[Gimp-gui] Hardness Control on Pencil Tool - Optimization range and their reasons.

[Americo Gobbo <jag rabisco gmail com>]

I have tested the hardness on pencil tool and actually is not usable as 
classic hardness...The hardness on pencil has the capability to expand 
the stain... and this is could be useful to emulate some bristle effects.

To use in this way is necessary to use the range of hardness >= 80. In 
fact, in this range is possible to use to modify the shapes of 
traditional bristle concept to open or close more or minus the points of 
bristles.

Now, the full range is really not usable in comfortable way, and mainly, 
for nobody raster brush.
To control this in better way is necessary change the range... what is 
now [80, 100] should become [0, 100].

To see the figures related on this thread see the bug report:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=784519

--
Pencil tool context usages
Pixel-art and drawing/painting with precision
The pencil tool is considered commonly to *Pixel-art* and *drawing*, 
precision work and such, but can be used also to *painting*... as  is 
also possible paint with Clone Tool as I have already demonstrated... or 
rather I don't see a convincing reason why for which the Pencil Tool 
cannot be used to paint.

On Pixel-art, we use hardness = 100 and the raster brushes are 
adequately thought for the pixel-art (and for this scope the brush 
raster are no affected by the hardness), see the *Figure 1* 
[https://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=354880]. Also to eventual 
Color brushes to *pixel-art*, after my tests, them are usable only above 
hardness>75, below this value we have strange effects and blur not 
usable to this specific works, see *Figure 2* 
[https://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=354881].
So for the cases, specifically for the *Pixel-art*, the hardness used is 
equal 100 (but I supposed because I am not an specialist). To drawing 
and/or to give precision or details is the same thing, the brush pixel 
must be hard and don't have blur effects.

Already in June 2016 I have wrote a email to gimp-developers mailing 
list with an idea to cut this feature of the Pencil Tool... the thread 
was a long discussion, but in my opinion not focused on my request... 
well explained by Elle Stone in her comment here: 
https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2016-June/msg00123.html

--
Problems with hardness range
To exemplify my idea of usage, I have selected two raster brushes of 
official and current brush set, the Bristles 01 and Bristles 03 (Media Set).
The hardness effect on the shape transform it in big black block, 
quickly, and this don't have any practical usage to pixel art, but to 
painting is possible to think some usage as I am proposing here. The 
current range is demonstrated on *Figure 3* 
[https://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=354882] and *Figure 4* 
[https://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=354883].

If the range [0, 100] would be equivalent of current [80, 100] is more 
easy control the variations and increase the usage possibilities with 
many kind of stains. So, in this case is possible to imagine some 
creative usage for the hardness on Pencil Tool and mainly to digital 
painting to emulate some characteristics of bristle brushes, mainly (at 
moment was what I have able to imagine).

--
Consistency versus Usability
Is clear that to paintbrush, airbrush, eraser and others the current 
range of the hardness has a sense and an evident usage... but for the  
Pencil the case is completely different... we cannot based on the 
consistency of the other painttools to uphold the same range on Pencil Tool.

Is better think in terms of usability or which is the sense to use a 
tool with difficult and a short range of usage?
Is clear that is possible to use as is the current status... but with 
difficult and not in comfortable way.
Also to control it via dynamics has basically the same problems of 
control it, because the curve must be placed in top and with short range 
of sensibility, see *Figure 5* 
[https://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=354884].

--
Final considerations
If is not possible adequate the hardness range of Pencil Tool, for 
something reasons, I suggest to cut off this feature off Pencil tool and 
consider basically what is document on official GIMP manual about this 
painttool [https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=767916]. If the 
choice would be this, I think that is more interesting clean completely 
the sliders of 'hardness' and 'force' of the Tool Options dialog.

Thanks,
americo
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