[Tuxpaint-users] Upcoming features, and new artwork gallery on the website

[Bill K. <nb...@so...>]

Hi all, just a quick note to get you excited for the next version of
Tux Paint, and to tell you about our new artwork showcase (gallery)
on the website.

In case you've missed any of the social media (Twitter and Facebook)
posts about upcoming features, here's a rundown of what we've added
so far -- they'll be part of the next release of Tux Paint
(version 0.9.27):

 * Magic tools are now grouped into sections, which you can page
   through (like you can with the various groups of Stamps)

 * New "Lightning" magic tool -- draws a randomized bolt between two
   points on the picture

 * New "Opposite" magic tool -- like "Negative", but rather than
   swapping all colors, like a photographic negative, it simply swaps
   hues with their complementary colors

 * New "Panels" magic tool -- shrinks and duplicates your entire
   picture into repeating 2x2 tiles; useful for creating 4-panel
   comics (or simulating a compound eye, if you repeat it!)

 * Updated "Halftone" magic tool -- simulates color photos on
   newsprint, with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) colors

 * Updated "TV" magic tool -- simulates an image on an old cathode
   ray tube (CRT) television (now splits up the image's Red, Green,
   and Blue (RGB) components)

 * Fully rotational brushes are supported (by Paint and Line tools)

 * Small icons (badges) appear in the brush selection buttons,
   denoting when a brush supports rotation (or the older 8-way
   directional feature) and/or animation (multi-frame brushes)

 * Tons of documentation updates, and preparation for further
   improvements to the localization/translation of docs

 * Tux Paint Config. now appears in a larger window, with
   larger text and widgets (checkboxes/etc.), on high-resolution
   screens

 * Tux Paint Config.'s interface layout has also been reworked, so
   widgets are spaced more dynamically, and the window may be
   resized; helpful when some text wasn't fitting under certain
   translations/locales

 * Improvements to Tux Paint Config.'s "All Users" setting

 * A variety of bug fixes & translation updates


Finally, ages ago, we maintained a gallery of children's artwork,
submitted by their parents & guardians.  It's been more-or-less
14 years (hey, the age of my eldest child!) since I've had the
time and energy to maintain it.

Back in those days, I posted _everything_ I received.  I've sadly
contiued to ignore it -- simply filing away the occasional
submission I receive, in hopes for "some day" going back and
updating the gallery.

However, the gallery was, in the end, over-complicated.  I tried to
track every artist (even if we only received one picture), and listed
their age (except oops, kids get older over time!) and location
(people move!)

It was also based on 2002-era HTML with <table>s and a ton of
complicated PHP and a pseudo-database of image and artist data,
maintained in some text files.  And I really wanted to post
_everything_ I received, even if it was a dozen sequences from a comic
that a kid was drawing.

Today, I've got almost 750 submissions stacked up, waiting for me to
look through, but in the meantime, I'm also seeing some FANTASTIC art
being made by young adults, and posted over on Twitter.  I retweet
them (when appropriate), and yesterday we went back through all those
retweets and asked for permission to share their work right on our
website.  So far, everyone who responded has agreed...

Therefore, I'm happy to announce a new Gallery page, showcasing some
of the coolest art I've stumbled upon in the last year or so,
along with some of my favorites from the 2002-2010 era of the original
gallery:

  http://tuxpaint.org/gallery/

I'll continue adding to that page, and will also finally go back
and work through 14 year's worth of email to pick out some of the
best examples of art submitted by kids.

I'm retiring the original gallery, though it remains online for now.

Thanks, enjoy, and stay safe!

-- 
-bill!
Sent from my computer