tuxpaint-devel

[Tuxpaint-devel] Revisiting Selection tool idea

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

I was thinking about kid friendly ways of presenting the idea of selection
tools in a graphics program.  Here's what I've come up with... what do
people think?

(1) There'd be a "Selection Tools" button in the tool box
    (along with Stamps, Brushes, Lines, Shapes, etc.)

(2) When the "Selection Tools" button is clicked, the buttons on the right
    change to include the following:

    * Name: "Add" or "Add Rect."
      Icon: Dashed rectangle with plus ("+") symbol
      Description: Rectangular add to selection

    * Name: "Subtract" or "Sub. Rect." or "Remove" or "Remove Rect.
      Icon: Dashed rectangle with minus ("-") symbol
      Description: Rectangular remove from selection


    * Name: "Add" or "Add Oval" or "Add Ellipse"
      Icon: Dashed oval with plus ("+") symbol
      Description: Oval add to selection

    * Name: "Subtract" or "Sub. Oval." or "Remove" or "Remove Oval", or...
      Icon: Dashed oval with minus ("-") symbol
      Description: Oval remove from selection


    * Name: "Add" or "Add Freehand"
      Icon: Dashed squiggly outline with plus ("+") symbol
      Description: Freehand (click-and-drag) add to selection

    * Name: "Subtract" or "Sub. Freehand" or "Remove" or "Remove Freehand"
      Icon: Dashed squiggly outline with plus ("+") symbol
      Description: Freehand (click-and-drag) add to selection


    * Name: "Grow"
      Icon: Grey dashed outline with a darker outline around it
      Description: Grows the current selection by a few pixels

    * Name: "Shrink"
      Icon: Grey dashed outline with a darker outline within it
      Description: Shrinks the current selection by a few pixels


    * Name: "Shrinkwrap" or "Snap"
      Icon: Dashed outline of a hand with fingers spread (like tracing a hand)
      Description: Snaps/shrinks selection to any kind of obvious object
        Tux Paint can find in the canvas


    * Name: "Unselect" or "None" or "Clear"
      Icon: "X" or a grey dashed outline with a kind of "> <" (pop!) around it
      Description: Disables any selection (aka 'Select None')


    * Name: "Cut"
      Icon: Scissors
      Description: Copy selection's contents to clipboard, remove contents
        from canvas, and disable selection (aka 'Select None')

    * Name: "Copy"
      Icon: Photo camera
      Description: Copy selection's contents to clipboard

    * Name: "Paste"
      Icon: Large thumbnail of the current clipboard contents
        (I figured it could be take up 2x2 spots in the toolbox)
      Description: Acts like the Stamp tool; the user can click in the
        canvas to 'paste' the clipboard's contents


    * Name: "Mirror"
      Icon: [Mirror icon used elsewhere in Tux Paint]
      Description: Acts like the Stamp tool's mirror; mirrors the clipboard's
        contents, so when it's pasted, it will appear mirrored, horizontally

    * Name: "Flip"
      Icon: [Flip icon used elsewhere in Tux Paint]
      Description: Acts like the Stamp tool's flip; flips the clipboard's
        contents, so when it's pasted, it will appear mirrored, vertically

    * Maybe also include resizing 'slider', like Stamps have,
      or Grow and Shrink buttons, like Fonts have in the Text tool.


Also, I'm considering whether I want to keep the current selection active
when the user goes to use other tools, in which case it will act like other
graphics tools.  That is, if you have a selection and then use the paint
brush, the painting will be restricted to the selected area.  Magic Tools
would similarly only affect the selection (likely by being masked when
the Magic Tool plugin is done doing its job...?)

This could be really useful, or could be very confusing.  Of course, making
it optional is always an option. :)

What do people think?

-- 
-bill!
bi...@ne...
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/

Re: [Tuxpaint-devel] Revisiting Selection tool idea

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

On Tue, Aug 07, 2007 at 02:22:23PM -0700, Bill Kendrick wrote:
> 
> I was thinking about kid friendly ways of presenting the idea of selection
> tools in a graphics program.  Here's what I've come up with... what do
> people think?
> 

Here's a mockup:

  http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/tp-selection-mockup.png

-bill!

Re: [Tuxpaint-devel] Revisiting Selection tool idea

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

8/7/07, Bill Kendrick <nb...@so...> wrote:

>     * Name: "Add" or "Add Rect."
>       Icon: Dashed rectangle with plus ("+") symbol
>       Description: Rectangular add to selection

This should automatically shrink to fit if the area is
multi-colored with a single-color border.

>     * Name: "Subtract" or "Sub. Rect." or "Remove" or "Remove Rect.
>       Icon: Dashed rectangle with minus ("-") symbol
>       Description: Rectangular remove from selection

This is neither needed nor simple to use.

>     * Name: "Add" or "Add Oval" or "Add Ellipse"
>       Icon: Dashed oval with plus ("+") symbol
>       Description: Oval add to selection

This is neither needed nor simple to use.

>     * Name: "Subtract" or "Sub. Oval." or "Remove" or "Remove Oval", or...
>       Icon: Dashed oval with minus ("-") symbol
>       Description: Oval remove from selection

This is neither needed nor simple to use.

>     * Name: "Add" or "Add Freehand"
>       Icon: Dashed squiggly outline with plus ("+") symbol
>       Description: Freehand (click-and-drag) add to selection

probably worth the complexity

>     * Name: "Subtract" or "Sub. Freehand" or "Remove" or "Remove Freehand"
>       Icon: Dashed squiggly outline with plus ("+") symbol
>       Description: Freehand (click-and-drag) add to selection

This is neither needed nor simple to use.

>     * Name: "Grow"
>       Icon: Grey dashed outline with a darker outline around it
>       Description: Grows the current selection by a few pixels

must be greyed out when the selection is everything or nothing

>     * Name: "Shrink"
>       Icon: Grey dashed outline with a darker outline within it
>       Description: Shrinks the current selection by a few pixels

must be greyed out when the selection is everything or nothing

needs two buttons, to allow choice of behavior at the screen edge

>     * Name: "Shrinkwrap" or "Snap"
>       Icon: Dashed outline of a hand with fingers spread (like tracing a hand
>       Description: Snaps/shrinks selection to any kind of obvious object
>         Tux Paint can find in the canvas

This needs no button if it happens when the selection is made.

>     * Name: "Unselect" or "None" or "Clear"
>       Icon: "X" or a grey dashed outline with a kind of "> <" (pop!) around i
>       Description: Disables any selection (aka 'Select None')

Maybe just make the selection go away when the user leaves the
selection tools. This is a destructive action unless it is in
the undo buffer. Losing the selection when leaving the selection
tools is unsurprising, perhaps expected, and helpful for teaching
users that the dashed lines are NOT part of the drawing.

>     * Name: "Cut"
>       Icon: Scissors
>       Description: Copy selection's contents to clipboard, remove contents
>         from canvas, and disable selection (aka 'Select None')
>
>     * Name: "Copy"
>       Icon: Photo camera
>       Description: Copy selection's contents to clipboard

The icon choice is very bad. That icon should be reserved for
grabbing a photo from a webcam or similar.

>     * Name: "Paste"
>       Icon: Large thumbnail of the current clipboard contents
>         (I figured it could be take up 2x2 spots in the toolbox)
>       Description: Acts like the Stamp tool; the user can click in the
>         canvas to 'paste' the clipboard's contents
>
>
>     * Name: "Mirror"
>       Icon: [Mirror icon used elsewhere in Tux Paint]
>       Description: Acts like the Stamp tool's mirror; mirrors the clipboard's
>         contents, so when it's pasted, it will appear mirrored, horizontally
>
>     * Name: "Flip"
>       Icon: [Flip icon used elsewhere in Tux Paint]
>       Description: Acts like the Stamp tool's flip; flips the clipboard's
>         contents, so when it's pasted, it will appear mirrored, vertically
>
>     * Maybe also include resizing 'slider', like Stamps have,
>       or Grow and Shrink buttons, like Fonts have in the Text tool.

You forgot quickmask mode. This is a really easy way to draw a selection.
It could even replace all the other methods above.

> Also, I'm considering whether I want to keep the current selection active
> when the user goes to use other tools, in which case it will act like other
> graphics tools.  That is, if you have a selection and then use the paint
> brush, the painting will be restricted to the selected area.  Magic Tools
> would similarly only affect the selection (likely by being masked when
> the Magic Tool plugin is done doing its job...?)

In general I think this would be horribly confusing. I think the selection
tools menu could include a few things for drawing. For example, there could
be a tool that does a 3D effect (like a typical GUI button) on the selection.

> This could be really useful, or could be very confusing.  Of course, making
> it optional is always an option. :)

Options are evil. If the defaults are good, then there is no need to
have any options. Having options tempts one to tolerate a bad GUI.