Krita Workspace Proposal + Mock-ups

[Cyrille Berger]

Hi,

On Saturday 22 December 2007, Valerie wrote:
> Haha, sorry. I've been busy lately so I've been rather slow.
I guess that makes two of us :) Sorry I didn't have the time to look at your 
mail before.

> Thanks to the person who pointed out that Krita Does have a bug
> submission area! But I really suggest for Krita to get its own
> as it grows. ;) Also, I'd like to have opinions on the following
> first.
(well the advantage of using the one from KDE is that we don't have to 
sysadmin it ;) )

> Anyway, I'll try to keep things short and visual. In my opinion,
> workspaces in Krita should follow the following principles:
> - Task-centric: Included presets include painting modes, image
> editing and more. For each, the interface and starting tool take
> on presets suited to the task.
> - Visual: New users like big icons... I hear that Inkspace has
> too many icon artists. Maybe Krita can borrow a few?
Well we have Ronan who did the current icons. And we also have receive 
proposition from KDE's Oxygen team. Back to big icons, you mean for 
the "toolbox" too ? KDE4's default, hence Krita2 default for toolbar is 22x22 
+ text, while the toolbox is at 16x16.

> - English: More intuitive descriptions, less technical mumbo jumbo.
> Please?
Sure. I am too much into technical mumbo jumbo to really notice :/ So that's 
an area where artist users can give us very usefull input.

> - Fully configurable: All workspaces can be edited and saved, users
> can also start new workspaces from scratch. Reverting to a default
> setting can be easy via a "Revert to default" command, so you won't
> be afraid of messing up.
> - Sharable: Workspaces can be exported and shared, so that people
> can immediately pick up the workspace their favorite artist or
> friends are using. Imagine the implications for Tutorials! Also,
> ideally a few very good artists will accept to manage some of the
> default workspaces.
> - Fully documented: Each included default workspace is fully
> documented, to make the experience as seamless as possible.

So if I understand correctly what you mean by workspace, it's in fact a 
configuration of Krita you can save, visibility/position of docker, 
visibility/position of toolbars wether a plugin (filter / tools / painting 
operation) is available ?
The idea sounds interesting.

> Back to workspaces, here's how things would be from a user point-
> of-view (obviously, the art concepts will need a lot of work. I'm
> obviously not an icon artist, for example):
>
> 1. Start-up screen, chose workspace:
>
> http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9949/workspacestartupdz2.png
>
> Note: alternatively, all possible workspaces appear in just one screen. In
> both cases, the use can configure which workspaces show up and which are
> hidden, so that's not a problem and could avoid some clutter.
>
> 2. Chose template:
>
> http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8991/workspacetemplatessg2.png
>
> Note: if all possible workspaces appear in just one screen, it
> could be possible to squeeze templates into the same screen to
> save users a step.
>
> 3. Very rough interface examples:
>
> Paint workspace (Watercolor):
> http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5329/workspacepaintwh8.png
I like the idea of having a few brushes available in one-click.

> Photo editing workspace:
> http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2874/workspacephotomz1.png

About "unsharp mask" and "noise removal", it's mostly tutorial that is 
missing.

> 4. Workspace manager:
>
> Main:
> http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8237/workspacemanagermainyf5.png
>
> Resource main:
> http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/4246/workspacemanagermainresak2.png
>
> Resource explanation:
> http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3564/workspaceresexplainay1.png
>
> Ex., Brushes:
> http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/5404/workspacemanagerbrushesmz4.png
>
> Ex., Templates:
> http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/5736/workspacemanagertemplatsh0.png
>
> Settings main:
> http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7272/workspacemanagermainsetdr2.png
>
> Ex., Toolbar:
> http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9930/workspacemanagertoolbarjx0.png
>
> Note: the workspace manager just manages collections. It is not
> the brush editor, the gradient editor, or anything of the likes.
> Those get their own editors.
>
> For examples of resource shortcuts, see the Paint workspace
> example. They may sound frivolous right now, but wait until the
> user has to manage over a hundred brushes of all types.
I can feel the user pain to have over a hundred brushes in Krita :/ It's 
really an area that need to be improved.

-- 
Cyrille Berger