PL32 future features request

[Pékélé]

Hi all,

i finally bought PL32 and i've worked around with it. It is a great tool.
I noticed some features that i would like to see in the next relases.
If you have some request put them there.

wishes :
-import/export SVG files ( at last, import would be nice. )
-more compatibility with pens of wacom tablet
-a better reactivity / memory management especially with vector management.

... More to come

[Pékélé]

-units preferences in meters, and in point for the texte ( cm, mm, pt )

[Gerhard Huber]

-units preferences in meters, and in point for the texte ( cm, mm, pt )

You can setup the unit of the text size. To do this right click on the little arrow beside the font size text field (Windows) or on the text field (Mac OS). All other unit fields can be changed with a right click inside the text field.
Some interesting stuff about unit text fields: You can calculate the values of the field, for example type 4 + 5 and PL32 will insert 9.


Gerhard

[Gerhard Huber]

-import/export SVG files ( at last, import would be nice. )

At the moment we are not sure if it is worth the effort. SVG is a lot of work. First we implemented PDF, because it's very common. Then we decided SWF (Flash) because it is often used in web pages. The next would be SVG but it is not often used I think. No customers wanted to get it until now.

-more compatibility with pens of wacom tablet

What support are you missing?

-a better reactivity / memory management especially with vector management.

I don't understand this exactly. In the past we had sometimes customers with PDF vector graphics that where "slow" on PL32. We counted the layers and there were up to 50000 layers. That's much stuff and the problem here is not PL32 but the program that created such nonsense. But we changed some things in PL32 that makes working with many layers better.

Gerhard

[Pékélé]

-SVG support :
You are right PDF import/export is really a good feature and i understand for the .svg support.
-Wacom tablet :
sorry i'm a newbee under Macos system. The eraser of my pentool was not activated. I had to activte it with the wacom panel control. Now it works fine in pl32
-improve the reactivity in vector mode.
well, if i draw directely in vector, pl32 seems to be fast. I made too few tries until now. But if i convert a B&W drawing into vector then it becomes " heavy ", it is really hard to navigate in the drawing and draw other shapes. I even try to add a bitmap layer for adding color. I must " close " the eye of the B&W vector layer to navigate and fill colors more faster.

Well, i can send you one of my strip to show you the heavy behaviour.

thanks a lot for the answer
pl32 is a great tool

Pékélé

[Gerhard Huber]

well, if i draw directely in vector, pl32 seems to be fast. I made too few tries until now. But if i convert a B&W drawing into vector then it becomes " heavy ", it is really hard to navigate in the drawing and draw other shapes. I even try to add a bitmap layer for adding color. I must " close " the eye of the B&W vector layer to navigate and fill colors more faster.

I think the problem with the converted raster layer is that PL32 creates very much vector points. You should use "Tools/Vector/Optimize Vector Layer" to reduce the amount of points.

Gerhard

[Pékélé]

well that's what i already did, i forgot to tell you about that.
But i'm going to figure out that by working without the vector layer and adding it at the end of my work, just before exporting to .pdf

[Pékélé]

Hi,

after month of uses, i noticed some feature that it would be great to have :
-filling a color on several layers :
the region is defined on the background layer. I want to fill the color onto a new layer.
-improve the pdf import/export :
Since it is the main common format, it is a pity, like it is said in the help, that it can't import/export pdf with layer wich are multiply.
-Incorporate Tiger's specific powerfull core image.
Well i know this is just for MacOsX's users and you are not going to waste time in coding for one platform. This is just an idea

that's all
It is already a great program.

Pékélé

[Martin Huber]

after month of uses, i noticed some feature that it would be great to have :
-filling a color on several layers :
the region is defined on the background layer. I want to fill the color onto a new layer.

I assume you have defined the region by using the lasso. Doesn't selecting the new layer and applying "Tool/Lasso/Fill With Foreground" work?

-improve the pdf import/export :
Since it is the main common format, it is a pity, like it is said in the help, that it can't import/export pdf with layer wich are multiply.

Yes, the PDF improvements were only small in the past.
Question to the other readers: What do you think about this?

-Incorporate Tiger's specific powerfull core image.
Well i know this is just for MacOsX's users and you are not going to waste time in coding for one platform. This is just an idea

According to our internal profiling the raw image processing only uses a small percentage of the time spent, so using core image will probably not have a large effect. Do you have any specific function or area in PL32, that should be faster?

Martin

[Michael Roek-Ramirez]

Hello Martin,

indeed PDF optimization is a very important issue, due to being PDF the most common data interchange format between PL and other applications.

Regards

Michael

[Pékélé]

I assume you have defined the region by using the lasso. Doesn't selecting the new layer and applying "Tool/Lasso/Fill With Foreground" work?

In fact, no. Because i was looking for a quickly way like there is in The Gimp.

regards Pekele

[Martin Huber]

I assume you have defined the region by using the lasso. Doesn't selecting the new layer and applying "Tool/Lasso/Fill With Foreground" work?

In fact, no. Because i was looking for a quickly way like there is in The Gimp.

regards Pekele

Faster than switching the layer and using "Tool/Lasso/Fill With Foreground" (you can double-click the paint-tool instead, too)? How is this solved in The Gimp?

Martin

[Pékélé]

Well, here is a sample of The Gimp documentation about the Bucket Fill :

" The option Sample Merged toggles the sampling from all layers. If Sample Merged is active, fills can be made on a lower layer, while the color information used for threshold checking is located further up. Simply select the lower level and ensure that a layer above is visible for color weighting. "

Creating a path with the selection tool is slower than this option in The Gimp. I just have to check this option anf fill with the Bucket as i would do on the layer with the drawing. There is no selection. ( try it yourself )

I still believe that it would be a good option to add to further release of PL32. I used it a lot.


regards

Pékélé

[Martin Huber]

Well, here is a sample of The Gimp documentation about the Bucket Fill :

" The option Sample Merged toggles the sampling from all layers. If Sample Merged is active, fills can be made on a lower layer, while the color information used for threshold checking is located further up. Simply select the lower level and ensure that a layer above is visible for color weighting. "

Creating a path with the selection tool is slower than this option in The Gimp. I just have to check this option anf fill with the Bucket as i would do on the layer with the drawing. There is no selection. ( try it yourself )

Ah, now I understand what you mean.

I still believe that it would be a good option to add to further release of PL32. I used it a lot.

Just out of curiosity: in what situations did you use it?

Martin

[Pékélé]

Well i'm a comic's book drawer and i'm using this fonction for adding color to my B&W drawing. The B&W drawing is on a layer and i'm adding color on another layer. filling with the Bucket on the new layer is a quick way for adding color.

Maybe you have a better way of doing this ?

Pékélé