Wiggly / Wave LPE

I think this would be a neat tool, too. The Function plotter extension allows you to make sine waves, but it seems kind of broken right now, and is quite user-unfriendly. It would be nice to have something like the 'star' or 'spiral' tool with node handles to control the relevant parameters.

I would also vote for calling it something other than 'wiggly', though. That name made me think you just wanted to draw freehand lines, or apply random wiggles (both of which are already implemented'. Something like 'waves', maybe?

Here's a quick mockup generated in Matlab. Is this what you were thinking of?

For reference, matlab code was:
>> t = 0:0.001:1;
>> plot(t,chirp(t,20,1,2))

Yes, that is basically the idea, but it should be easy to use, and very customizable, and of course be integrated into Inkscape ;)

This shouldn't be a tool, but instead it should be a Live Path Effect.

Scislac--I think your idea of an LPE is interesting... I was thinking of something along the lines of the 'star' or 'spiral' tools, where the object is defined by the locations of various node handles, or parameters set in the tool's toolbar. Why would it be preferable to have it be an LPE rather than such a tool? (or are those tools implemented internally as LPEs?)

I think of LPEs as generally more for 'advanced' users who wish to perform operations on existing paths. In contrast, the proposed feature could also just be a basic shape tool. What is the design philosophy of Inkscape with regards to this kind of decision?

Tom,

The best thing about live path effects is the involved paths can be edited on-canvas with the node tool. So, adding the ability to visualize handles on-canvas for LPE parameters as well would be just another usability step forward with it. The star and spiral tools are not lpes internally. However, they're shapes that people more commonly need (which is why the tools make more sense). The best part about if the Wiggly/Wave function was a Live Path Effect is that you could apply it to those shapes as well too. :)

I will agree that LPEs are currently a more "advanced" function. However, I think with a little more usability work and making it more visible and documenting it all well... it will be something the average user will utilize a lot too. The few friends of mine that I've shown how they work were blown away with not only how powerful they are, but how easy they are to use too.

I'll be honest that at this point, we're getting pretty loaded on full-on tools. So, unless someone wants to tackle making our toolbox much more flexible and resizable, I'm not sure that people would be so open to this being a dedicated tool.

Well, there was some talk just today on inkscape-devel about making
tools 'pluggable', so maybe that day will come soon. I'm with you that
the toolbar needs to remain as uncluttered as possible--though perhaps
something like 'wave' could be part of a shapes submenu with spiral
and star, like some other tools have.

I have to admit that apart from some fairly arbitrary UI conventions
(tools live in the toolbar and have a command menubar; LPEs live in
the path effects dialog and have their parameters set there), the
distinction between the two from the user's point of view is not
totally clear to me. This distinction would seem to become even more
blurred as the features you discuss (controlling parameters with node
handles) get added.

For instance, I could imagine a 'star' LPE, that would look a lot like
the current star tool. Also, if there were a 'wave' LPE, it would also
be nice to have a companion tool that draws a line between two points
and applies the LPE to it.

Sorry to get so OT. Your comments have been very helpful for me to get
to understand this a little better.

On Jan 31, 2008 3:33 PM, ScislaC <email address hidden> wrote:
> Tom,
>
> The best thing about live path effects is the involved paths can be
> edited on-canvas with the node tool. So, adding the ability to visualize
> handles on-canvas for LPE parameters as well would be just another
> usability step forward with it. The star and spiral tools are not lpes
> internally. However, they're shapes that people more commonly need
> (which is why the tools make more sense). The best part about if the
> Wiggly/Wave function was a Live Path Effect is that you could apply it
> to those shapes as well too. :)
>
> I will agree that LPEs are currently a more "advanced" function.
> However, I think with a little more usability work and making it more
> visible and documenting it all well... it will be something the average
> user will utilize a lot too. The few friends of mine that I've shown how
> they work were blown away with not only how powerful they are, but how
> easy they are to use too.
>
> I'll be honest that at this point, we're getting pretty loaded on full-
> on tools. So, unless someone wants to tackle making our toolbox much
> more flexible and resizable, I'm not sure that people would be so open
> to this being a dedicated tool.
>
>
> --
> Wiggly / Wave LPE
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/187458
> You received this bug notification because you are a member of Inkscape
> Bug Team, which is the bug contact for Inkscape.
>

The principal difference between a tool and non-tool is that a tool can create objects or do some other special thing by dragging anywhere on canvas (not by dragging some handle). You can edit stars in many tools, but to create them you need a tool. One might imagine some sort of dialog for creating stars, but it won't be as easy as by simple drag on canvas. And for tweak tool you can have no substitute at all, because its entire action is via dragging. For the wavy line, there's no action that can be done only by dragging and is not done by some other tool such as pencil or pen; therefore it's not worth creating a tool. It's purely a LPE that you apply to an existing path and edit via the LPE dialog or via handles on canvas.

Compare with the new "hatches" lpe (only consider the idea, the UI will should be simplified...)

It is not exactly what you're suggesting, but is closely related...