GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 135746
Stroke [Path|Selection] should use default values
Last modified: 2006-06-09 09:20:06 UTC
Read the tutorial http://gug.sunsite.dk/tutorials/koudys1/ which explains how to draw a cartoon using Gimp. Now with the new paths interface, there's no way to replace existing path with a new one, we should destroy it or create a new one. Once this problem is solved, the stroke options dialog gets on our way. For each path, the stroke options dialog pops up, then it's a pain to finish the cartoon. There is probably a place for a "Stroke Options Dialog" which could be used as a tab, and "Stroke [path|Selection]" would just used the values setting there without popping up the dialog for each stroke Eric.
Huh? The stroke dialog remembers the last used values. Also, you can merge paths before stroking them, so I would say this is not an issue.
It seems that you missed the point. As I understand it, Eric would like to be able to stroke with the last values, without the dialog coming up. A Stroke equivalent of Ctrl-F for plug-ins. And that seems like a reasonable thing to ask for, but I think that new menu entries shouldn't be added right now. We should do this soon after 2.0 branches, I think. Cheers, Dave.
Confirming and setting appropriate milestone & severity. Dave.
And I think this is redundant and would only clutter the menus. Should IMO be closed as WONTFIX.
It's redundant if it's not a very common operation, so the cost of having a dialog come up & hitting "enter" isn't a pain. So - to the original reporter - is this something that you do a lot? Is hitting Enter when the dialog comes up an acceptable workaround for you? Cheers, Dave.
It's probably easier to merge the paths before stroking them. Or we could consider to allow to stroke all linked paths in one operation.
Stroking 2 paths and stroking the merged path are different operations (try stroking at 50% opacity to see why). Stroking a number of paths at the same time would be cool. How does this unclutter the interface, though? Seems to me it still needs a menu entry or button somewhere. Cheers, Dave.
A checkbox "[x] Stroke Linked Paths" in the Stroke dialog shouldn't hurt much.
We should keep in mind that GIMP 1.2 did not pop up an additional dialog for Edit->Stroke. So it could easily be bound to any shortcut in order to speed up some operations. If you see it from that point of view, the inability to skip the dialog in GIMP 2.0 could be considered as a regression because it breaks the workflow. I am not sure that I would really use such a shortcut myself, but I consider this to be a valid request anyway.
There is always pros and cons. Since the dialog gives a lot of additional functionality and because it's just a single keypress to approve it, I don't think this is worth the extra menu entry. In the long run we should consider to have a container of strokes that can be applied. Instead of looking for the right stroke settings, the user could choose a stroke from a list of predefined ones. Of course there needs to be a way to add new stroke settings to that list. As soon as we have such a framework, we could make the menu entry stroke with the currently active stroke and not have it popup a dialog.
In fact, the new stroke options dialog is very handy when you work on complicated paths, something that roughly be imported from SVG or complete shape designed like this. But Raphaël get the point: there is no pop up in Gimp 1.2. The cartoon that I did (and some other think of that as there is a tutorial) aren't completekly design in one path. How I operate in Gimp 1.2: Put node 1 from shape part #1 (create the new path) Put node 2 from shape part #1 Stroke Put node 1 from shape part #2 (clear current path) Put node 2 from shape part #2 Stroke .... The aim is not to obtain a complete path for the shape but the shape stroke as a black line. If it comes to do the complete shape as path, maybe it's easier to use autotrace or sketch or sodipodi. How it becomes in Gimp 2.0: Put node 1 from shape part #1 (create a new path) Put node 2 from shape part #1 Stroke path Valid Dialog values Delete path Put node 1 from shape part #2 (create a new path) Put node 2 from shape part #2 Stroke path Valid Dialog values Delete path The Delete path operation is there because it's easier to control tangents from next shape part once the previous parts are unlinked.
To Sven and Raphael: Whether a shortcut is worth it or not to speed up workflow really depends on how people use the tool. For example, a shortcut "re-apply the last used tool in exactly the same way on the active drawable" would be useless for most tools, but might be useful for levels, curves and the other colours tools. (not that I'm suggesting adding it, just pointing out that sometimes the shortcutted function isn't used frequently enough to merit the effort). That's why I said "it's redundant if it's not a very common operation", and asked whether the reporter wanted to do this a lot. To Eric: Why aren't you using new strokes, rather than deleting the old ones? You can have an arbitrary number of strokes (see the paths dock) - just start a new stroke, your old one disappears, and you can keep it around in memory. Dave.
Dave, by new stroke you would say path, huh? OK, I could create a new path for each outline part (note that what I originally want is the black outline of the sketch - if I have a set of path to do it, why not...) but the daemon stroke options always popping out: I do not know what kind of work do that, but I'm not that expert! :) I eventually change some stroke settings (witdh) but once set, I use always the same. Moreover, my experiments with the stroke options dialog is that it is global: all image instances use the same values. Why not a tab? (OK bed time now :))
As I said in private to David, here's my point of view: I'm not an artist, just using what described in the tutorial several time (before I found there is a tutorial) This allows to draw cartoons/outline very quickly. With the advice below, I will have a complete vectorized cartoon provided that I merge all little paths created for stroke. Advantages: merge path, export to SVG, improve it eventually in another application or render it in a different size Drawback: if that was what I really want, I probably use the vector tool first :) As release 2.0 will occurs soon, dialog will surely stays there, but tutorials may probably explain keyboard shortcut to create new path. For the tab idea, it depends of future devs: for now, stroke options are global, but what if they become attached to a specified image or a specified path.
Yep, stroke layers are indeed planned. A stroke layer would be a combination of a path and stroke options. Both the path and the stroke options would stay editable. Do we have an enhancement request for this already?
I could not find any enhancement request for stroke layers, so I created a new one: bug #136322. I also included links to potentially related bug reports. We can now get back to the original topic of this bug report...
Let's close it as WONTFIX then.
Fixed in CVS: 2004-10-21 Michael Natterer <mitch@gimp.org> * app/actions/select-actions.c * app/actions/select-commands.[ch] * app/actions/vectors-actions.c * app/actions/vectors-commands.[ch]: added actions and callbacks to stroke with the last values used without showing the stroke dialog. The actions have no menu entries but can be called via shortcuts. Fixes bug #135746. (Disclaimer: the uglyness of the callbacks shows the need for a stroke API overhaul).