>From: Sven Neumann <sven@xxxxxxxx>
>
>GIMP has a bunch of selection tools and they seem to work quite well
>for a lot of people. I think I know what problems you are refering to
>but it would help the discussion if you could specify which selection
>tools you are talking about and how they could be improved.
The Bezier selection tool is good but there should be a polygonal
selection tool of CAD type as well.
It is always strange when one says "practically unusable" while
many people have used the tools for years. But I have developed audio
software and there are the same problems with the selection tools.
I simply don't know how people edit audio properly without the tools
I have invented -- I use those tools everytime I make a selection.
As said, strange.
Some months ago I prepared two tests for GIMP but I'm not sure did
I post them at that time. I wanted to ask how GIMP users do the required
selections. Maybe there are compilicated tricks which helps in the
situation but I prefer to use simple tools directly applicable to
the tasks.
Here is an alternative rectangle selection tool:
(1) by pressing the left mouse button, user may drag the (initial)
rectangle,
(2) when pointer is moved on the selection edges and corners,
user may grab and drag the edge or the corner,
(3) selection gets deleted if user pressed mouse button when the
pointer is not on the edges or the corners.
That is all what can be done with the tool. There is no possibility to
enlarge the selection the way the current rectangle selection can be
enlarged.
The rectangle could be deleted only by clicking outside the rectangle,
and the whole rectangle could be moved by grabbing inside the rectangle.
When the selection is moved this way, only the selection info is changed
and no image data is moved around (as happens with the current selection
tools).
The problem with current selection tools are that the selection
cannot be re-adjusted in a natural way. Another problem is that
the tools fails with large images. That is why in my tool the edges
and the corners can be grabbed and dragged. (This problem is more
severe in audio editors where zoom ratios are very large.) One cannot
do precise edits without re-adjustment possibility.
Crop tool in GIMP has these problem as well. An alternative crop
tool would be great.
I took the latest CVS version. If it compiles, we could only check
how to get me started for coding these tools.
Regards,
Juhana
