Dynamic Draw v3.3 (7/3/22)

[TrevorOutlaw]

Great plug-in. This is what I had been hoping for.

 

However, I have an interesting problem that I need to bring to your attention.

 

I am using a HP laptop with a HDMI, extended monitor.  I have PDN on the extended monitor, but the plug-in window only stays on the laptop's monitor.  When I use, pyrochild's smudge plugin, it opens in the extended monitor.  Trying to move the brush factory window to the extended monitor isn't working.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

@AnthonyScoffler In EffectConfigDialog_Load() try this ...

 this.DesktopLocation = Owner.PointToScreen(new Point(<x>, <y>));

It sets the location (DesktopLocation) of this (this form = the plugin dialog) to the specified x and y coordinates in relation to the screen the owner (paint.net) is on.

 

See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.form.desktoplocation(v=vs.110).aspx

 

and https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.pointtoscreen(v=vs.110).aspx

[NinthDesertDude]

6 hours ago, TrevorOutlaw said:

Great plug-in. This is what I had been hoping for.

 

However, I have an interesting problem that I need to bring to your attention.

 

I am using a HP laptop with a HDMI, extended monitor.  I have PDN on the extended monitor, but the plug-in window only stays on the laptop's monitor.  When I use, pyrochild's smudge plugin, it opens in the extended monitor.  Trying to move the brush factory window to the extended monitor isn't working.

What a fantastic question; this is the kind of stuff that helps me in the future. I don't have any HD or external monitors to test with, and have always wondered about whether it would work on those (and high-density displays, but that's another story).

 

I just did what @Ego Eram Reputo said to do (thanks), so hopefully that works. I'd like you to tell me if it worked or not so I can decide if I need to do something else or if I should update the plugin itself. Thanks.

BrushFactory.zip

[TrevorOutlaw]

I'm afraid it didn't work.  I have PDN in the extended monitor, but the plug in window stays on the main monitor.  I think I had the same problem with TR's Dodge and Burn plugin.

 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

^^ How strange. I'm using exactly this in a brand new plugin. It works across my dual monitor setup flawlessly. Pyrochild's Smudge plugin uses almost exactly the same thing.

 

I'm positioning the plugin window half-way across each screen, and 20px down from the top edge.

 this.DesktopLocation = Owner.PointToScreen(new Point(Width / 2, 20));

Have you got any monitor managers installed?

[TrevorOutlaw]

" Have you got any monitor managers installed?"

 

I am using a HDMI connection.  Like I said earlier, I can use pyrochild's plug-in within the extended monitor and pretty much every other plug-ins.  TechnoRobb's Dodge and Burn plug-in also stays stuck in the main monitor and not move to the extended monitor.

[Eli]

Anthony,

 

There is one more feature I would like to see in Brush Factory : a pressure sensitive eraser. I can undo with (Ctrl+z) but sometimes I would like to have a brush that would behave as an eraser with variable hardness.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Eli

[NinthDesertDude]

On 1/20/2017 at 6:32 AM, Eli said:

Anthony,

 

There is one more feature I would like to see in Brush Factory : a pressure sensitive eraser. I can undo with (Ctrl+z) but sometimes I would like to have a brush that would behave as an eraser with variable hardness.

It's very difficult, and is the reason I haven't made layer masking a thing, though I had thought of it and other blend modes some time ago.

1) I need to draw to an intermediate surface and lockbits and define my own copy mechanism to have blend modes and such, like doing alpha -= value to erase.

2) I was reluctant to bother since I have no stylus or touchscreen, but I can try when I rewrite the app.

 

I plan to rewrite this all in WPF and Direct2D some day, and actually take the ideas from photoshop's dynamic brushes, since I didn't ever look into it until I had version 1.3 of this plugin. But I have the ideas well tied-down in this plugin, so if I rewrite the whole thing, I'll be tightening down every aspect and possibly changing some structures to be more modular, etc. Since that goal will take time and it exists right now, a rewrite will probably be on the backburner.

 

Version 1.4 released

The changelog describes the additions of a line brush and symmetry mode. This update is rather minor and was done because I had free time to satisfy a request.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Joshua Lamusga

[Eli]

Thanks @Joshua Lamusga! I finally have version 1.4.  

 

Just one little request : Could we have the full screen back?

[NinthDesertDude]

Maximize is back. I reconfigured it since it decided to break itself on my computer, so hopefully none of that.

This project is on github now. https://github.com/JoshuaLamusga/Brush-Factory. Link to documentation added in my first post.

Edited July 18, 2017 by Joshua Lamusga

[Eli]

Hi @Joshua Lamusga, the Symmetry feature is cool. I was able to draw a mandala  

[NinthDesertDude]

Version 1.5 is released.

I added radial symmetry by request. (Well, these requests aren't requests for Brush Factory per se, but they were requests for Paint.Net that were fairly easy to implement, so I went ahead and did it anyway.)
 

Radial symmetry options are under the Other tab, in the Symmetry drop-down. Drawing with high radial symmetry may be slow.

See the cool rendition above for an example of what it can do.

[TrevorOutlaw]

Thank you very much for the update.  I just downloaded, installed, and tested it.  I am finally able to move the plug-in to the extended monitor, which was something I couldn't do with the previous version.

[NinthDesertDude]

Excellent, TrevorOutlaw. I'm glad that issue has resolved itself. I bet it was when I rewrote the maximizing code so that it remained in a windowed mode instead of actually being maximized.

[Seerose]

 @Joshua Lamusga! Thank you so much for new version.  

[LionsDragon]

Fannnnntastic! This made one of my current pieces...well, not just easier but possible!

 

 

[TrevorOutlaw]

On 8/17/2017 at 0:41 PM, Joshua Lamusga said:

Excellent, TrevorOutlaw. I'm glad that issue has resolved itself. I bet it was when I rewrote the maximizing code so that it remained in a windowed mode instead of actually being maximized.

 

I am still waiting for the ability to use the plug-in for masking.

[sunmaggot]

@Joshua Lamusga  This plugin saved a lot of time to draw grass!! I just adjust setting then BOOM, grass.  

[Ego Eram Reputo]

I have no idea why this wasn't pinned. I've fixed that.

[fluxdeity]

Why did you change from Anthony Scoffler?

[toe_head2001]

10 minutes ago, fluxdeity said:

Why did you change from Anthony Scoffler?

 

[NinthDesertDude]

Version 1.6 is released.

Thanks to Null54, we have photoshop brush file (.abr) support while working in Brush Factory.

 

Null54 also added and I expanded on bracket-based keyboard shortcuts. It seems paint.net has supported using [ and ] to increase and decrease brush size since forever (and hold Control to speed it up). So this is now part of Brush Factory. Previous mouse-wheel based shortcuts have not been removed.

 

[: Increase brush size. Hold Ctrl to speed it up. Hold R to change rotation instead. Hold A to change alpha instead.

]: Decrease brush size. Hold Ctrl to speed it up. Hold R to change rotation instead. Hold A to change alpha instead. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Joshua Lamusga

[ScrapbookWithPDN]

Hi, Joshua.

 

I used your Brush Factory plugin, version 1502xxxx. I used watercolor brushes. This is a beautiful plugin and I'm so grateful, as I am sure others are, for it. This is because I can still use Paint.Net and not have to deal with more complicated software or software that takes so long to load. It means I can stick with Paint.Net and not have to venture off. I do still use Krita and Krita makes Gimp or Photoshop no longer needed. I use it just for painting some of my scanned drawings. For anything else, at this point, PDN can handle it in 300 dpi. Anyway,  Brush Factory is an incredible plugin. The only thing that makes it somewhat difficult is that it actually paints right on the layer you want to have painted. That sounds so dumb, doesn't it? Well, if a layer could be used or created ON TOP OF the layer that is showing (as a guide), that would make the plugin more useful for layering purposes. We have to move the painted layer around or edit that lawyer without touching the layer we are painting on top of, or under. 

 

Also, if we can KEEP the colors we selected to use, unless we close Brush Factory, but still keep the same colors even when we change brushes, so we don't have to keep entering or finding a color we just used with a prior brush, or be able to load a color palette, that would help a great deal, especially while working on a project. How it is, when I change a watercolor brush, I have to manually keep entering 3 or 5 different colors codes.

 

I know making such a cool plugin probably takes up too much time in your life, and I honestly have a problem with asking a plugin creator if they can change or add to it, since it was a free gift and sacrifice of your time, to begin with, but, if ever one day or evening, if that's even possible to do, I know many would be grateful. I have a PDN tutorial website for a large group of digital scrapbook and digital painters (and similar related digital imaging projects). They only use one or two of the other softwares. Many have laughed at PDN or not even heard of it. Some are really impressed with it after finding out about it.

 

For a certain niche of people doing a particular common function, within that world of people, PDN is equally as good, less steps to do it, and easier to learn how to use than what they use or what they are trying to learn how to use. With the brushes of your Brush Factory plugin, the brush work itself is impressive, but if Brush Factory could be used in a more practical way that would help even more. I hope I don't sound rude. I'm not intending to. I just thought I would ask. Maybe this has come up thousands of times and you're sick of it. If so, I'm sorry. It takes a great deal of time to try to read everything at this forum. Sometimes I miss things but I try. This will be one of the plugins I dedicate a page to if it can function just a bit more practically, for this fairly large niche of users, if that's possible and I am willing to show them how to use it for that area, in between life, but I'm pretty good at micromanaging my weekly schedule and periodically dealing with sleep deprivation.

 

I also know there is a possibility that what I am hoping for is not even possible to comply with PDN structuring. So, I understand that, too.

 

Thank you, Joshua. You created a cool and useful plugin, regardless.

Edited December 7, 2018 by ScrapbookWithPDN
grammar, as always

[null54]

15 hours ago, ScrapbookWithPDN said:

Well, if a layer could be used or created ON TOP OF the layer that is showing (as a guide), that would make the plugin more useful for layering purposes.

 

Plugins cannot create layers, but the following steps can be used as a workaround.

1. Create a new empty layer for the Brush Factory to draw on
2. Copy the layer you want to use as a guide to the clipboard
3. Right click on the Brush Factory canvas and select the "Use clipboard as background" option

Please note that any transparent areas in the image will be displayed as white, because the clipboard image the plugin currently uses does not support transparency.

 

15 hours ago, ScrapbookWithPDN said:

Also, if we can KEEP the colors we selected to use, unless we close Brush Factory, but still keep the same colors even when we change brushes, so we don't have to keep entering or finding a color we just used with a prior brush, or be able to load a color palette, that would help a great deal

 

Brush Factory does not currently support this.

 

But as the Windows color dialog supports a 16 color custom palette, one solution may be for Brush Factory to store that custom palette during the Paint.NET session.

 

As Paint.NET allows Effect plugins to read the user's current color palette, it could even set the default palette to the first 16 opaque colors in Paint.NET's palette.

Although I am not sure if that behavior would confuse users due to it skipping transparent colors.

[ScrapbookWithPDN]

4 hours ago, null54 said:

 

Plugins cannot create layers, but the following steps can be used as a workaround.

1. Create a new empty layer for the Brush Factory to draw on
2. Copy the layer you want to use as a guide to the clipboard
3. Right click on the Brush Factory canvas and select the "Use clipboard as background" option

Please note that any transparent areas in the image will be displayed as white, because the clipboard image the plugin currently uses does not support transparency.

 

 

The Windows color dialog supports a 16 color custom palette that the plugin does not use.

One solution may be for the plugin to store that custom palette during the Paint.NET session.

 

As Paint.NET allows Effect plugins to read the user's current color palette, it could even set the default palette to the first 16 opaque colors in Paint.NET's palette.

Although I am not sure if that behavior would confuse users due to it skipping transparent colors.

Holy Cow! You're a friggin genius! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me. I'll take a screen shot of it.!  I'm grateful for your time.