Yet another brush interface proposal

[Valerie]

> Since we're on the subject of brush interfaces, has anyone used 
> Colors! on the nintendo ds? It's a very rudimentary paint application,
> but it is highly intuitive. One of the best features is that it uses
> the shoulder buttons on the DS to bring up a menu with all the brush
> and color controls available: 
> http://www.collectingsmiles.com/colors/images/brush.png

That's interesting, though it took me a few minutes to understand what
was going on. If I understand correctly:
- the two buttons on the left are to toggle between the hard-edge
and soft-edge modes.
- the sliders are to toggle size and opacity respectively
- what's more, you can activate the "control pressure" to determine
if you want size and/or opacity to vary with pressure

It's nice for a small screen I guess. With the interface proposal
I've made, accessing any of the commands is also just one click
away, provided that you have them set to "visible" in the toolbar.

That said, I Am pondering the idea of creating presets, from
the generic brushes, that take inputs different from those normally
used.

The problem is the interface to create such custom cases.

Two examples I've had in mind is:
- the double-edge stroke
- and the dotted lines

Basically, although both can be achieved with the generic brush,
both types may be so common that special toolbar settings for them
may be warranted. When such operations are done hundreds of times,
the difference between 3 operations and 5 operations to achieve
the same results may be the difference between 2 hours spent and
3 hours spent (and although they can be done in Inkscape, toggling
between programs is a huge pain).

Dotted lines for example: it's pretty easy to see how they can
be achieved with the generic interface, but the ideal interface
is:
- dash type (round, square)
- dash size
- dash distance
- with the ability to define presets of course

As for the the double-edge stroke, it is actually my most-wanted
feature from a graphics program, and the reason I first took interest
in Inkscape (it was near impossible in Gimp), then in Krita. 

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4430/doubleedgenf2.png

People buy tablets Just to be able to get lines like that. And
then they have to deal with having to undo multiple times until
they get the line position right, which is why I'm eyeing a guided
option. It can be achieved with the interface I've proposed:

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1992/brushtoolbar2ou5.png

But the ideal numerical entries would be:
- size (the normal one, to determine max size)
- and relative position of the thickest area (20%, 80%, etc)

When tracing for a CG lineart, for example, a person would first
select one value for that second entry, then use that same setting
to draw in many hair lumps (and some extra strands). Then for
the bigger lines such as limb contours, they may have to modify the
setting more often. For buildings and such, they can then turn off
size dynamics completely.

Add some size jitter and it would look as though a non-tablet user
is using a tablet!

This can wait, though. If "map to stroke length" + "normal size fade"
can already be made available, then that's half what I've been
looking for. A very good half.


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