Re: [Gimp-developer] Pencil - Tool Options and Hardness

[Elle Stone <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>]

On 06/22/2016 09:33 AM, C R wrote:
> Which I have explained 5 times now that this is only if it includes the
> (topic of this thread) proposed no anti-aliasing checkbox.

On 06/15/2016 10:51 PM, Americo Gobbo wrote:
> Hi all,
> The Hardness parameter to Pencil Tool is not utilized, but is present
> in its Tool Options.

On 06/22/2016 08:24 AM, Simon Budig wrote:
> You know, I actually reread, and I find the thread highly confusing.
>
> It starts with the hardness-parameter in the pencil tool, then goes on
> to how paintbrush is so similiar to the pencil tool, how the pencil tool
> can get removed,

I think Americo's suggestion (original topic of thread) was that the 
Hardness slider be removed from the list of options for the Pencil, 
simply because this slider doesn't seem to affect the actual paint 
applied using the Pencil.

This suggestion seems like a good idea because it's confusing to users 
to have an available slider that doesn't actually do anything. Also the 
resulting list of tool options for the Pencil would be shorter, so 
there's less likelihood of the toolbox needing a slider to access all of 
the tool options menu, which is always a good thing.

The suggestion was subsequently made to remove the Pencil tool and add 
additional options to the Brush tool to allow to transform the Brush 
into the Pencil. Even if this were possible, doing this would:

  * Make the current Brush options list longer, increasing the 
likelihood of the toolbox needing a slider to show all the Brush tool 
options.
  * Increase the number of keyboard/click/etc actions that would be 
required for people who do use the Pencil for painting.
  * Increase the possible combinations of sliders for the Brush tool, 
which would make the Brush options more confusing, less easy to use.

Personally I've only been experimenting with digital painting over the 
last year or so, so take my input for what it's worth (complete 
amateur). But the Pencil tool seems pretty important because it creates 
hard edges on the brush stamps, which for various dynamics creates a 
different and often very pleasing result compared to the Brush tool 
(uses aren't limited to pixel art and drawing pixel-perfect boxes).

Possibly the people who want to remove the Pencil tool simply don't use 
this particular painting tool?

Best,
Elle