Open Brush, Open Blocks, Icosa Gallery•4y ago

As for moving strokes between layers, I have 2 ideas: 1. Reworking the duplication, where copying a

As for moving strokes between layers, I have 2 ideas:

Reworking the duplication, where copying and pasting don't happen at the same time anymore. You press a button to store a selection in the clipboard, and then paste it around with a different button (can also be the same button but differ by being pressed and held)
Not touching the original duplication and instead just having some sort of storage "pocket" where you can store a selection and then extract it in a different layer

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 11:03 AM

Idea #1 would essentially make it work more similarly to ordinary art tools, which might make it more intuitive for experienced digital artists

BBootleg As for moving strokes between layers, I have 2 ideas: 1. Reworking the duplicat...

andybak•8/19/22, 1:58 PM

Most art tools I've used have both "copy+paste" and "duplicate"

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 1:59 PM

True, I might be a bit biased because I rarely use duplication

andybak•8/19/22, 1:59 PM

1 doesn't sound that dissimilar to the current selection tool behaviour if you grab a selection and then drop copies

Aandybak 1 doesn't sound that dissimilar to the current selection tool behaviour if you g...

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:00 PM

The key difference is that you don't have to keep holding the stroke to keep duplicating it

andybak•8/19/22, 2:00 PM

yeah

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:00 PM

And that opens up the opportunity to duplicate it in between layers

andybak•8/19/22, 2:00 PM

ah of course

andybak•8/19/22, 2:00 PM

that gives me an idea. i wonder what happens to a held selection if you try and interact with a panel.

andybak•8/19/22, 2:01 PM

i'm guessing panel interaction is disabled while something is held

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:01 PM

Can you even do that given that holding a selection disables your pointer?

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:01 PM

Yeah

andybak•8/19/22, 2:01 PM

but what if it wasn't...

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:01 PM

That does feel a little unwieldy not gonna lie

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:01 PM

But I might be wrong

andybak•8/19/22, 2:02 PM

yeah

andybak•8/19/22, 2:02 PM

this seems like a lot of change for one simple gap "move selection to another layer"

andybak•8/19/22, 2:03 PM

maybe we just need more buttons on the layers panel. at least that stops the complexity creeping into the rest of the app

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:03 PM

No matter what I think this problem should be solved through a lot of experimentation

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:03 PM

Because all solutions work, it's more of a matter of comfort and UX

andybak•8/19/22, 2:04 PM

i do need an immediate solution as this is a bit of a blocker for releasing layers

andybak•8/19/22, 2:04 PM

it doesn't have to be perfect.

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:04 PM

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:05 PM

I honestly don't know what would be the best immediate solution

andybak•8/19/22, 2:06 PM

another thought: "selection" is a layer itself (internally). Maybe not hiding this fact from the user might open up some options

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:07 PM

Well

andybak•8/19/22, 2:08 PM

combined with the ability to reorder layers maybe it's just the same as "squash layers"

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:08 PM

My main concern is that everything that is done with selections is done through the selection tool

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:09 PM

This would add a different UI interaction with selections that is separate, and I'm not sure how intuitive that would be

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:09 PM

But that's a concern right off the top of my head so I dunno

andybak•8/19/22, 2:10 PM

but arguably "everything that is done with layers is done through the layer panel" - when something is related to layers AND selections which one takes priority?

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:10 PM

Actually, what if we add a tray button along the lines of "move selection to layer" and then wait for the user to switch layers to lock it in?

andybak•8/19/22, 2:10 PM

i think layers are more "power user" stuff - so we can be less constrained by immediate intutiveness

Aandybak i think layers are more "power user" stuff - so we can be less constrained by im...

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:10 PM

That's true

BBootleg Actually, what if we add a tray button along the lines of "move selection to lay...

andybak•8/19/22, 2:10 PM

that's not bad

andybak•8/19/22, 2:11 PM

we already have the selection tray

andybak•8/19/22, 2:12 PM

how about "if the user tries to change layer with an active selection - they are asked to choose between 2 actions: drop selection or move selection to layer"

andybak•8/19/22, 2:12 PM

i don't like interrupting the user with choices - usually

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:12 PM

Actually, let's merge the two ideas

andybak•8/19/22, 2:13 PM

but dropping the selection is almost as surprising as the current behaviour

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:13 PM

We have a toggle on the selection tray

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:13 PM

If it's on, selections survive layer switches

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:13 PM

If it's off, they don't

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:13 PM

This way the user gets to choose without being interrupted

andybak•8/19/22, 2:13 PM

hmmmmm. how about 3 settings: "ask, always move, always drop"?

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:14 PM

Also works

andybak•8/19/22, 2:14 PM

that way the user gets to learn about the option the first time they use it

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:14 PM

Sounds good!

BootlegOP•8/19/22, 2:14 PM

We can have it as "always ask" by default and leave instructions on the bottom of the prompt to switch

andybak•8/19/22, 2:14 PM

damn. does that mean i have to implement this now?