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I like Krita's development ethos, but I really can't use the product at all. If I want software that doesn't respect my intentions, but provides the kitchen sin

I like Krita's development ethos, but I really can't use the product at all. If I want software that doesn't respect my intentions, but provides the kitchen sink for functionality, I can find that better represented and supported in Adobe, Paint.Net, Paint Tool Sai; and those are just the raster comparisons. I honestly can't wait until design tools figure out what year it is and start developing blue-sky versions that work with multiple devices and accounts, simultaneously, to provide honed experiences for specific project work. I can't say I blame the lack of corporate sponsors, because I wouldn't - as an organization - find utility in the product. That said, it's still a shame! Seems like there would be someone out there with similar interests. I hope this post, or whatever else, helps evangelize this as a problem!

actionfromafar 3y ago
How would a new solution respect your intentions?
- catapart 3y ago
  It would implement features specific to and invaluable for whatever I'm intending to work on, in such a way that I would feel like trying to do it any other way would be wasting my own time. For an example, Clip Studio Paint - a tool unabashedly designed for and advertised to comic artists - has a design concept of a 'comic panel'. This lets you drag out a panel, instead of an arbitrary shape that you will use AS a panel. The panel, also an arbitrary shape, comes with functionality like "bleed" which allows you to continue drawing outside of the panel, but will truncate that content when you de-select the panel. It includes concepts like "path rendered borders" so that you can do weird stuff with borders that you wouldn't want to do with an arbitrary shape (like have characters break through them). So, you end up with a nice little feature that can ABSOLUTELY be recreated in other programs. Nothing in that "panel" feature couldn't be done with a series of steps and possibly some macros in other applications. The problem is, it's all of that setup (wasting my time) instead of just having the feature available because it's a well-known process with well-known problems. These are the people who are best suited to know what good processes look like, and can build the best kinds of tools for those well-known processes. Of course, they have to keep up to date, but that's any software in any industry. Just to head off any assumption that I prefer CSP or something, I will say that they fall woefully behind on other stuff that is not comic related (understandable because of their history, but still a hindrance to me using it). That aside, a separate example is that every single drawing program should have the ability for you to move "tool settings" onto another device. No question. I should be able to work from my tablet, and pick colors on my phone. Or work from my desktop and change brushes or sizes or store values from one project, while I open the next desktop tab for a different project, all on my second screen. As far as I know, none of them do this. The overall point being "We've designed apps to work with data like a computer uses that data. I would like it if we started designing apps that work with data however they have to in order for humans to work with 'concepts' in whichever way they understand those concepts (to the best of their ability, which is pretty able these days)."
johnnyanmac 3y ago
>to provide honed experiences for specific project work You need someone to lead that charge first. And that someone needs to understand each format and likely pay some programmer for a long time to make and more importantly, polish, such a feature. Open source is notoriously weak at polishing, so payment seems inevitable to keeop interest. When you are considering support for multiple devices you multiply said effort. Stylus vs touch screen controls are a different set of UX if you want it to be polished.

actionfromafar 3y ago

How would a new solution respect your intentions?

catapart 3y ago
It would implement features specific to and invaluable for whatever I'm intending to work on, in such a way that I would feel like trying to do it any other way would be wasting my own time. For an example, Clip Studio Paint - a tool unabashedly designed for and advertised to comic artists - has a design concept of a 'comic panel'. This lets you drag out a panel, instead of an arbitrary shape that you will use AS a panel. The panel, also an arbitrary shape, comes with functionality like "bleed" which allows you to continue drawing outside of the panel, but will truncate that content when you de-select the panel. It includes concepts like "path rendered borders" so that you can do weird stuff with borders that you wouldn't want to do with an arbitrary shape (like have characters break through them). So, you end up with a nice little feature that can ABSOLUTELY be recreated in other programs. Nothing in that "panel" feature couldn't be done with a series of steps and possibly some macros in other applications. The problem is, it's all of that setup (wasting my time) instead of just having the feature available because it's a well-known process with well-known problems. These are the people who are best suited to know what good processes look like, and can build the best kinds of tools for those well-known processes. Of course, they have to keep up to date, but that's any software in any industry. Just to head off any assumption that I prefer CSP or something, I will say that they fall woefully behind on other stuff that is not comic related (understandable because of their history, but still a hindrance to me using it). That aside, a separate example is that every single drawing program should have the ability for you to move "tool settings" onto another device. No question. I should be able to work from my tablet, and pick colors on my phone. Or work from my desktop and change brushes or sizes or store values from one project, while I open the next desktop tab for a different project, all on my second screen. As far as I know, none of them do this. The overall point being "We've designed apps to work with data like a computer uses that data. I would like it if we started designing apps that work with data however they have to in order for humans to work with 'concepts' in whichever way they understand those concepts (to the best of their ability, which is pretty able these days)."

johnnyanmac 3y ago

>to provide honed experiences for specific project work You need someone to lead that charge first. And that someone needs to understand each format and likely pay some programmer for a long time to make and more importantly, polish, such a feature. Open source is notoriously weak at polishing, so payment seems inevitable to keeop interest. When you are considering support for multiple devices you multiply said effort. Stylus vs touch screen controls are a different set of UX if you want it to be polished.