Action plan 2

[Boudewijn Rempt]

On Sunday 16 May 2010, enki wrote:

> "Week 28 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135899 a.k.a session
> management. Save the state of the brush engines into kra. Some
> elaboration on related settings will be done (e.g. tools should be saved
> too, e.g. opacity and composition mode of freehand tool) "
> 
> I'd prefer having the setting saved per user, instead of in the .kra
> file. While it can be an advantage sometimes, saving in the .kra can be
> a problem when exchanging files with someone else (ex: set the opacity
> to 0, and send the .kra to your friends :p).

:-). I'm not sure where the saving-in-.kra idea came from, but I seem to 
remember that this was discussed before. There are pluses and minuses to both 
issues: I know that I was getting confused all the time when starting a new 
painting and then found that gimp or photoshop wasn't in the default mode 
again. Maybe an in-between idea would be project folders, and have the 
settings per project?

> "Week 29 http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?p=154926#p154926 Improve
> presets handling"
> 
> I think saving of opacity and mode in presets should be optional.
> Otherwise, it will cause problem when the user wants to use several
> presets with the same composite mode (for example, erasing). Each time a
> preset would be loaded, the composite mode would have to be switched again.
> Another solution could be to make tool presets, but that seems to be a
> lot of work.

I agree.

> Maybe the Action Plan is too focused on paintops. I think other primary
> features should be polished too, especially if Krita is used for
> texturing or matte painting :
> 
> I.layer stack :
>      1.improve drag&drop (if the "dragged" layer can't be made a child
> of the hoovered layer, then drop it between the current layer and the
> previous/next one).
>      2- conversion between layer, mask and selection :
>          -global selection <--> alpha mask.
>          -layer transparency --> global selection (Idealy, ctrl+click on
> the layer preview would trigger it).
>          -applying/dropping a mask to its parent.
>          and optionnally:
>          -shape layer <--> vector selection --> raster selection and mask.
>          -shape layer --> raster layer.
> 
> II.mask :
>      1-fix inconsistencies in masks by switching to a
> mask=selection=greyscale image paradigm.

Yes, that's definitely on the list.

> Then, masks and local
> selections would be the same thing, the user would just change the view
> mode by clicking a button. It'll make the workflow simpler, and allow
> powerful features:
>          - gradient, paint tool and filters could be used to edit a
> selection (in mask or image mode).
>          - painting in a mask would be the same than painting in a paint
> layer.
>          - no need to show a selection in filter/generators layers, etc...

Cool points

> III.selection :
>      1.allow selection tools to move the selection.

This could either be very simple, or quite a big thing. A simple selection 
move tool used to be present in 1.6; but I'd like to be able to use the 
transform tool to transform the selection as well, so maybe add an option to 
the move and transform tools "Move selection" vs "Move selected pixels"?

> IV.paintops :
>      1- bring back the automatic preview, or at least a single dab, like
> in autobrush, so that it's possible to set-up static settings like angle
> and softness. The dab could be reused later for smaller preset preview
> (like in Custom Brushes).

This might be worth a try -- though I'm wary of the possible performance 
implications which were the reason for removing the automatic preview in the 
first place. It needs a bit more design and thinking, I think.

>      2- merge pixel, eraser, pencil, mix and soft paintops (Better break
> presets now, than when we'll have millions of users :p)

True. Though I'm not sure about merging eraser and pencil.

> V. shortcuts:
>      1- add a keyboard shorcut (E ?) to switch between the eraser and
> normal mode.
>      2- Call the Edit>Clear action when the Del. key is pressed.

This should be quite doable, in not more than a day indeed.

> VI. move tool:
>      1-move along an axis with modifiers.

It's a really nice list. But Lukas doesn't have to do everything  on his own 
-- we can all chip in and hack on Krita. This plan is rather specific for what 
Lukas promises to do, we should put the rest in the 2.3 feature plan.

-- 
krBoudewijn Rempt | http://www.valdyas.org