[Tuxpaint-devel] Tux Paint 0.9.34 features to try out

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

Hi all!  I was away for a month (big epic vacation for once
in my life ;-D), but now that I'm back I've gone a little
nuts adding more features to Tux Paint, as usual...

So far the big things include:

 * "Eraser" mode of the "Fill" tool
   What does this mean?  First off, it's most useful if you're using
   a Starter or Template background as the basis of your drawing (and
   remember, you can make new ones from WITHIN Tux Paint now!).
   Instead of flood-filling with the user-selected color, it
   replaces the contiguous area you've clicked with whatever the
   background was.  Here's a video [pick your favorite platform]:
   + https://floss.social/@tuxpaint/113151620050892297
   + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Uy9de7AjI
   + https://bsky.app/profile/tuxpaint.bsky.social/post/3l4dhojfiwe2r
   + https://www.threads.net/@tuxpaintdevs/post/DAAl-hdJIEj
   + https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAAljaMpD_D

 * "Rotate" magic tool
   Rotate your drawing!  The user-selected color will be used as a
   'background' at the corners (similar to how plain "Zoom" works).
   (h/t to Pere for noticing a dumb memory leak I left in there!)
   Here's a screenshot:
   + https://tuxpaint.org/latest/sshots/tuxpaint-0.9.34-rotate.png

 * "Crescent" magic tool
   (My son complains it should be in "Shapes", but that's a LOT more
   work, I think.)  This draws a crescent shape.  Drag away from where
   you first clicked to adjust both the radius/diameter, as well as
   the angle of the crescent.  The 'size' options can be used to
   change how solid or hollow the crescent is.  See this screenshot:
   + https://tuxpaint.org/latest/sshots/tuxpaint-0.9.34-crescent.png

 * "Fractal" magic tools
   (This feature didn't come out quite as amazingly as I'd hoped, but
   at the very least it's fun, and could be used for glitch art.)
   Right now there are four different tool variations, with varying
   parameters: shrinking (zooming out) or growing (zooming in),
   and different rotation values (or none).  The 'size' option sets
   the thickness of what you draw, and also determines how 'deep'
   the effect will iterate recursively.  Hard to explain so here's
   a screenshot:
   + https://tuxpaint.org/latest/sshots/tuxpaint-0.9.34-fractal.png
   And a video:
   + https://floss.social/@tuxpaint/113191183386173044
   + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk-92FSTqgY
   + https://www.threads.net/@tuxpaintdevs/post/DASlmfhJHxc
   + https://www.instagram.com/reel/DASlamDJ3gZ

 * "ASCII Art" magic tools
   (This was fun and challenging to write, but came out well!)
   Convert your picture to ASCII art (letters, numbers, and
   symbols that reflect the brightness/darkness of the pixels).
   Three options: typewriter (a typewriter font on white,
   in the user-selected color), computer (IBM CGA 8x16 pixel
   font on black, in the user-selected color), and color computer
   (same as computer, but using 16 horrid CGA colors to represent
   your picture's colors).  Screenshots!
   + https://tuxpaint.org/latest/sshots/tuxpaint-0.9.34-ascii-typewriter.png
   + https://tuxpaint.org/latest/sshots/tuxpaint-0.9.34-ascii-color-computer.png
   And a video:
   + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV4l1Hn9QUk
   + https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAc8xJqpmhr

 * "Comic Docs" magic tool
   (Somewhat similar to "Halftone", which I'm disappointed with
   and need to revisit some day.)  This draws a repeating pattern
   of dots on your picture (using a "multiply" mode of blending)
   in an attempt to simulate the "Ben Day process" of shading or
   coloring that was common in early comic books and comic strips.
   Screenshot:
   + https://tuxpaint.org/latest/sshots/tuxpaint-0.9.34-comicdots.png

Please try them out and let me know if you have any issues!

-bill!