Le 02/02/2015 02:28, Bryce Harrington a écrit :
I'd like to thank everyone that helped make this release a success. Often times people focus on coder contributions, but software releases are decidedly multi-disciplinary, and I'd like to specially credit four teams in particular for being well organized, thorough, and dependable.
and so on...
Hi!
First I want to thank all the team about the release of 0.91, it's a great milestone, I use it a lot since the release, and if I could complain about some bugs and other few things, it's a good step. I particulary appreciate the rendering, that is much faster, I really thank for this, it was just a pain before, with drawings with a ton of filters.
In the same time, 2 major flaws slapped me on the face, and that's why I'm writing this e-mail (and because I've got time, too). But I want to say that I don't want to be rude or offense anyone here, let me be clear : My thoughts are... thoughts, not commandments. However, I would be pleased if they are useful for the future, because I think they are important, and I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who think that. (by the way, english is not my natural language...)
My first concern is about the svg format itself, that prevents the soft to go further than the format allows to. My only question is : who cares about the format ? Let me explain. If we take 100 guys who are using Inkscape in a intensive way, how many do need to follow the standard ? - If I need diagrams of things like that, svg is OK but other formats exist and are better for this purpose. - If I am a cartographer, I may use svg, but other formats are more accurate. - If I'm an artist, I don't care to be displayable directly in Firefox or Chrome, because I won't share the original drawing anyway, for obvious copyrights problems, I'll publish a png or jpg (in a small size) instead. Except in Wikipedia and sites about Inkscape, I never saw a drawing in svg. Never. Even the great manual online made by Tavmjong Bah shows examples in png ! I think that there's no picture in svg in Deviantart or sites like that. - And so on.
My point is : Today many features aren't in Inskape because it's not in the format (remember the new gradient tool, shown here one week ago. Amazing. It's not in the actual standard so we won't be able to use it ? Seriously ???) and I say, I don't care, because when I draw """art""" I don't want to be restrained by a standard, even if it's well designed like svg.
And here comes my second concern, it's about the way of how many tools are working. LPE, filters, extensions, transform, align and distribute. I do know that there is some "history" behind these tools, but why don't they work together, why don't we have a single UI for all tools, why don't we have an UI like the one used for Cycles in Blender to handle those ? Even few functions are duplicated, we have an extension and a LPE function for the same purpose, but not with exact behavior. I'm an industrial drawer. So all applications that I'm using have historic, all action can be changed or undone. There's almost no such thing in Inkscape (except LPE and the filters) and it's pretty sad. Because with all tools usable under an UI like Cycles, I could do many things and change/delete/improve them when I want. The data would be stored in the header of the file (like filters or 3D boxes) and I could change/re-use them when I want. I could imagine complex filters with transformations, LPE, and so on, at once, with a total control.
By the way when will we have a script language for making our own add-ons, without the obligation to do it in C++ ? Why all the functions/commands can't be invoqued by a command line ? Why can't we have something like script in Blender ? It would be so useful for people to make their own macros, and share them easily. Another issue that prevents Inskcape to be really popular like The Gimp (script-fu) or Blender.
Again, I don't want to insult anyone. Inkscape is not just "better than nothing", it's already a great tool, and it's for free. But tomorrow, if a new tool with all features above is available, I'll say goodbye to Inkscape, and no turning back, even if it costs hundred bucks (but no more).
Your sincerly, Francois.
PS : What do I want the most for 0.92 or 1.00 ? This tool... --> Perspective ruler to help drawing perspective (example : http://www.clipstudio.net/view/img/en/functions/func_en_27.jpg) with 1 to 3 vanishing points. You did it for 3D boxes. An extent of the concept, maybe ?