2 cents: I don't think animation should go into the master branch of MyPaint, for basically the same reason that GIMP-GAP isn't part of gimp: Mypaint is a painting package, not an animation package. I kind of feel that painting (as opposed to drawing) and animation are probably about as far away from each other as you can get in the arts world (I mean, sculpture<->animation: claymation, 3D<->animation:obvious, photography<->animation: film). Painting is all about putting a lot of effort into a single scene (although MyPaint is obviously useful as a sketching program as well). The open source world is has an almost empty niche in the painting area, and MyPaint fills it nicely.
If every feature that looks cool to start with gets into MyPaint after a couple of months testing, MyPaint will soon be filled with hundreds of "features" that are more or less useless clutter to the majority of users, and that will quickly turn users off. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of MyPaint animation, and I think it does fill another (related) empty niche (sketchbook animation), but i feel like it would be better off as either a separate branch, or even a sister project. That said, it wouldn't bother me to include the flip book mode into the master branch for a while, especially in minor versions, just as a way of getting more users testing it (similar to the way inkscape used to include inkboard), but I think it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to include it in major releases. Just an opinion, of course :) ned On 21/03/10 09:50, Martin Renold wrote: > hi Charbel > > I had a quick look at your gitorious branch. > > >> 13dbc6b animation features for mypaint >> > Getting closer to being ready for the master branch. It's okay with me to > add a preference (allthough I would like to avoid them), since adding an > expander would take away just as much space. > > But the preference didn't quite work for me. It starts with animation > features enabled instead of disabled, and the first toggling does nothing. > > I only had a quick glance over the changes but I guess it should be OK to > push into mainline after the preference is fixed. > > >> 8a20445 smooth reloading and persistent view settings option >> 1d58999 import/export of pencil document format. >> > Viewport reloading is an interesting feature. Not sure if it is always > wanted, but mostly it is, I guess. Also interesting for doing multiple > pages on the same canvas. Json python binding don't work for me, will have > to retry later. Saving a dict with json looks very slick, might be enough > to justify a new dependency. Of course, packagers will hate us ;-) > > I have not checked the pencil format patch yet, but if it "just works (TM)" > for most usecases it should be fine to add it. Maybe it can even be hidden > as a format option when animation is disabled. > > >> 893d82f playing with straight lines pressure. >> > Doing that does more harm than good as you probably noticed :-) > > On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 10:17:11PM +0100, Charbel Jacquin wrote: > >>> With this we would even have space for stuff like a play button, because >>> it doesn't affect normal use of the layer dialog. >>> >> I'm not certain adding a play button would be necessary. I think using >> PgUp/PgDown gives us already a perfect flipbook feeling, without the added >> complexity of a real sequencer. >> > Okay, even better if we can avoid that. I was not thinking about it enough; > we would have several GUI problems to solve with a play button. > > >> What I had in mind instead was to use pencil for proper sequencing. I have a >> preliminary patch allowing mypaint to load/save (partial) pencil documents. >> > Sounds like a plan :-) > > >>> - It is a bit strange that "onion mode" does almost the same thing as >>> "layer solo" by default. Should the two concepts be combined or not? >>> >> Yes, its seems pretty close, but I wanted to keep my patch orthogonal with >> other mypaint's features. >> > Okay. > > >> The next step I have in mind for the LayersList, is, when in animation mode: >> >> - change the eye icon to a 'film negative' icon for animated layers >> - keep the eye icon for sticky (or still) layers. >> - having click cycle throught the three states: animated, sticky visible, >> sticky invisible. >> - having PgUp/PageDown and onion visibility cycling only on animated layers. >> >> Sticky visible layers would be for animation background, sticky invisible >> layers would host animation and perspective guides. >> > I think it should be okay to include this in MyPaint too, if it works well. > Three-state layer visibility will cause some pain. Please think through the > alternatives well; if it is the best option it should be okay I guess. > > >> IMO, this is the best we can do for animation without adding proper layer >> groups. >> > We definitively should not go further with animation features in MyPaint; > let's only do the most basic functions, but as solid as possible. > > -- Jabber/googletalk: naught...@jabber.org Skype: naught101 msn: naught...@hotmail.com ICQ: 93344350 phone: 0417 484 735 -- http://eco101.wordpress.com http://www.envirowiki.info/ - the envrionmental wiki that YOU can edit! "This is the first age that's ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one." - Arthur C. Clarke -- _______________________________________________ Mypaint-discuss mailing list Mypaint-discuss@gna.org https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/mypaint-discuss
