Ideas about tools (1.2.0 to 1.4.0)

[maoschanz]

Classic tools

• better-looking short arrows
• more brushes (Allow to add more brushes and pencils  #116 )
  • try using the cairo pattern thing (maybe not possible?)
• more solid magic path util (paint bucket, lasso selection)
• text tool redesign (improve the tools' preview UX in general #357)
• eraser Refactor the eraser tool into 3 possible implementations #503
• points: what about an ✅ symbol?
• points: text antialiasing

Selection

• invert selection (add a "reverse selection" action to selection tools #442)

Transform tools

• Make it clearer when something is a preview #568 (skew, rotate)
• improve the tools' preview UX in general #357 (apply)
• Brightness filter
• decrease contrast
• crop:
  • the rendering is "too much" locked during the preview
  • being able to re-define the origin (moving from the central area)

[tronta]

imho this could be a great tool to modify screenshots. Therefore I'd love to see

• a text marker (highlights only the background and keeps the black font black
• a rectangular
  what do you think?

[maoschanz]

Both of those already exist 🤔

[tronta]

Hmm, ok, then I will have an other look. Thx

[tronta]

Ok, I found the two tools after some searching. Cool.

Some feedback (in case you are interested):
he rectangular shape. I didn't associate the lower bar as options of the current tool. I expected a kind of long press on the tool with a popup of some sub menus with appearance of multiple shape options.

I didn't expect the text marker mode on the "color", but one level higher, especially as there is so much space for options. Maybe even on the tool level (log pressing on pen, pop out an additional text marker tool.

Just my 2¢. But nevertheless thanks for the great tool.

[maoschanz]

the highlighter is actually an independent "high level" tool, automatically applying the correct blend mode (which is what you found in the color palette popover), straightening the line to better follow text on a screenshot, adding a 50% transparency to the current color (which would be a pain in the ass to do manually), and providing a quick way to highlight on dark background by pressing shift. But, my bad, i forgot it was disabled by default: in the app preferences you can enable it.

It's disabled by default because it's very redundant with the pencil, but it looks like a very commonly needed tool so i will change the default setting for the next release

[miromarszal]

A simple app like this could be very nice to crop images. Right now the crop tool is a bit strange to use, so here's how I would love to see it:

• Rectangular selection would be resizable and movable without moving the underlying part of the image, like it is in Gimp. A nice bonus could be to type the dimensions of the box and lock the ratio.
• The crop tool then crops the canvas to the selection.

[maoschanz]

The crop tool then crops the canvas to the selection.

If this sentence has a meaning, it's not a clear one:

The selection tool itself already has actions such "define as current image". And the crop tool can crop either the entire canvas, or the selection. What feature are you asking for, and why would would the canvas become the selection?

resizable and movable

type the dimensions of the box and lock the ratio.

You're precisely describing the current "crop" tool. It looks like your only request is to preview the cropping as a sort of semi-transparent fancy dimming rectangle over the image, rather than to preview the cropping as a cropping.

FYI, "like it is in Gimp" doesn't describe a "simple app", since the equivalent feature in Gimp looks like that:

[miromarszal]

If this sentence has a meaning, it's not a clear one

Sorry, not a native speaker here.

Ok I see why I was confused. I was selecting a region and then clicking on the crop tool, expecting to have the image trimmed to the selection. What happened seemed super strange to me.

The selection tool itself already has actions such "define as current image".

That's exactly what I was looking for! But it's a bit buried and the wording doesn't help. So how about at least changing it to something like "Trim image to selection"?

You're precisely describing the current "crop" tool. It looks like your only request is to preview the cropping as a sort of semi-transparent fancy dimming rectangle over the image, rather than to preview the cropping as a cropping.

I get your point and I think it's a bit of a matter of style. Tbh I find the crop tool rather awkward, especially how it works when pulling handles from left or top. In my opinion, a "semi-transparent fancy dimming rectangle over the image" would be much more intuitive to use, but to each their own.

Also, I wouldn't know how to quickly crop to a specific size without doing a ton of micro adjustments. Yes, I can type in the numbers, but it will crop from right and bottom, and if I'm unhappy about the position of the cropping window, I have to start over again.

FYI, "like it is in Gimp" doesn't describe a "simple app", since the equivalent feature in Gimp looks like that:

I meant only how selection handles work. There are already fields to put in the dimensions in the crop tool, so perhaps only a button to lock the ratio could be added, no need for a fancy pop up. But, like I already said, with how the crop works at the moment, typing in dimensions is not terribly useful.

[maoschanz]

So how about at least changing it to something like "Trim image to selection"?

i'm not a native speaker either so several labels in the app can be unclear: in my mind, "to" means a destination; but I see GIMP has both "fit canvas to selection" and "crop to selection" so ok, why not.

Weird label however, since it's really not about cropping at all, and nothing goes to the selection, it's really about redefining the canvas from the data in a layer which isn't related to the current canvas. I wouldn't even be able to translate that suggestion in french in a direct way.

I think it's a bit of a matter of style.

from my point of view it's also a matter of how hard to implement it would be lol

Also, I wouldn't know how to quickly crop to a specific size without doing a ton of micro adjustments. Yes, I can type in the numbers, but it will crop from right and bottom, and if I'm unhappy about the position of the cropping window, I have to start over again.

so if i get it right, the issue is either about:

• the selection: being able to redefine it afterward to adjust its boundaries? (and then click on "define as current image")
• the crop tool: being able to adjust the "origin" of the cropped view without having to expand its size to the north-west and then re-type the values to crop at the south-east?

[miromarszal]

i'm not a native speaker either so several labels in the app can be unclear: in my mind, "to" means a destination; but I see GIMP has both "fit canvas to selection" and "crop to selection" so ok, why not.

Weird label however, since it's really not about cropping at all, and nothing goes to the selection, it's really about redefining the canvas from the data in a layer which isn't related to the current canvas. I wouldn't even be able to translate that suggestion in french in a direct way.

As far as my understanding of English goes, this would be a correct use of "to", and such a label is not weird to me at all. I think the word "define" is rather confusing. I get what you mean, but I'm guessing it's not how most people would think about this operation.

from my point of view it's also a matter of how hard to implement it would be lol

Touché

so if i get it right, the issue is either about:

Yes, either of the two would do the job. May I suggest, if you have some time, to do an exercise? Take a photo and try to cut away a 400x400 px square from a precisely defined section of the image. You should see immediately what I find a bit cumbersome about how things are working at the moment.

[maoschanz]

i implemented the second point, it'll be released next week i suppose

[miromarszal]

Great, I'll be happy to try it out ;)

[SPYFF]

Hi! Thanks for this great piece of software I'm using it since a while. I would like to share an idea which would make this tool a little bit more convenient.
When using tools with primary/secondary colors, it requires two clicks to change color. But there is an empty space at the right side of the color selection:

If there would be an option to somehow pin some colors or the palette there that would be nice, something like this:

There you can preconfigure some colors and simply select them with one click.
Or just simply put the "Custom" pane of the color selector there without any preconfigured color:

What do you think? Thanks!

[maoschanz]

the color selector is a native GTK widget: re-implementing it from scratch in python to break it down in smaller components would be extremely time-consuming

...and the outcome isn't easily responsive. Users asking me to put something in this bar always screenshot a maximized window on a gigantic display to make their point, but that trick will not change my own laptop resolution lol, sorry. The app is developed using its default unmaximized size, and it should work on mobile too

---

When i'll put something here, these 5 fat buttons for colors are not first on the list, since i have feedback about the discoverability of more important features like the active tool's options:

although that label will probably be a tooltip instead:

and on smaller screen sizes the options would all be shown in the popover menu like nowadays

---

i'll see what i can do with colors only after this options buttons thing will be done. By then the app will probably be GTK4, so maybe the color widget will be nicer to use?

[SPYFF]

Thank you for the detailed reply, I didnt really thought about that this is a native widget. Maybe an easier solution: a pin button. So if the user want it, the widget will stay open (pinned/floating).

In its current form unfortunately that will cover some tools from the toolbar. That might be possible to implement properly?

[1ctinus]

Minor text bug: the header description (like how skew is "Skewing the canvas") does not exist for Text at all.

[maoschanz]

Minor text bug: the header description (like how skew is "Skewing the canvas") does not exist for Text at all.

it should say "text - font name - text background style", you should change the text background style to something the newer versions of the app will understand

[SPYFF]

Hi! Thanks for this great piece of software I'm using it since a while. I would like to share an idea which would make this tool a little bit more convenient. When using tools with primary/secondary colors, it requires two clicks to change color. But there is an empty space at the right side of the color selection:

If there would be an option to somehow pin some colors or the palette there that would be nice, something like this:

There you can preconfigure some colors and simply select them with one click. Or just simply put the "Custom" pane of the color selector there without any preconfigured color:

What do you think? Thanks!

I had to switch Rnote for whiteboarding because of that. They somehow managed to do that (color presets at the left side). Maybe worth look into how they do that, even with predefined colors its good.

[oumout]

applying lots of image manupulation to "inverted selection" would be really good. Thanks for adding this to your to do list.