User talk:Davidhewitt

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Revision as of 13:04, 10 February 2009 by Davidhewitt (talk | contribs) (The ultimate input tool? (to complement the existing tools inkscape already has.))
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The Ultimate input tool and the editing acitecture necessary to complement it...

What would be the ultimate input tool? (to complement the existing tools inkscape already has.)

1)First it would have to be superfast to input curves....

Bezier: can define any line very accurately but inputting this line in the first place quickly and with accuracy can be difficult, its very hard to achieve perfect results first time without edits for complex lines, takes alot of experience to do well in all circumstances and is reported by many to be natoriously hard to master.

So you can get very accurate results with bezier but notwithout taking time to be careful and precise and not always without edits.

2) Second (Whist being fast) it also has to be very very accurate...

Pen tools that sketch are probably the fastest at creating a line but they lack the accuracy in the process that placing down nodes does...

So you can have your speed with a pen tool but at the expense of accuracy.


3) Third this tool would be mouse only...

How practical is an input method that requires you to have a free hand to straddle the keyboard or to leave the work space and click on different icons just to get practical results?

4) Fourthly it should incorporate all the advantages of the other input tools and in such a way that they are all rolled into one.

5) Fiftly The results of this input should be node minimised...

6) Sixthly It should accomodate spiro...


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To be fast i propose this new tool should not require bezier drags at all but should simply employ 2 types of nodes: curve and corner.

And in additon to this, that to create these 2 types of nodes that no double clicking, back-tracking and clicking over existing nodes, or right click menuing should be allowed to slow down the process of placing down nodes rapid fire...

Also so as the user does not have to use the keyboard, double clicking or any additional fuctions to switch between these different node types both node types (curve and corner) should be executed with the "naked" mouse...

Left mouse: Curve point. Right mouse" corner point.

N.B. It should be noted here that these nodes would be devoid of bezier handles for input purposes... and that to achieve greater accuracy and conformity whilst digitizing, this method would require the user to throttle the node output rate to match the complexity of the curve it was required to follow... IE more complex curves would require more nodes from a input perspective...

However even though twice as many nodes would be require with this method than would be the case with the bezier method... these could be pumped out as fast as the user can click...and would not require any fussing about with bezier handles or finicky tweaking.

This new input method is perfect for spiro as this method also does not utilize bezier handles to define its nodes...