Footprint algorithms: in the stamp, or in the paintop?

[Cyrille Berger]

OK I think I understand what you want, and might have an idea that will make 
all of us happy, with sharing code, and still keeping flexibility.

Low-level classes (KisStamp / KisBristles), manipulated using their physical 
parameters (size, angle, bristles spacing, deformation etc...).

A Higher-level classe (KisStampManipulator (once again a proof of my suckiness 
with names since KisStampManipulator can work with KisBristles too) ) that 
takes sensors input ( pressure / current stroke lenght / ... ) and manipulate 
the KisStamp / KisBristles to output a mask for the paintop. 

That way all sort of KisStamp / KisBristles can be manipulated with 
KisStampManipulator, and use will all sort of paintop, while paintop that 
want to access the low level still can do it.

In fact, this is very similar to the design of the dynamic paint op 
(KisStampManipulator is called KisDynamicShape).
But I also remember when I started the dynamic paint op, that Boudewijn 
explicitely wanted to keep the more simple paint op, while providing the more 
advanced dynamic option in a separated paintop, is it still true ? Or shall 
we build dynamic option in KisStampManipulator ?

A possibility is to make KisStampManipulator an abstract interface, and 
provides various implementation, one would be the default one, that 
correspond to what we have in the "simple" paint op (where pressure affects 
size / opacity). And an other one could be the fully dynamic one, where the 
user selects what sensors affects what parameter (like in the dynamic 
paintop).

In the other threads, I have seen talk about what I call color source (either 
plain color, generators, filtered content or clone). Well a concept of the 
dynamic brush (again, sorry, but I have allways considered it to be a 
laboratory rather than a final solution) is coloring sources, that follow the 
same design as for stamps, and in the end, the color source and the stamp is 
mixed together on the canvas.

The only things I don't see fiting in this is :
* natural media
* I also remembered that Boudewijn wanted to have bristles painting 

On the other hand, what I spoke above doesn't make impossible for painting ops 
to work to a lower level.

-- 
Cyrille Berger