Brush tool improvements

[StickmanRed]

Features

• Improved brush settings UI in Inspector
• Brush shape options
• Brush spacing and resolution sliders
• Randomized brush offset and rotation options

[InternetAstronaut]

LGTM

[BaronAWC]

First of all I wanna say this is awesome, thanks for putting in all this effort. It works well but I wanna see if we can improve the experience. It's a long and scary list but I think these are all important to address.

Clarity

• "Reso" (resolution) doesn't really make sense as a name from the user's perspective. As devs we know why it's resolution, but it would be nice if resolution was renamed to something that everyone can understand. My suggestion would be "quality".
• Spread should not have a button to toggle a slider between 0.01 and the max, it should just be a slider between 0 and the max. Also, it's called "scatter" in one place and "spread" in another, so let's make sure that the name is standardized.
• We should consider removing some of the preset shapes and/or putting them in a dropdown. While they're nice to have, it creates the illusion of so many buttons that it's overwhelming. The plus sign also makes me think that it's a button to add a new brush shape, which is not how it works. I think that, at minimum, we should remove the rough, scatter, and plus. The dropdown is so that we can hide away all the buttons when we don't really need them.
• The "delete brush" button should be grayed out and non-interactive if there is only one brush.
• There are a bunch of buttons that should be moved or removed.
  • In the brush selector, the "add brush" and "upload brush" buttons should be related. This could mean putting them in a dropdown where all the other brushes are, or 2 large buttons where "edit brush" is now.
  • Also in the brush selector, "edit brush" and "delete brush" should be similar. In my opinion it's weird that the edit button is big while the delete button is small. They should probably go together at the bottom.
  • The way that "delete brush" and "delete shape" are both trash can buttons in the same location is really confusing. The previous checkbox already has my suggestion for delete brush. For delete shape, it really shouldn't be in the same row of buttons as everything else since it serves a completely different function. I don't know where exactly it should go... but not where it is now.
  • When editing a brush, the pressure, relative size, and mode buttons should not be there. They are accessible when outside of the brush editor because they can change at any time without "altering the fundamental brush". Therefore, the brush editor should not show these, as it's only for the "important" settings.

Customizability

• Some shapes like the thin rectangle rotate to follow the cursor as it moves, but other brushes like the square don't. This makes me think that the rotation thing is defined in the brush shape, which doesn't make sense. I think there should be 3 rotation options: set offset angle (default is zero), follow mouse (with offset angle), and randomize angle.

Visual Improvements

• When dragging the sliders, the preview flickers quite a bit, which is distracting. Hopefully there's a way to remove the flickering?
• I found some inconsistencies in the shapes. The sparkle in the preview is in an "X" shape, but it's in a "+" shape everywhere else. The moon looks different in all 3 places: on the canvas it's closest to a "C" shape, on the button it's not as sharp, and in the preview it's cut weirdly.
• When using a big brush size, the brush path before releasing the mouse is pretty low resolution. Is it possible to increase the resolution so that it looks nicer?
• The triangle shape is not equilateral... I don't know, that kinda bugs me. (If we fix this, make the centroid/center of mass the middle of the shape if that's even possible)

Safeguards

• We should have preset brushes that cannot be significantly modified or deleted. For the standard brush, the only customizable settings should what we offer in the current version of Candlestick, plus maybe the resolution/smoothing.
• It's a little dangerous to be able to delete some of the fundamental shapes, especially the circle. I toyed with deleting stuff and I had to clear my cookies to bring back the default shapes. I'd say that the default shapes should not be allowed to be deleted, or at bare minimum the circle.
• There should be a cancel button to exit the brush config without saving it.

[Alani25]

"Reso" (resolution) doesn't really make sense as a name from the user's perspective. As devs we know why it's resolution, but it would be nice if resolution was renamed to something that everyone can understand. My suggestion would be "quality".

I was aiming for a shorter name to not have it cut off and reso sounded catchy lol
that said yeh quality is definitely more descriptive

Spread should not have a button to toggle a slider between 0.01 and the max

It started as a button, later turned to a slider, then I increased lower limit to 0.01 because having it at 0 bugged something— that said it makes a lot more sense to have it be just a slider correct yeh and I'll just turn it off if it's 0.

Also, it's called "scatter" in one place and "spread" in another

You're right! Idk how I missed that ahh few weeks back I called it scatter later in the code I just decided to call it spread when I made the slider 😓

We should consider removing some of the preset shapes and/or putting them in a dropdown.

A dropdown is possible but an easier option I was actually considering is horizontal scroll 🤔

When editing a brush, the pressure, relative size, and mode buttons should not be there. They are accessible when outside of the brush editor because they can change at any time without "altering the fundamental brush". Therefore, the brush editor should not show these, as it's only for the "important" settings.

Good point here this I can do
Also, in regards to all the points with the trash can button… might be a good idea to have a mini "x" that appears when hovering over the brush presets/ shape options…

3 rotation options: set offset angle (default is zero), follow mouse (with offset angle), and randomize angle.

Agree with you there

When dragging the sliders, the preview flickers quite a bit, which is distracting
I noticed… kinda a given since we're updating an image element and re-rendering. I've thought of that and a way to stop it— was just too lazy to work on it but should be doable

When using a big brush size, the brush path before releasing the mouse is pretty low resolution. Is it possible to increase the resolution so that it looks nicer?
I'll say "no" to that for now… but will see what i can do there

We should have preset brushes that cannot be significantly modified or deleted
I can agree with that that said we'd need to have some indicator there or just Idk— that said an "adobe brush" has been demanded and would be great to have as a preset option

There should be a cancel button to exit the brush config without saving it.
Perhaps adding a "<-" button up there next to the name parameter, then replacing the save brush button with a "reset settings" 🤔