Neue Testversion 23.40b8

[Gerhard Huber]

es gibt wieder eine neue Testversion 23.40b8.

Windows:
https://www.pl32.com/beta/pl2340b8.zip

macOS:
https://www.pl32.com/beta/plx2340b8.zip

Neues:

• Undoliste: Undoschritte können in Aktionen verwandelt werden
• macOS, Dateidialog: Bei Öffnen-Dialogen wird der Titel nun angezeigt
• SVG-Import verbessert
• Diverse Fehlerbehebungen und kleinere Verbesserungen

[shijan]

macOS "Batch Converter" text overlaps in some UI places when used PDF, PNG or WebP
Problem fixed in 23.4b3

In "Picture Mode" add image layer that is smaller that Background. Drag it to bottom to use as new background. Undo. Problem - layers now moved to different position.
Problem fixed in 23.4b3

Program crash when closing the font list by clicking on the already active font.
Problem fixed in 23.4b4

macOS UI: Request for complete Dark Mode including window toolbars.
Problem fixed in 23.4b6

New and Improved reconstruction logic of vector layers in path group produce some new artifacts.
Problem fixed in 23.4b6

If macOS set to Light UI mode and PhotoLine Preferences->Display->User Interface set to Dark color, after program restart some UI elements start to use Light UI mode.
Problem fixed in 23.4b7

Quick Color Editor is missing in quick right click menu in all filters and tools in all places
Problem fixed in 23.4b7

Custom assigned Page Up/Down keys don't work anymore
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

"Undo" and "Export to Clipboard" button icons ignore invert in dark UI mode
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

Gradient disappears if transform and then fix vector layer
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

A little bit confusing placement of "Show Formatting Marks" menu.
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

Request/Idea for Export Attributes panel: double click to open preset settings
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

Request/Idea for Export Attributes panel: always show selected preset name in drop menu field
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

Export Attributes panel use "Open" button in window dialog instead of "Export"
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

macOS Grey Mixer custom sliders in dark UI mode looks very different to original macOS sliders.
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

Buttons in Guides panel use some sort of "framed" look compare to "borderless" buttons in all other panel toolbars
Problem fixed in 23.4b8

[Herbert123]

The new export works better now:
- folder name in layer name is nice
- double-clicking the file extension to open the settings works great


Other observations regarding the export panel:

- if I add a folder name to the prefix PhotoLine hangs and I have to kill the process, for example: test/@2x

- it is a bit odd to have the + AND the diskette+ buttons do the exact same thing. To me the + is located where I would expect it to behave like an option to add another export preset. Why not replace the diskette+ icon with a + icon (this seems to be the standard in other software like Figma).

- when a page has no title it is exported as a file without a name. Instead, it would be preferable to use the page number: page02, page03, page04.

- I don't really understand what the CSS-Class export property does. It seems to generate a proprietary <class></class> tag, which doesn't exist in the official SVG list of elements. I would have expected it to add a class="classname01 classname02" attribute to the <g> element instead.

- similarly, the CSS-Style input field is problematic: when I add something like
#snail_body {stroke:#000066;fill:#00cc00;}
in this field PhotoLine hangs when I try to export an SVG element. (In this example I tried to create a ID selector for a named SVG element in the layer stack.)

What is the purpose of the CSS-Style input option if not to amend the code with our own CSS code, for example as prep for an animated SVG element?
And if it is meant to be used for this, it would be nice to be able to have a multi-line input field - something that could be pulled down to reveal additional lines of code, for example (not strictly necessary, but still nice).

- is it already possible to re-export to the same folder and overwrite any previously exported existing files? I do this all the time when updating assets in a project.

Thanks!

[Herbert123]

*potential crash bug*

Open the LensSilver.pld sample file (I drag and drop it in the empty PhotoLine window).

When I attempt to turn off pixel mode (ctrl-1) PhotoLine crashes after a moment.

Can anyone confirm this? The demo file is located in the PhotoLine/Samples folder.

[shijan]

- it is a bit odd to have the + AND the diskette+ buttons do the exact same thing. To me the + is located where I would expect it to behave like an option to add another export preset. Why not replace the diskette+ icon with a + icon (this seems to be the standard in other software like Figma).

Agree. It looks really strange to have 2 buttons in panel that look different but do the same thing. Guess it is better to keep buttons only in one place to avoid confusion.
Buttons in bottom toolbar looks cleaner. Larger icons are easier to press.
Buttons in top toolbar looks more logical and easier to understand for new users. But icons are extremely tiny and very uncomfortable to read. Looks not too pretty.


Also maybe it is possible to make somehow button icons larger in size and also use paired add/remove buttons there? Similar to Mini Adjustment Layers toolbar?

[shijan]

*potential crash bug*

Open the LensSilver.pld sample file (I drag and drop it in the empty PhotoLine window).

When I attempt to turn off pixel mode (ctrl-1) PhotoLine crashes after a moment.

Can anyone confirm this? The demo file is located in the PhotoLine/Samples folder.

I can reproduce same problem on macOS as well. Pixel Mode icon looks muted (dimmed) in toolbar when i open LensSilver.pld Also got a crash after some time. Could be due some legacy effects in example file?
No problem with newly created documents.

[Herbert123]

- it is a bit odd to have the + AND the diskette+ buttons do the exact same thing. To me the + is located where I would expect it to behave like an option to add another export preset. Why not replace the diskette+ icon with a + icon (this seems to be the standard in other software like Figma).

Agree. It looks really strange to have 2 buttons in panel that look different but do the same thing. Guess it is better to keep buttons only in one place to avoid confusion.
Buttons in bottom toolbar looks cleaner. Larger icons are easier to press.
Buttons in top toolbar looks more logical and easier to understand for new users. But icons are extremely tiny and very uncomfortable to read. Looks not too pretty.

Your button icons look great! The diskette icons are too noisy - too much detail, and insufficient contrast. They look like rectangular blobs on my non-retina 27" 2560x1440px screen.

[shijan]

Your button icons look great! The diskette icons are too noisy - too much detail, and insufficient contrast. They look like rectangular blobs on my non-retina 27" 2560x1440px screen.

Well you can just use my icons/cursors set if you like those icons. It was designed to make all things look nice, modern and visually logical By the way, i updated it few hours ago for 23.40b8 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0j8rup57vaar ... yBVUa?dl=0

I still believe that it is rather useless attempt to improve current original PhotoLine icons set, but Global situation with "Save" and "Save as..." icons is complicated and there is no any commonly used modern icon for it. Many apps still use use that stupid but well recognized Floppy Disk icon.
"Export" or "Share" icon is more modern and commonly recognized one. Guess 100% of current apps use variation of rectangle with arrow pointer on top. So i guess it could be OK if PL developers start to use modern "Export" icon instead of floppy disk variations that recognized only for "Save/Save as" actions. And keep existing Floppy Disk and folders for "Save/Save as/Open"

As you can see in my custom icons set i use "Save/Save as" icons that use rectangle with diagonal arrow to make it feel similar to "Export" icon logic. Same time for "Import/Open/Load" icons i use rectangle with arrow down to match global "app centric" logic, instead of "folder centric" logic when "Open" icon use folder with arrow that visually explain that something was opened/imported FROM folder (or saved TO floppy disk). Unfortunally there is no any common modern visual language for these basic and simple actions, so each app use some own variation of modern signs for this, or use legacy floppy disk and folder with arrow icons.

[shijan]

Starting form 23.40b7 i attempt to understand what means that new button in Undo panel toolbar "Record Actions Associated with Undo Steps". I even emailed to Martin Huber, and got answer: "This button will create actions based on he undo steps (if possible)." But to be honest i still can't understand the logic or meaning of this button. Is it have any real life purpose?

P.S. It just feels a little bit strange to see that so many work dedicated to all those new rather questionable Export panels and Record buttons, but same time no any news about some missing basic "classic" but more real life purposed tools like 16 bit brushes, 16 bit layer styles, or "Mean", "Median" layers stacking modes asked by so many users long long time ago...

[Herbert123]

P.S. It just feels a little bit strange to see that so many work dedicated to all those new rather questionable Export panels and Record buttons, but same time no any news about some missing basic "classic" but more real life purposed tools like 16 bit brushes, 16 bit layer styles, or "Mean", "Median" layers stacking modes asked by so many users long long time ago...

The new Export panel is a life-saver for me. Similar options are now standard in most other design and prototyping software, so personally I am really, REALLY happy to see those new export options. And it will save me quite a bit of time.

I do agree with you that it's never been a better time than now to continue to improve/add core functionality and features. There's been a lot of focus on GUI improvements (which you @shijan asked for and helped the brothers in implementing) and that's great, because the app really does look quite nice now (in particular with @shijan your icon set).

There are a number of core features that I'd like to see implemented next. Things can always be improved, but fair is fair: the Hubers have done a tremendous job in the past few years. I again and again encounter so many paper cuts in other image editors... PhotoLine is my main hub for image comping. Very happy and satisfied with it.

I do have a very old list of requests somewhere, which I should update. Will do that in the upcoming week (and I already noticed that MANY things have been resolved or added in the past two years, or so since I last updated it!).

PS Shijan: I used to mention (praise) PhotoLine quite often on different forums and other places on the www to bring about more awareness among users. Even got banned from a competitor's forum a few years ago because they thought I was a paid PhotoLine employee advertising a competitor!
In a sense they actually weren't entirely wrong. That's when I reigned myself in, because I'd become a bit of a PL zealot, which is not a good place to be in. So nowadays I mention PhotoLine in a more restrained and rational manner, with pros and cons. No software is perfect, nor should it strive to be. And users' needs and wants differ too much anyway depending on the context.

[shijan]

Well, OK i am happy if that Export panel is useful for some workflows.
By the way those @2x @3x scale use interpolation type that set in layer attributes. So by default it will use Lanczos. So if you don't want to oversharp exported images you need to select in every layer some other softer interpolation type like CatmulRom or Bicubic.


P.S. I am also happy with most UI improvements that developers done during last years.

Guess PhotoLine really needs some internet agent who may promote it on social networks and record short and simple "Hello YouTube" video tutorials every day to involve new users. More users - more ideas for development. Unfortunately сurrently it is still really tiny amount of info about PhotoLine when you Google search for it.

[russellcottrell]

Unfortunately сurrently it is still really tiny amount of info about PhotoLine when you Google search for it.

I might humbly point out that when I Google or Duck Duck Go “PhotoLine tutorial” I get this:
http://www.russellcottrell.com/photo/PhotoLine/

Also to point out, the File - Open dialog still does not work in Wine.

[shijan]

Unfortunately сurrently it is still really tiny amount of info about PhotoLine when you Google search for it.

I might humbly point out that when I Google or Duck Duck Go “PhotoLine tutorial” I get this:
http://www.russellcottrell.com/photo/PhotoLine/

Also to point out, the File - Open dialog still does not work in Wine.

Yes, there are few places with articles and this forum. I collect them all (i guess) here https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6301
But that's all. In scale of potential users amount in the industry this looks near invisible. It is still more like lucky accident if someone find PhotoLine and start to use it instead of other image editing apps, because it is so hidden. Not too many people or new users ready to read full sized step-by step manual from start. People like to see random videos with funny transitions and voice overs, remember and recognize the look of UI. it's like: Oh, look it's video about PhotoLine something popped up when i search for Photoshop or Affinity tutorial... How to flow a text on path, how to add a vector mask. WOW it can open PDF for real and edit it, real vector and raster app in same package. WOW that app have 26 years of history. Cool cool i like how it works, order now... And only then people start to dig into real more complicated tutorials...

But well, it is all up to developers. Maybe they are OK as is and just don't want to advertise and expand it too much.

[Gerhard Huber]

Also to point out, the File - Open dialog still does not work in Wine.

I see no problem. Can you explain?

[russellcottrell]

http://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.ph ... 396#p50396