Hello, I toyed with pigoment a bit, here are the notes I took regarding the painpoints I encountered. Also some random ideas. I'm not splitting these all up into individual issues, since there's too many and many are small remarks.
(version: 0.7.0, windows 11) (some of them date from my tests with 0.5.0. I have tried to re-test most things, but there may be already-fixed leftovers. )
- ux pain: should use native window header, not a made-up one that is not on par with native feature wise (can't un-maximize window, no way to drag the top-bar to move the window out of maximized mode, dragging the window at top of screen won't trigger window's window arranging thingy, when maximized the close button doesn't touch the corner of the screen whichs means that to close the window you can't just fling the cursor up and right, you have to aim for the small button, etc.)
- feature request: add fill layers, and add one by default in new documents. A fill layer is just a colored layer with no pixels, just a flat opaque color, that spans the entire document. It's convenient because in a drawing program you don't want the transparency checkerboard in the background by default.- ux idea: in editable sliders right now we *have* to double-click to edit specific value. Could allow right-clicking
- ux pain: when editing the value of an editable slider, clicking outside does not leave edit mode like I expected, instead it stays in edit mode .
- same for renaming layers, and probably every line-edit in there. It should lose focus when clicking outside. As to wether the value should be applied or discarded when doing so, it's a choice to make. I would say keep it, makes more sense in that context.
- idea: for sliders again: could imagine shift + drag to small edits.
- there's no button to clear the current layer
- allow deleting the last existing layer, and automatically create an empty layer when doing so. When a program behaves like currently (refusing to do anything), I find it frustrating.
- the current transparency checker is unusually colored I don't find it pleasant to look at (too dark and too much contrast)
- gradients can't be started outside of the canvas. But they can be ended outside (by dragging the mouse outside the canvas).
- feature: recent colors list. Grid of swatches for last used colors.
- nice-to-have, for the future: exponential brush size steps. In Clip Studio, pressing the "increase brush size" shortcut makes the brush size go through a list of preset brush sizes that scale faster in bigger values: you don't want a fixed step, because it becomes meaningless at larger sizes: 125 -> 126 -> 127... in CSP it goes like this, more or less: 0.7 -> 1 -> 1.5 -> ... -> 12 -> 15 -> 17 -> 20 -> 25 -> 30 -> 40 -> ... -> 150 -> 170 -> 200 -> 250 -> 300 -> 400 -> etc.
- nice-to-have: give down-arrow icon to merge-down option in layer right-click menu, to spot it immediately
- ux: the default on-startup behaviour should be create a blank file. "do nothing" as a default is really bad for new users that want to try things out: I tried painting in the void, the "add layer" button is not disabled, etc.
- ux (less urgent): allow tweaking a pen pressure curve. This is important as it allows reaching high-pressures without using one's pen and wrist too much. (note: I haven't even tested it with a pen tabled, putting that here because if there's pen support there should be a pressure preference curve)
- ux: in settings, make it clear that selecting the header actually aggregates all of the subsection's settings, e.g. by putting a header that reads: "--- All XYZ Settings ---"
- ux: in settings, section contents are horizontally aligned with the section titles (e.g. if you click in `Hotkey/File`, the "File" title is on the same column as its content). Adding indetation to contents and giving the contents an e.g. darker background would help see the separation better.
- ux: the "Hotkeys" section being the first one in the settings is weird imo. It usually even is a separate settings menu, just for the shortcuts: godot's editor settings has a `General` tab and a `Shortcuts` one, etc.
- ux: in settings, pen tablet and such could be in their own "Input" section.
- ux: in settings, could alternate row colors to help read long lists, in particular in the aggregated shortcuts section.
- ux: in settings, you can filter the settings, but why is there a search button? it doesn't seem to serve any purpose.