Feature request: Rulers + Snap to, Circle Midpoint-Radius

[Nimral]

Hi PDN creators,

 

first let me express my appreciation, excellent work you've done with Paint.net.

 

One thing I'd like to see is rulers ("dashed helper lines") (draggable from the side rulers, and an option button to turn them on/off), and (optionally) the cursor snapping to them when it comes close. The functionality is further enhanced by having a draggable zero in the side rulers, and beeing able to activate (click) the helper lines and move them Pixel by Pixel using the cursor keys instead of the mouse. Why? I think rulers are a generic and intuitive way to aid many tasks like accurate positioning, aligning, measuring and such.

 

The idea came to me when I wanted to cut out a round shaped image (a Smiley, in fact). It takes a lot of fiddling until you have positioned the elipsoid selection tool to just touch the SMiley. Having helper lines you simply drag one to touch each side of the Smiley, and then drag the elipsoid selection tool from one corner diagonally to the opposite, done. I think I miss this functionality mainly because I have been working with CAD applications a lot, and got used to having them, but somehow I think that many others would love them too.

 

I can, of course, add an extra layer and put some helper lines on it using the line tool, but having really functional rulers would be handier.

 

Also another CAD idea is that you rarely have a situation where you can accurately position a circle by dragging a square, because in most cases the corner points of the surroundng square are unknown. Sometimes the center of a circle is known, and it woud be handy to be able to drag the radius from there.

 

Thumbs up

 

Armin.

 

P.S. I saw a request to implement Office-like ribbons. I herewith wish to file a request not to implement any of those useless, screen-space wasting gimmicks Microsoft has brought into their products, neither the ribbons not their twisted idea to redefine menus. Of course users get used to it after some time, like you learn to live with hemorrhoids after a while, and people born with hemorrhoids will probably even think this was the only possible way of living and assume all those who don't have it are seriously missing something, I just want to let you know I think otehrwise, and one reason why I love PDN is its interface, may it be "old fashioned" or not. When it comes to tools, I prefer simplicity of use, nothing else really matters.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

The idea came to me when I wanted to cut out a round shaped image (a Smiley, in fact). It takes a lot of fiddling until you have positioned the elipsoid selection tool to just touch the SMiley.

 

You're doing it hard Nimral.  To cut out an irregular shape from a uniform background (including transparent background) try this:

 

1. Activate the Magic Wand tool

2. Click anywhere on the uniform background.

3. Adjust the Tolerance to find tune the selection to the edges of the object (if required).

4. Press Delete.

 

To crop to the shape, repeat steps 2 & 3 then press Ctrl + I to invert the selection then Ctrl + Shift + X.

[midora]

P.S. I saw a request to implement Office-like ribbons. I herewith wish to file a request not to implement any of those useless, screen-space wasting gimmicks Microsoft has brought into their products, neither the ribbons not their twisted idea to redefine menus. Of course users get used to it after some time, like you learn to live with hemorrhoids after a while, and people born with hemorrhoids will probably even think this was the only possible way of living and assume all those who don't have it are seriously missing something,

 

No idea why you insinuate others that their idea of a user interface is the only appropriate one.

Just saying that you don't like the idea is enough.

[Rick Brewster]

Have no fear ... I'm not implementing Ribbon. It wouldn't work well for paint.net. I think it works great in Word and Outlook but it's far from being a universally appropriate pattern.