2012/5/21 Timothée Giet <[email protected]>
> Actually I change my mind too, I do agree with Konstantin.
> Also I don't know in other (proprietary) softwares, but at least in Krita,
> layer groups act exactly the same
> (meaning a filter layer has effect only on layers below in the group, same
> for alpha lock etc… )
> so it is consistent to call them groups in my point of view.
>
:) Let me dig it more.
I did some research last week,
firstly I took famous vector based graphics softwares: Illustrator,
Inkscape, and toonboom animatepro.
== Illustrator & Inkscape ==
There is not group layer concept in Illustrator, Inkscape. in these two
software, if you group two or more objects, these objects(if they are
separated in different layers) will be moved into a certain layer.
== Toonboom AnimatePro==
There are two group actions:
1) group : to group primitive objects which are in the SAME layer only.
2) group layers : to group layers.
"group layers" is quite similar to our "Layer Group Assuming", but there is
a "ungroup grouped layers", with it you can ungroup layers without any
effect on your artwork content. So it behaves more or less same to synfig's
current Group concept.
Then, bitmap graphics software, Gimp and Photoshop were token
==Gimp & Photoshop==
There is group layer concept in the both software, and they are almost the
same, you can have alpha, blend mode for group layers for example. And
there is not group concept in object level, you can not group two objects
in a layer for example.
==Synfig Studio==
1)The layer is primitive,
2) No group layer concept but an encapsulate layer can take over "Group"
3) Encapsulate is more than group layer in other software
4) There is a group panel that can do similar job than group action in
vector based software.
In all graphics softwares mentioned above, no matter it is vector based or
bitmap based, their layer is totally different than Synfig, or we can say
their layers is more advanced than Synfig layer. In these software, one
layer can contain multiple objects. But in Synfig, an object is a layer, so
we can have the following map:
Other Vector Software vs Synfig Studio
Objects == Layers
Layers == Encapsulate Layers
Groups == Groups
Other Bitmap Software vs Synfig Studio
Objects == Layers
Layers == Encapsulate Layers
Group Layers == Multilevel Encapsulate Layers
As we discussed before, Encapsulate Layer is more than "Group Layer" in
other softwares. Let me quote words from wiki: "A canvas is simply an
ordered list of layers", "When you encapsulate a group of layers, you are
making a new Canvas"[1].
A typical Synfig document (sif, sifz) is consist of a root canvas and
sub-canvases(inline & exported). And those sub-canvases are existing as
Encapsulate layers currently.
I can not come to a conclusion that if renaming Encapsulate to Group or
not. The main intending of this researching is to have a more detail
references, and hopefully it helps us on this renaming disscussion.
>From my opinion, since in Synfig, the layer is a big different than others,
and the canvas and sub-canvases (exported canvases) are so important in
synfig animation world, for a user, it is valueable for a user taking his
time to get this different concepts at the very begining.
We have to keep in mind that layers is abused somehow in current version,
we can take a look at those sifz files posted in our forums by artists,
maybe, just maybe, one day after we have to consider how to improve this
situation, if I remember correctly, there is a topic regarding this.
Having these in mind, there is a new idea(just an idea) bring up: we can
rename Encapsulate Layer to Sub-Canvas Layer, and the Encapsulate tool in
layer panel can be renamed to Capsulate or Group or Pack, that says, if you
capsualte or group or pack layers, at the same time those layers will be
placed in a new sub-canvas. It helps user to catch the concept of
Encapsulate Layer, a canvas / sub-canvas is an island similar to group in
other graphic softwares somehow, and it indentifies it is a canvas, it can
be inline or exported.
With this, we can implement/change layer creation behavior to close the
most graphics software in the word: new file will always come with a new
sub-canvas layer, by default, all new primitive layers (objects) you
created will be placed in this new sub-canvas untill you create a second
sub-canvas layer. In this way, we don't need to change the system
architecture of synfig.
And please don't make me wrong, I can accept renaming encapsulate to group,
in fact, wfor the first time, I fired up Synfig Studio and tried to find a
group button on layer panel, clicked the "brownish pack" icon, I expected
there would be a layer named "Group 01" appear in layer panel.
[1] http://wiki.synfig.org/wiki/Canvas
> So my final choices are:
>
> -"Encapsulate" : "Group"
>
> -"Group": "Set"
>
> -"Bline": "Spline" (but I agree that Bline did the job, just it's not a
> "real word" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_Line) )
>
>
> True the changes must be done quick and all-at-the-same time.
> Also a big warning notice on the website frontpage, the forums, etc… to
> warn everyone.
>
> Konstantin's plan sounds good. I can take a part of the doc to fix.
>
I can take some tasks too, but I can't promise too much since my poor
english :)
Cheers!
~yu
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