I  just tested snapping towards 1.000 paths containing 10 nodes each, and what seems to be happening is that the temporary graphic is drawn immediately (red line), and the snap-event happens some 0.25 seconds later or so, updating the red line and drawing the snap target red cross then. So I'm guessing there'se some worker thread doing the heavy-lifting in the background.

If that is OK for showing closest node, that is to have a delay until the red node "updates", then there is no performance problem, however that is quite some more work to achieve, I would guess.

Any core dev have some more feedback to add here?





Mvh


/Olof
-----------------
Är du systemutvecklare?


On 13 June 2016 at 18:08, C R <cajhne@...2179......> wrote:
I doubt performance would take that much of a hit. As a current example, snapping with all features enabled is doing this same thing with exponentially more data comparisons, and in real time while dragging the selection around the screen. Performance hit is not enough to worry about even with every kind of snapping turned on all at once. Showing the closest single point to the cursor should be a cake-walk compared to this.

-C

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 4:15 PM, Olof Bjarnason <olof.bjarnason@...400...> wrote:




On 13 June 2016 at 17:06, C R <cajhne@...400...> wrote:
Olof and I discussed also using the Enter key as a toggle for selecting the node to avoid having to click as much. This key is also free from bindings in the Node Tool, and makes an intuitive natural key for selecting/deselecting. As an alternative, I'd suggest the spacebar (which can be used on websites for toggling radio buttons/checkboxes), but I fear a clash with grabbing the view to drag, which I also dearly love. :) It's possible that it's not too much of a clash, as it's tapping vs holding.

OK trying to summarise "what we want":

1. Use either LMB (Left Mouse Button) on empty surface, or Some Key (Y? F? Enter? Space?) to toggle
2. Toggling means switching the node closest to pointer being selected or not (blue color)
3. Visually indicate which node is closest beforehand using the ordinary (red color)

The only thing that concerns me from a UX/user perspective is if (3) would degrade performance, as it has to do the distance calculation on mouse motion, which is basically all the time. Consider node tool has to work also for those 10.000+ node paths, where ever they are.

Removing (3) I think there should be no performance problem.

Make (3) on by default, possible to turn of in Preferences, another (bloody) option ? :D



-C 

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 2:53 PM, Brynn <brynn@...3133...> wrote:
Yes, I watched his video :-)

If we weren't in the middle of a release cycle, it would be nice to discuss the mouse snapping or maybe called pointer snapping.  But Olof tells me the snapping is super heavy in the program.

And I would be happy with either of your solutions  :-)

Thanks,
brynn
_____________________________________________
From: C R
 Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 4:19 AM
To: Brynn
Cc: Olof Bjarnason ; LucaDC ; inkscape-devel

Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] possibly strange question (snap)


Clicking and dragging selects every node the circle touches, as if you were painting the selection. The distance is controlled by the bounds of the circle, which is better, since you can control the radius as shown, with the mouse wheel for extra precision.


Olof's selection tool is better for instances where nodes are very close together though (make sure you watch his video):
https://youtu.be/dy3YQWLBb4Y



Both would be awesome to have, but I think Olof is right about the complexity of the paint select tool being hard to impliment vs his very nice, and tidy solution, which may work better for your case anyway. :)


-C



On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 9:37 AM, Brynn <brynn@...3133...> wrote:

Hi C R,
      From my simple user's perspective, that seems like it should help. But the optional distance setting would need to be closer than Inks Prefs dialog (and not require a restart, like grab sensitivity).
      Between the brush idea and the key stroke idea, it seems like they are very similar.  Either way, it's the area around the mouse pointer where the node is selected.  So it seems like the "brush" select would be more fluid.  But how would it be enabled?  Do you click to grab the node, or does just touching it with the "brush" select it?  This seems very similar to the lasso select which was mentioned earlier in this thread.  If the lasso could be made to work with the Node tool (in all systems), then maybe you could just add the "brush" to it?  (Of course, keeping in mind my non-technical perspective, hah.)
      Thanks for everyone's interest in this  :-)

All best,
brynn
________________________________________________
From: C R
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 12:54 AM

To: Brynn
Cc: LucaDC ; inkscape-devel
Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] possibly strange question (snap)


See this quick video capture for Blender paint-select feature:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r38x7q9yjdjggdl/paint_select_blender_demo.mp4?dl=0



As you can, see it's faster and more convenient than anything we've discussed so far. Precision can be changed on the fly.
Their implementation requires you to commit the selection with the Escape button, but I don't think this is necessary.


In short, we could do this, but better.


-C




On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 12:47 AM, Brynn <brynn@...3133...> wrote:

That sounds helpful too.  I would have to try it first, before I know if it helps with my particular problem.

It sounds like it essentially makes the pointer bigger?

Isn't that similar to what the Grab Sensitivity does?  While it doesn't affect the  Node tool, I've tried with the Selection tool.  It works great if the objects on the canvas are far enough apart.  But on a crowded canvas, it seems to want to select objects next to the one I want to select.  I guess Inkscape can't read my mind, and know which object I want.

I wonder if it would be the same case with the node pointer?

All best,
brynn

_____________________________________________
From: C R
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2016 1:46 PM
To: Brynn
Cc: LucaDC ; inkscape-devel

Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] possibly strange question (snap)


Blender has a nice solution to the problem of clicking/selecting small nodes.


If you press "c" it turns the mouse pointer into a circle. You can adjust the size of this circle with the mouse-wheel, and just paint over the nodes you want to select with it. press escape when done to exit the selection mode. though we could just as easily use the enter key which may be more intuitive.


On Tue, Jun 7, 2016 at 3:48 PM, Brynn <brynn@...3133...> wrote:

Ok, thanks Luca.

Fyi to everyone, Olof is helping make a better and more clear presentation
of the situation and request.  Just take me a little time to learn how to
make a video (which I should have done years ago).

Thanks again,
brynn

--------------------------------------------------
From: "LucaDC" <dicappello@...2144...>
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2016 2:59 AM
To: <inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] possibly strange question (snap)



Brynn wrote

(That would be the first use I've ever found for mouse position values in
the bottom-right corner, that shows the position of the mouse.  If you're
working in a file where measurement needs to be precise, you can place
your
mouse on the precise coordinates.)


This could hardly be called a precise positioning as the displayed
coordinates are rounded and their definition depends on the zoom level.
What
you get depends on the discretization of your monitor's pixels coordinates
translated into document's coordinates.
A better way to achieve a precise positioning is using guides: drag out a
guide, open its dialog to set its coordinates and snap to its origin
whatever you want to be exactly there.

Luca




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