Brush presets management proposal

[Valerie]

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. :(

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