Proposal: Canvas Interaction Enhancements

[Arjen Hiemstra]

On Tuesday 15 May 2012 10:02:42 Boudewijn Rempt wrote:
> On Monday 14 May 2012 May, Arjen Hiemstra wrote:
> 
> <...>
> 
> My notes:
> 
> * not sure that tool invocation (paint) is canvas interaction

The primary reason I included it is that it avoids special casing and instead 
integrates normal tool operation with the rest of the system.

> 
> * not just the shortcuts need to be configurable, but also the mouse key and
> modifier, of course.

Of course, it is why i listed four example inputs for the zoom action, but I 
guess I was not clear enough. The configuration UI should make it possible to 
do the following:

- Bind normal shortcuts to single actions.
- Bind two shortcuts to something that works on an axis - one for increase, 
one for decrease. Maybe even a third for reset.
- Bind any combination of mouse buttons and keys (_any_ key, not just 
modifiers).
- Bind gestures once supported.

> 
> * for zooming, there are also different ways of zooming: like selecting a
> rectangle to zoom to, zooming to the selection, zooming by click-dragging
> (as in mypaint). This isn't just adding different shortcuts for zooming,
> but different operation modes.

True. Zooming to the selection is a single action though and probably 
something that is more associated with selections rather than normal canvas 
interaction. 

Box zooming also might make more sense to keep separate, simply as the zoom 
tool. As mentioned in the mail in reply to Przemyslaw Golab I want to avoid 
"cluttering" the actions with things that are better implemented in different 
ways or are seldom used.

For these zoom related actions it might make sense to simply have the actions 
available without a default association though. That way users can change 
their configuration to support the zoom mode they prefer.

> 
> * Ideally, we'd be able to completely get rid of the zoom and pan tool --
> the color picker tool has an extra information panel and settings like the
> radius, but maybe we can put the information in the overview panel. I'm not
> sure artists actually use the radius to sample the average color?

Well apart from maybe having a reason to keep the zoom tool around as 
described above, I fully agree. And with Cyrille's suggestion for the colour 
picker we would also have the colour picker tool covered.

> 
> * I agree about the implementation level: we want these actions to be
> captured before events reach the tools