Neue Testversion 23.90b9

[Herbert123]

Bug: dragging objects while holding down SHIFT to restrict movement axis breaks

When an object is dragged along the vertical or horizontal axis with the SHIFT modifier key pressed down, the object will not stick to that axis and jump around when moving closer to the original position.

I turned off all helpers, but even in that case the behaviour is still erratic.

[Herbert123]

I welcome the long-awaited Comps feature: great!

A few comments:
- instead of radio buttons, why not use the standard eye icon? The radio button goes against PhotoLine's GUI standards. The eye icon makes the most sense here in my opinion. And the radio buttons are too small to comfortable work with. I keep missing them, even with the mouse (let alone with the Wacom)

- renaming of states is not yet possible.

- duplicating states is not yet possible (essential to have! Please don't forget to add this!)

- the user should be able to drag Comp entries to change the order.

- would be useful to have a checkbox option where any change is automatically saved in the selected snapshot.

- with many comps the list would grow too long. And with things like translations or different versions it becomes important to be able to group comp entries. A grouping/folder structure should be possible: this would also enable multiple comp states to be combined by activating the group.

(PS same problem with guides, text styles, brush list, texture list, pattern list, ANY list panel EXCEPT the Actions: there is no way to group things in categories.)

And the real kicker would be:
- would be super useful to have an option to save changes in a snapshot rather than just states of existing layers - like a versioning system. So a snapshot that tracks what was added and changed, deletions, etc. Saving states of versions in the file would be revolutionary and expand the scope and usefullness of the comps to the next level!

[Martin Stricker]

Das ist genau der Sinn der Aktion: Einen Punkt nur horizontal zu verschieben.
Mit der gleichen Argumentation kannst du auch die bisherigen beiden Regler in Frage stellen.

Ich finde bei den Angfangs- und Endpunkten machen die Regler eher Sinn, weil sie schwieriger zu fassen sind als die Punkte innerhalb der Kurve. Ebenso ist die horizontale Verschiebung eher sinnvoll, weil man an den Anfangs und Endpunkten meist Schwarz und Weißpunkt setzen möchte. Punkte innerhalb der Kurve werden jedoch meistens (nicht immer) vertikal Verschoben um Kontraste anzuheben oder abzuschwächen oder aufzuhellen, abzudunkeln.

[Martin Huber]

Wouldn't it be preferable to restrict the movement axis by pressing down the SHIFT modifier key? It worked for the vertical axis before.

IMHO that doesn't work reasonably. Mouse and moreover tablet movement is never accurate. If we were using Shift for both directions, we need a fairly large minimum movement to determine the direction in which the point should be moved. And this minimum movement is too large for precise curve editing most of the time.

The question then arises: if you add horizontal sliders for every single curve control point, why stop there and not add vertical control sliders as well on the left or right side of the curve view? Why add sliders to restrict horizontal movement, while NOT adding the same sliders for restricting the vertical axis?

Personally, I don't need these sliders at all. Some users wanted them because other applications have them, too.
If we were to add a vertical slider, it would annoy users who don't want the horizontal slider even more, without the argument that others also do that.

Martin

[Martin Huber]

Bug: dragging objects while holding down SHIFT to restrict movement axis breaks

When an object is dragged along the vertical or horizontal axis with the SHIFT modifier key pressed down, the object will not stick to that axis and jump around when moving closer to the original position.

Currently, the restriction inflicted by Shift is calculated dynamically wile moving: With shift pressed, you can switch between horizontal, vertical and diagonal in a single drag operation. But this makes the movement erratic near the start of the drag operation.
Maybe it is better to determine the basic direction once and then use it during the whole drag operation.

I turned off all helpers, but even in that case the behaviour is still erratic.

Shift isn't affected by (automatic) guides.

Martin

[shijan]

Yes, old "Shift+drag" method was better. Once you set direction - it moves only in that direction.

[Hoogo]

...Maybe it is better to determine the basic direction once and then use it during the whole drag operation...

It isn't a problem when you're far away from the starting point. I guess it's more handy to keep the current behaviour at larger distances. Maybe keep the current direction when you come close to the starting point again?

[Martin Huber]

- instead of radio buttons, why not use the standard eye icon?

Because it behaves like a radio button and is a radio button. And consistency is important

The radio button goes against PhotoLine's GUI standards. The eye icon makes the most sense here in my opinion. And the radio buttons are too small to comfortable work with. I keep missing them, even with the mouse (let alone with the Wacom)

With a tablet pen, size might be a problem. I can allow activation by clicking on the text, but then users might accidentally activate a compsition.

- renaming of states is not yet possible.

Yes, that's currently missing.

- duplicating states is not yet possible (essential to have! Please don't forget to add this!)

You can simply duplicate the active composition by creating a new one.

- the user should be able to drag Comp entries to change the order.

This might be useful
- would be useful to have a checkbox option where any change is automatically saved in the selected snapshot.[/quote]
This would be a lot of work, so this is quite unlikely to happen.

- with many comps the list would grow too long. And with things like translations or different versions it becomes important to be able to group comp entries. A grouping/folder structure should be possible: this would also enable multiple comp states to be combined by activating the group.

You can't combine multiple comp state, because a layer composition is a complete document state, and applying one composition undoes the previous one.

(PS same problem with guides, text styles, brush list, texture list, pattern list, ANY list panel EXCEPT the Actions: there is no way to group things in categories.)

Yes, groups can be useful, but I haven't found time for that yet.

And the real kicker would be:
- would be super useful to have an option to save changes in a snapshot rather than just states of existing layers - like a versioning system. So a snapshot that tracks what was added and changed, deletions, etc. Saving states of versions in the file would be revolutionary and expand the scope and usefullness of the comps to the next level!

This is a different topic.

Martin

[shijan]

I noticed one not too logical situation, but guess it is impossible to fix or change it because it will break earlier created PLD projects But anyway, it may be useful to know:

If i add Adjustment Filter to Group - it affect layers inside group as well as bottom layers outside group.

If i add Adjustment Filter to Group and check "Draw Isolated" - it affect only layers inside group.

---

But if i use Clip Mask layer, it use different logic:

If i add Clip Mask to Group - it affect only layers inside group.

If i add Clip Mask to Group and check "Draw Isolated" - it also affect only layers inside group.


P.S. Despite all new fancy options, improvements and UI things i still believe that is a is way more important first of all fix global problem with 8-bit only Brushes and Mask Clipping Soft Edges (Layer Styles & 3D Light Effects could be secondary important). Currently this is a real technical limitation in PhotoLine.
Quality banding-free painting and masking tools are very important.

[PhilM]

It should be basically the same as in Ps.

Creating a new composition saves the current document state:
- document colors
- text styles
- visibility, intensity and mix (blend) mode of layers
- layer styles
- transformation of layers

The radio button in the list marks the active composition.
Selecting a composition other than "Current State", will save the current state.
If a composition other than "Current State" is active, and the document is modified, "Current state" will dismiss its saved data and the modified document will be the new current state.

It's not yet 100% perfect. There might be situations that the wrong composition is marked in the list or other problems might occur. But basically, it should work.

Martin

After some testing ...

The scope of the solution is OK to me.
It still needs "polishing".

Radio buttons are OK as only one composition can be active at a time.
The buttons are to small to allow quick changes.
I tried up/down arrows ; it moves the compo highlight. But the panel looses focus. No more commands are received.
There should be a couple of keyboard shortcut to toggle around the compositions to visualize the image comparison.

Adding an option to lock a composition (to avoid accidental changes) would be nice.

The solution is not self-explanatory, help text is needed.

Great job !
Thanks a lot.

Philippe