A few feature suggestions

Sorry, I'm sure you are tired of people asking for things all the time, so I wasn't sure if I should post these or not, but I decided to put a few of these out there in case they were easy to implement.

These are mostly things that keep coming up as I work, rather than large new features.

1. The color picker. I can't say how many times I pick a color on the wheel and then paint, only to realize the value is much darker. Could the color wheel darken to reflect the actual color being picked?

2. A brush or option that will lock the brush at the angle that you start drawing a stroke with. This is similar to using A and Shift-A, but the rotation would remain free until you start a stroke. At that point, the angle stays locked until you lift the stroke. This would be very useful for brushes 7 and 8, to avoid the flipping that happens when you paint back and forth.

3. This would go well with 2,... a line that divides the brush circle showing the current angle of the brush. Similar to what is already displayed when you are using shift A.

That's it. I know you have big plans,... thanks for taking the time to read!

[Taron]

Uh, (3) is already taken care of in the upcoming version, hehe.
(2) sounds clever. I have to find a way to label that feature or somehow make a clear option for it, but I like it a lot! YES, SIR!
(1) hmmm...I've had it just like that in the beginning and it was really weird. If you went down with the brightness you'd soon no longer see colors on the wheel, which felt wrong somehow. But I just recently had a conversation with r0mer0 about just that and arrived at a potential solution with a kind of brightness "halo" around the picker. BUT the new version will have a very different color choice solution, too.

Well, you factored straight into the "big plans" with your suggestions, so they've been absolutely perfect! Don't hold back! (maybe just a little)

Cool! Thanks for looking.

(2) might fit in with the brush controls (size, and pressure toggles) It would just be a toggle for stroke angle lock. (can't think of a short name for this)

I'm so happy with Verve even as it is currently, can't wait to see where you take it.

[Taron]

yehehe, man... I really start thinking I'll need a novice and expert mode for it, haha! Otherwise this could get very overwhelming for any new user. But that's the challenge behind every good GUI, I guess. Doing the expert split may be a cheap way around it and I should avoid that for as long as I can. But then... I just like the idea.

However, your trouble with the brush direction flipping over as you wriggle back and forth is one that I tried addressing many times already, but because of how I have Verve function, there may not be any better solution than what you're suggesting there. I'll still try some stuff, though. Maybe I find a magic approach. Other apps are not as direct as Verve, you know, giving them time to check changes in directions casually. I'll have to go at it frantically and with some psychic powers, hahaha....

I really think it could work well. I've attached a picture from Photoshop showing a brush using direction, and then the same stroke using initial direction. The direction version has the exact same flipping issue that you are having. Actually, the flipping creates some nice randomness to strokes that sometimes is desired, so I think there is a place for both methods.

And a quick note about the GUI. I was initially unsure about it when I saw all the knobs and didn't understand what anything is or what it did. Once I spent the time to understand what things did, I now absolutely love the minimal design. For me it's all about speed of workflow, and right now the interface doesn't slow me down at all. Obviously adding a bunch of new features will start adding complexity, but you really get out of it what you put into it. (The user needs to have some responsibility to learn how things work)

[Taron]

PAHAHAHA... I wish you and me were not so darn unique! Hahaha... and- I believe- everyone who's with us regularly as well, we all seem to be somewhat exceptional, as many people don't bring any patience to the table and wish for magic to just happen without the investment of anything at all...not even a thought.

But I can't shake off the madness of modern society and the pace they accept into their self-enslaving existence, depriving them of access to their own greatness, really. I can try and I do, but there's only so much in my hands. I'm just happy you all are here, a place where we can explore something that may remain a mystery to great many people, while they do get to enjoy the fruits of our labors as artists.

In a way it's almost traditional, as oils, pigments, canvases and brushes had been around for thousands of years, while only few decided to dedicate more to the wonders they can produce with those things. I'll do my best to make Verve a bit more accessible, but at the end I'm totally with you. I dig a minimal but powerful interface.
However, the new stuff will require some careful planning and I'm on it.

...and ROFL on Photoshop screwing it up, too, hahaha...that's unexpected. Guess the major difference there is that it does that a lot slower, haha!

Ive been thinking about this for a while so ill throw my 2 cents in.
I don't even know if this feasible but…….
Is it possible to measure the change in direction in terms of tightness of the turn?
which is to say…..
if the change in direction occurs within a given arc threshold then the brush locks direction to avoid flipping behaviour.
As an example imagine simply painting a circle or spiral that gets smaller and smaller.
The brush follows direction until the circle reaches a certain relative pixel diameter at which point the brush locks direction automatically. Of course no one is drawing a perfect arc or straight line when the paint so I have no idea if this sort of fuzzy logic monitoring of a stroke or how you measure it is even feasible….but it sounds good in my little non programmer pea brain
lol!

oh come on…...
how hard can it beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

[Taron]

This is what I had done first, Stavros. But since pixels are all I get from mouse and/or tablet, it's never precise enough in that speed to get proper directional changes. Any tool that does that waits for a certain minimum gap of- say- 20 pixels or even more. After that you can judge a directional change more clearly enough to give a threshold that would decide for the brush to flip. I've tried that, too, and it's ugly as heck. You don't want that! Sooooo....we'll play with alternatives until I've found the magic trick.
Thanks for thinking along, though!
Just so you know, what I've done/tried thus far is: measure the degree of the current motion vector against the previous. if it goes beyond ("tested": 90, 135, 172, 180), set cursor to be flipped. Havoc, I tell you, Havoc. Use cursor speed to determine potential intention of the artist... interesting, but no cigar. Keep track of several steps of the past to measure against combined tendencies... neat, but no.
Verve works directly from vblank to vblank, thus it is as smooth as you know it. The price are certain extra challenges.

I'd love for you to try it and then tell me how hard it can be!

Just when I was feeling like a smarty pants !
Foiled again!
I figured you had analyzed the problem from every angle and my final solution was your first approach.
I like to imagine myself being more clever than I am occasionally....help to prop up my embattled ego......thanks for for indulging me
Lol!

But seriously Taron
If I can please ask you......
I always find myself saving verve file,settings and png and jpg individually....takes long time. How about a kind of checkbox list under save so you can just check off the types of files you wish to save and then click ok and all the files are saved in one action?
I assumed the save all feature would do that but it doesn't?