Mask and Paint Brush Cursor

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Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Mask and Paint Brush Cursor

Post by Marpel »

Mask (Paint and Flood Fill) - Why is the cursor an angled arrow, until a click is made, at which time a "+" with a circle (hole) at the centre briefly shows then disappears? I guess my question is why does the cursor not remain the "+" and circle. For small, exacting mask placements (well zoomed in), it seems the "+" with the "open" circle would be more useful for exact placement of the cursor. I ask this because I was zoomed in quite a bit, trying to place an exact mask and noticed the cursor kept jumping back and forth.

Paint - Along the same lines, why does the cursor have to be the angled arrow and a "+" with a circle (designating the radius of the brush)? Why does the arrow have to be visible at all? Funny enough, if one clicks on a location and does not move the cursor, a paint spot is placed and the "+" and circle disappear leaving just the arrow, until the cursor is nudged a bit.

Just curious.

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Mask and Paint Brush Cursor

Post by jsachs »

I have cleaned this up for the next release.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Mask and Paint Brush Cursor

Post by Marpel »

Latest Version.

Not sure if this issue was fully addressed.

Paint - Cursor starts as a round circle (size of brush) with a "+" crosshair, and angled arrow. When clicked, the arrow disappears, but returns when the click is lifted. The circle and "+" work fine. Why is arrow necessary at all?

Mask - Freehand Outline (not sure of other tools) - If hovering and no click, angled arrow visible. When clicked, large-ish "+" with "hole" in middle, briefly appears, then immediately disappears and arrow returns, even while completing the mask.

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Mask and Paint Brush Cursor

Post by jsachs »

In the Paint tool, the reason for displaying the arrow as well as the circle is that, for certain images, it could be extremely difficult to locate the cursor if it was just the circle. The more random the texture of the image, the more the circle disappears since it is drawn XORing the image. The arrow on the other hand is drawn over the image and should always be more or less visible.

I have taken a look at all the Mask tools and tried to make the use of the cross vs arrow cursor more consistent for the next release.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Mask and Paint Brush Cursor

Post by Marpel »

Jonathan,

Thanks for the explanation.

Funny enough, last night I happened to be using a paint tool in another program and, due to the background, repeatedly encountered the "disappearing" circle. However, the program had the ability to briefly press the space bar to temporarily change the tool to a hand, which made it easier to locate the tool again.

I wonder if a similar thing could be introduced to all the PWP tools which use a circle (and cross), where pressing a particular key, would temporarily change the tool to an arrow, and as soon as the user locates the tool and releases the key, the tool reverts to it's circle/cross form.

Marv
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