Re: [Tuxpaint-users] New to list, but not to TuxPaint

[Pere P. i C. <per...@gm...>]

El dj. 20 de 08 de 2020 a les 18:38 -0700, en/na Anat & Aviv va
escriure:
> Hi!
> 
> We're new to the user list, but have been using (and recommending) 
> TuxPaint for a while. We use TuxPaint with an eye-tracker and all
> painting takes place with the eyes! It's pretty awesome and TuxPaint 
> is pretty much the only mechanism by which we can input continuous
> inputs (as opposed to clicking buttons) in a 2D interface, so we like TuxPaint A LOT.
> 
> That said, we have a few limitations that if you can help us get past, 
> would make our use even better.
> 
> First, we would love to import backgrounds more easily. Presently, to import a background (for example, a PNG or JPG of a worksheet for school that we want to mark up), we have to:
> 1) save an image in TuxPaint (let's call it 20200820_1831img.jpg) and note its location on the file system along with the thumbnail location
> 2) Take the worksheet image. Resize it to the TuxPaint size, and also save a separate file as a thumbnail. 
> 3) replace that earlier TuxPaint saved file by renaming the worksheet images to 20200820_1831img.jpg and the associated thumbnail 20200820_1831Thumbnailimg.jpg
> 4) reopen TuxPaint and we have basically "faked" tuxpaint to open an older saved file while in fact we opened the worksheet.
> 
> Let me tell you-- this is tedious to do on a regular basis for worksheets. 
> It's hard enough to get our instructional assistant at school to get the pdf's 
> of worksheets saved as png's and jpgs. And certainly with COVID, it's all my job now... 
> so how can I get around this arduous process and just open background images of our choice?
> 

There are alternatives:
The first one that comes to my mind is "tuxpaint-import", it is a shell
script that runs on Linux and other *nixes. If you are not on Linux,
you could try to run it in a Linux/Unix emulator, it's usage is
described in the README.html

A second alternative is to add your image to the Tux Paint's "starters"
folder, either in the global Tux Paint's installation folder or in the
user's saving folder and rename it to imagename-back.png .

The third alternative are Templates, basically you put your image in
the Tux Paint's "templates" folder, either in the global Tux Paint's
installation folder or in the user's saving folder.

Starters and templates appears in the "New" dialog, their thumbnail is
created automatically by Tux Paint, instead images imported with
tuxpaint-import appears in the Open dialog
Starters are more powerful than templates in the sense that you can do
more creative things with them, yet templates are more simple to setup.

I suggest reading
http://www.tuxpaint.org/docs/en/html/EXTENDING.html
http://www.tuxpaint.org/docs/en/html/README.html



> Second issue is that no matter how hard I've looked into the configuration options, 
> I've been unable to find a way to resize the teeny tiny keyboard that comes up 
> when we want to use text. I'm sure it's obvious and there, but I've not been able 
> to locate it.
> 
This is an overdue feature that is not implemented yet, sorry :(



> Third issue is just a question about stamps and how we might 
> be able to add stamps of our own?

This is covered too in the EXTENDING.html I pointed above, basically
put your stamp in the "stamps/|category|" folder, either in the global
Tux Paint installation folder or in the user's Tux Paint saving folder.

Note that in the saving user's folder maybe will not exist the folders
I mentioned and you may have to create them.

Also is worth to note that there is documentation in case you want to
improve the quality of the stamps
http://www.tuxpaint.org/docs/en/html/ADVANCED-STAMPS-HOWTO.html

> 
> Those are pretty much it for now. All of these would make our lives 
> so much easier with Tux Paint and facilitate my kiddo to do so much 
> more school work and fun painting!
> 
> Looking forward to hearing from developers or users.
> 
> Thanks!!
> 
> anatandaviv.


Hope this helps
Pere