgotten if Krita will assign brush size to [ ] or to the directional keys, but Inkscape uses the directional keys and they may just be more intuitive. Will they be logarithmic by the way (or approximately so)? For fine brushes, the precision is quite needed, and it's nice to not be forced to enter values manually just because you want an 0.4 pixel brush instead of 0.6. [ and ] can instead be set by default to toggle between brushes: "previous brush" and "next brush." This solves the difficulty of assigning shortcuts to most presets. Note on this brush set: some of those brushes will need new coding, but I think they are worth the trouble of implementing. - edge and double-edge calculate the length of a bezier and maps the transformation along its path (there should be further options on whether the transformations are linear, sine or something else). Useful for all those million hair strands. I prefer a bitmap option to a vector option because bitmap allows for more options (jitters and such) - double-edge also calls an intermediate function where you can quickly set the relative position of the maximum point (10%, 90%, etc). - orient-to-path calculates the angle at each instance and orients the brush accordingly (again, bezier-only) - "hatch" basically calls up a "hatch" shape generator, which is nothing more than several dots of given distance. However, having an automatic generator would save users a Lot of hassles. Also, each "dot" behaves independently: basically if you apply a size fade, all dots will remain parallel as they fade instead of converging like with normal size fade. - a generic brush, bucket tool, selection tool and eraser are also thrown in there for convenience I don't know about you, but if I had such a set available, I'd drop all other sketching programs in a heartbeat. I wish I had it right now. :( __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ kimageshop mailing list kimageshop@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kimageshop