[Gimp-developer] Improved brush editing interface mock-up

[SHIRAKAWA Akira]

David Gowers wrote:

> What do you mean here? I think we need at least these paint tools:
> 
> Paint (this would be able to do all of what Pencil, Paintbrush, and 
> Airbrush do currently, and perhaps also Eraser), Ink (this does not use 
> 'brushes'), Clone (also Heal?) , Perspective Clone , Blur/Sharpen, 
> Dodge/Burn, Smudge. Do you really have a proposition to unify all of 
> those, or do I misunderstand you?

Yes, my proposition is to unify all of those.

The idea is that 'brushes' would become something different than what it 
is now, more related to the "physical" proprieties of the tool used (= 
brush preset) than their meaning in the computer graphics world.

Brushes in the 'brush' setting window would be of different, selectable 
types, like for example:

- Brushless -> Behavior as with the current ink tool
- Parametric -> Vector brushes with adjustable settings affecting their 
shape, possibly of many different types (and not only "circular")
- From clipboard -> Bitmap brush
- From file -> Load a brush in bitmap/SVG format (future versions)
- From path -> Vector brush from a user defined path (future versions)

Paint, eraser, smudge, clone, blur/sharpen, dodge/burn, clone, would be 
simply different "brush" modes selectable in the brush editing window, 
possibly in addition to others. Some would be mutually exclusive (since 
their effect would cancel one each other, some would stack.

With my idea this way a "brush" can have different shapes, different 
physical behaviors, and different modes of operation.

Of course, there would be plenty of built-in presets (since the amount 
of different options would be overwhelming for the average user) 
selectable from the brush preset Window. A few basic settings (size, 
opacity, spacing/rate and dynamics will remain easily selectable within 
the standard tool settings window.

There are some usability details to be still clarified, but this is my 
general idea. Anyway, I agree that it would be similar in many ways than 
how MyPaint works (I swear I have never heard of this great application 
before!).

(By the way, I think maybe it's better to explain this idea a bit a time 
while discussing with other users instead writing a long slab of text 
like I initially intended?)

-- 
SHIRAKAWA Akira