Could copying a shape copy that shape instead of the image?

[LWChris]

When I have an image and draw a shape, say, I pull a circle, and it's not yet commited, then there is this outline that suggests that the current "selection" is that shape.

But when I hit Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V, PDN pastes the whole layer again, not a new shape, because Ctrl+C without selection by default copies the whole layer.

 

A clipboard can hold "rich objects" that can be converted to simpler things for uses outside the program, but stay rich for uses inside the program.

For example if you create a table in MS Excel and make a graph out of that, then copy the graph, and paste it into Word, then Word will paste an interactive graph that's even still linked to the data in the Excel, meaning changing the data in Excel will change the graph in Word. But pasting that graph into PDN will create an image of that graph.

 

It would be really cool if Paint.NET made use of that cool feature in .NET to copy and paste rich objects, such as shapes, multiple layers, etc.

 

Then it could be implemented that when in "Shape creation mode", Ctrl+C copies the information that it is a shape, and Ctrl+V could commit the current shape and then create a new shape object on top that can be moved or edited, while Ctrl+X can put that shape into the clipboard and cancel creation, but Ctrl+V re-spawns that (useful if after creating the perfect shape you realize you're on the wrong layer, just cut, swap layer, paste, and continue creation from there).

 

If the conversion interface is properly implemented for that "CopiedShape" object, this would also mean pasting that object to another Paint.NET file would also create an editable shape there, while pasting it into MSPaint or Word would just appear as if I had copied a rectangular image with nothing but the commited shape on a transparent background.

[Tactilis]

1 hour ago, LWChris said:

When I have an image and draw a shape, say, I pull a circle, and it's not yet commited, then there is this outline that suggests that the current "selection" is that shape.

But when I hit Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V, PDN pastes the whole layer again, not a new shape, because Ctrl+C without selection by default copies the whole layer.

In the current implementation, the part of your statement that I have highlighted above is not correct because you may actually have made a selection, inside of which you are drawing a shape. Or you may be deliberately drawing a shape that is only partially inside the selection so that the shape is clipped at the selection boundary.

If a selection is active and you press Ctrl+C then you will copy the contents of the selection, not the whole layer.

 

That said, the capability you have described would be very useful:
 

1 hour ago, LWChris said:

when in "Shape creation mode", Ctrl+C copies the information that it is a shape, and Ctrl+V could commit the current shape and then create a new shape object on top that can be moved or edited, while Ctrl+X can put that shape into the clipboard and cancel creation, but Ctrl+V re-spawns that (useful if after creating the perfect shape you realize you're on the wrong layer, just cut, swap layer, paste, and continue creation from there).

 

[LWChris]

19 minutes ago, Tactilis said:

you may actually have made a selection, inside of which you are drawing a shape. Or you may be deliberately drawing a shape that is only partially inside the selection so that the shape is clipped at the selection boundary.

 

Yes you are right, there is the "ant border" area selection and then the shape with its nodes and anchor etc.
The cool part is - Ctrl+C might actually copy both, that is the selection and the shape configuration, such that Ctrl+V on another layer would create the same selection and the not-yet-commited shape.

 

Or maybe just implement that as "Ctrl+Alt+C Copy objects", and keep Ctrl+C as it is.

[Rick Brewster]

When you have an active shape, there isn't an outline like there is for a selection.

[Tactilis]

7 hours ago, Rick Brewster said:

When you have an active shape, there isn't an outline like there is for a selection.

Agreed. And @LWChris appreciates that now.

His "there is this outline that suggests that the current "selection" is that shape" was just misworded.


The suggestion is that it be possible to copy the shape currently being drawn (i.e. before Finish) using Ctrl+Alt+C and be able to paste that shape using Ctrl+V (or maybe Ctrl+Alt+V) such that you create a new (unFinished) shape which is a copy of that originally being drawn, and because it is in an unFinished state, can still be manipulated in the normal way.

[BoltBait]

29 minutes ago, Tactilis said:

The suggestion is that it be possible to copy the shape currently being drawn (i.e. before Finish) using Ctrl+Alt+C and be able to paste that shape using Ctrl+V (or maybe Ctrl+Alt+V) such that you create a new (unFinished) shape which is a copy of that originally being drawn, and because it is in an unFinished state, can still be manipulated in the normal way.

 

That would make creating a series of identical shapes, rotated to the same angle, really easy.

[Tactilis]

8 minutes ago, BoltBait said:

 

That would make creating a series of identical shapes, rotated to the same angle, really easy.

 

Yes it would, plus the ability to rotate each to different angles, or give each a different colour, line thickness, line style... basically anything that that can be adjusted while drawing. It would be quite a time saver for certain operations.

[LWChris]

51 minutes ago, Tactilis said:

copy the shape currently being drawn (i.e. before Finish) using Ctrl+Alt+C and be able to paste that shape using Ctrl+V (or maybe Ctrl+Alt+V) such that you create a new (unFinished) shape

 

Ctrl+Alt+V already exists, but I think it's not a problem. Ctrl+V can always just paste to the best of its possibilities. If you copied an editable state, it pastes the editable state, if you merely copied pixels, it pastes the pixels.  

 

20 minutes ago, BoltBait said:

 

That would make creating a series of identical shapes, rotated to the same angle, really easy.

 

My #1 use case is to alleviate the pain of my own stupidity: creating some object and customizing it, only to realizing I started on the wrong layer. Right now, there's not much I can do in that case, except for Ctrl+Z and start over again on the correct layer. A rich copy feature could be enabled for shapes but also lines, gradients, or even text I would think, and crucially it can copy and restore their editable states opposed to just the committed results, so making variants is much easier.

[Tactilis]

2 minutes ago, LWChris said:

Ctrl+Alt+V already exists

 

Doh. Of course it does. I use it many times a day without thinking about the actual keys!

As you say, Ctrl+V would work since it Paint.NET would know that it had copied an editable shape.

[LWChris]

9 hours ago, Rick Brewster said:

When you have an active shape, there isn't an outline like there is for a selection.

 

Yes, my bad. I drew a shape without prior selection, and since it had that "9 nodes plus anchor" look it had the same UI features like a selection.
So I just used that word without thinking about that an actual selection can also exist while creating a new shape.