a quick clarification after some conversations in chat.
this is a question of workflow and not technology.. its not that we dont expose the ability to do all this to our users already .. there is just a potentially better way for a majority of uses.
here's a brief chat with su-v. im jumping off the grid again ciao!
(12:20:56) su-v: you want a tool that takes a rectangle (or creates one with the size of the selection bbox), fits page to selection, clips contents with the rectangle - all in one step? (12:21:34) su-v: (clipping all layers) (12:21:57) andyfitz: su-v: yep. either via a parent group or only as applied to the current selection (and not resizing the page as a result) (12:22:30) andyfitz: so really just an easy way to make rectangular or square clippaths (12:22:44) su-v: hmm (12:23:21) andyfitz: not ellipsis, not pineapple shapes, just the shame of the gesture made with the mouse and instant apply with a sane default about whether or not to reduce the canvas size also (12:23:23) su-v: it's useful for beginners, but after having used the 'set clip' command from the context menu once, you'd no longer need it ;) (12:23:46) andyfitz: su-v: I've used inkscape daily since day one and can safely say I'd still use this feature. (12:23:50) andyfitz: if only to reduce clicks (12:25:07) su-v: like 'Object > Clip > Selection', and a shortcut? (12:25:15) su-v: (new) (12:25:42) andyfitz: pretty much. some immediate examples would be (12:26:22) andyfitz: 1.) composing a scene in the default a4 size then wanting an easier way to reduce the view without having to go to the documents dialog (12:28:11) andyfitz: 2.) requiring scenes to be contained within rectangles but not wanting to trim or edit individual objects before making a group of them (eg making a mock-screen for a cellphone illustration and having elements that exeed the current limits of the mock-object they are to be placed on) (12:30:16) su-v: I understand what you want - but it would need a different name imho: cropping has a known meaning (in raster and vector editing), and it is a destructive action (removing unwanted parts), unlike clipping. (same for trimming). (12:30:37) andyfitz: I use that latter feature all the time in web mockups. it means I can roughly draw something (like grass or clouds or buildings etc) in a freeform way without worrying about the limits .. and then clip them to the container they are meant to fit in for the overall mockup. if I didn't use clippath I would be doing boolean edits forever.. but at the same time this is almost always done with a rectangle and almost always follows the same procedure that is less than obvious to newcomers (12:31:16) andyfitz: su-v: well you have contributed a great idea to this discussion already... full objects outside of the crop area can be deleted to save filesize (12:31:53) andyfitz: and that would be more or less cropping (though not exact along the lines like a boolean op (12:32:30) andyfitz: as an option, that would be pretty useful for removing the scrap (12:32:36) andyfitz: and keeps the concept of cropping intact (12:33:05) su-v: how would you treat groups? (12:33:37) su-v: if a group has objects inside, overlapping and fully outside the clipping area: do you keep the group? (12:33:43) andyfitz: su-v: the default would be a parent group of all things. do you mean in the context of deleting the scrap objects ? (12:33:55) su-v: or parse the structure and test each object inside each group? (12:34:14) su-v: yes, in the context of deleting objects (12:34:43) andyfitz: suv, if those objects are in a group, they should stay. if they are at the base level they should go. some objects won't be within the crop view but overlap. wed need to use bbyaks line selection code to capture them before the group so we can delete the rest (12:35:26) andyfitz: so it's a 3 phase selection procedure (12:36:09) andyfitz: 1. bounding box 2. ) line select along the outline 3.) rect creation .. all using the same XY coords issued in the users command (12:36:34) su-v: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/168627 has an interesting discussion about cropping vector drawings (on the topic of export, but the issue is the same or close) (12:36:34) andyfitz: after 1 and 2 we perform a parent level group (12:37:00) andyfitz: then we can delete the other parent level objects that aren't part of the group (your filesave) (12:38:21) andyfitz: if an object is in a group but off-canvas, id say it should stay. things would get messy otherwise (12:38:44) andyfitz: also there are some other simple rules to follow (never delete the master object of a <use> within the group (12:39:12) andyfitz: anway I've got to go back to work (12:39:23) andyfitz: just popped in to seed the idea, not champion it
peace!
Andy
On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 12:10 PM, Andy Fitzsimon <andrew@...420...> wrote:
G'day everyone,
I had a thought after some observation and while it wouldn't look good on our already crowded toolbox, it should be fairly easy to implement a crop tool. In practice its just applying parent group to all things then a clippath and finally a resize page to contents command which we already have the code for... Also, it would be easy to have a rule that crops from the selection (if things are selected) by skipping that last resize page and only grouping the already selected stuff.. maybe attached as a mode of the default selector tool from the parent toolbar
My thinking is that right now creating clippaths is a weird concept for new-to-vector users, but almost everyone gets the idea of cropping
This could be a very achievable GSOC feature if someone is willing to mentor it..
Personally, I can see how much simpler it would be rather than drawing rects and making a weird selection every time i want to crop. to new users, this workflow is not obvious
What are the thoughts here?
-- Andy