Re: [Tuxpaint-devel] cut-and-paste, copy-and-paste

[Albert C. <aca...@gm...>]

On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 8:00 PM, Bill Kendrick <nb...@so...> wrote:
> On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 04:38:15PM -0700, Mark K. Kim wrote:
>> On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 03:01:35AM -0400, Albert Cahalan wrote:

>>> I don't want ANY of those selection operations.
>>
>> I agree.  Too complicated = bad in kids apps.
>>
>> Having said that, it's really up to the users.  But I do agree with
>> Albert that the current plans for the selection tool may be a little too
>> much and needs to slim down a bit.  Just a thought.
>
> Well, we have less than a week before our GSoC students are to begin
> full-time work on Tux Paint!  Let's try to iron it out before then.
>
> Albert, step me through how a user makes a single selection.
> To me, it would seem easier for _most_ things to be able to simply
> 'draw around it' (i.e., Lasso tool we all know and love).  For large
> objects, having to paint every inch of it seems tedious. :^/

Choose a brush. A fat one is the default. Paint with it.
As you paint, a stamp is created. Nothing appears in
the main canvas as you paint. When you like the stamp,
simply select it and use it. It works like any normal stamp.
There is no "cut" operation, and the "copy" operation
happens implicitly as soon as you start to paint.

That seems to avoid the problem of weird hidden state
and tools that seem to do nothing.

My use of complicated stuff:

I don't use the Lasso tool all that much. When working in
the gimp, I mostly just paint on a layer mask. Generally I
will have a green or magenta layer underneath the one I'm
working on. I use regular tools to paint on the layer mask.
Usually the mask is being applied as I work, so I'm seeing
my image appear/disappear as I paint. Sometimes I paint
while the layer mask is inactive, so I can't see anything
happen as I paint. Sometimes I view the layer mask as
itself while I paint.

For GUI mock-ups, I've used rectangle select and
elliptical select. I did this once, a couple years ago,
when designing the current Tux Paint color ovals.

For abusing gimp as a font editor, I've used rectangle
select and lasso select. Here I frequently drag the
selection: select, click inside and drag, click outside
to deselect.