[Mypaint-discuss] [CREATE] Multiple viewports (for MyPaint, but Gimp/Krita/whoever too?)

[Martin Renold]

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 02:12:03PM +0200, David REVOY wrote:
> * For the split view for 'poor man's overview widget' ( ex : 'full
> image preview' + 'detail preview'  ) :
> I would prefer a floating windows in most of case for this usage,
> because a pure split consume more area on the screen ( a full column
> or a row ) , and a second floating windows can be reduced as a
> thumbsize, be moved on a second screen, etc...
> Ref : http://www.ctrlpaint.com/home/2011/3/24/painting-details-using-two-windows.html
> 
> [...]
> 
> So, in absolute I'm not really for this split view in Mypaint;
> because the need of 2D artist is not as the splitted 3D viewport of
> Blender. That's why I'm asking if the effort to port a feature like
> this to a standard in *.ora worth it...

I had some fun with it, sketching and checking at different angles:
http://maxy.homeip.net/misc/split_view.png

I haven't tried long enough to decide whether this workflow is much better
for me than than using a single viewport; it certainly looks better :-)
With a single viewport I hit the mirror key very often to make strokes from
a better angle, but I rarely bother to rotate.  With this split_view I can
draw easily (even without keyboard) from different angles.

I agree with David that this doesn't work as a "bird's eye" overview of the
canvas, because a) splitting uses too much screen space and b) in a "bird's
eye" you don't want to paint, but do dragging by default.

And for my use the markers are too distracting. First of all, they obstruct
the view.  I'm not in danger of loosing the orientation, so the information
doesn't help.  But more importantly, there is too much flickering going on
when moving the pointer.  I find the border highlighting of the active
viewport already distracting, and the markers appearing and disappearing
when I move the pointer is just too much.

I think the markers are only useful in a "bird's eye", and even then they
are not mainly for orientation (except in screenshots) but rather act as a
handle to visually drag the viewport.

-- 
Martin Renold