[Improvement] - Camera frame UI

[feeef]

This is an improvement I wish to make because I am not fan of the current behaviour.

Instead of having a button in the Display box to toggle camera frame visibility,

Why not using the existing visibility button on the timeline ?

This way, if we have 2 different cameras (for 2 different output), we can easily choose to set one visible,

Or both of them.

[MrStevns]

Yes this sounds like a good improvement and frankly.. it makes sense. The icon itself could be a bit nicer too.. i'm thinking an eye like what you're used to.. but in a very simple manner.. I will try to cook something together, that looks sharp and modern.

[feeef]

That's great @CandyFace . However, this visibility "dot" has 3 positions (black, gray, white). Maybe an eye wouldn't be ideal.

[MrStevns]

Yes i understand that, but really, is that necessary? Two states should be enough to convey visibility, maybe a second icon should be added to let you know which layer is currently focused, or maybe two states are enough. You also have the flat color to gradient transition when switching to a different layer. Maybe that transition could be changed to something less transparent? Just mentioning a few ideas that could help simplifying and make the readability better.

Have i misunderstood the black spot, doesn't it convey "focused on layer" and if yes, what does it do if i set all layers to the black spot visibility? okay i took a look at the documentation, maybe an eye isn't a good idea after all..

[feeef]

Yes, I wish to keep the 3 states because the other layers use the 3 states. We could imagine that in the gray state, the camera view and the dark boarder is pretty transparent. In the black state, the camera border, still gray, is not transparent at all. However, in a first step, both black and gray states could behave the same way.

[ghost]

I am thinking that you could have an eye that is fully open, mid open and closed if you need to have 3 states. I could possibly design an icon for it, if not anyone is up for it, not sure of the size/format though.

[Jose-Moreno]

I like the "eye" Idea, although I'd suggest an open eye to view layers normally, a "blind" eye to isolate a layer (this function does not exist yet in pencil2D) and "no eye" to hide the layer like this:

I think we first have to establish what the "icon placeholder" size will be inside the layer itself, but I think it's safe to create vector artwork in powers of 2 (24x24, 32x32, 64x64, etc) So it can be resized later without issues.

Edit: I made a mistake thinking you could isolate a layer in the program right now.

[Jose-Moreno]

Also I think it's worth noting that there's a button that allows you to change functionalities between "transparent layer visualization" and "opaque layer visualization" so to speak:

If you make it black all layers will have only two states, visible (on) or invisible (off).

If you make it grey, all layers will have three states, visible / opaque (on), visible / transparent (on) and invisible (off)

I'll record a video of this because it's easier, but I think we should preserve this. The layer isolation that i spoke in my earlier comment is not exactly designed to work like that but to me it's a similar behaviour:

I think we should maintain these states as well. With the icons it should become clearer (but we still need tutorials for Pencil2D hah)

[Jose-Moreno]

@CandyFace @chchwy @scribblemaniac The initial part of the proposal for this issue has already been implemented, you can turn ON or OFF the visibility of the camera frame however a few things would help complete the camera implementation as per @feeef ideas (marked elements already work):

• Compatibility with the three layer visibility states
  • [ ] Visible (Fully Opaque Passepartout; you can't see anything outside the frame)
  • [x] Visible (Semi-transparent passepartout; you can see outside the frame; default state)
  • [x] Hidden (You can't see the frame)
    • [ ] When hidden, the camera(s) should not influence the canvas at all
• Ability to have different cameras
  • [x] Add other camera elements
  • [x] Active camera layers can affect the canvas depending on which one is active.
    • [ ] When visible, camera layers influence should be mutually exclusive and based on the active camera layer. Right now they are additive a.k.a having more than one camera layers turned on and selecting the latest one created will add the results of each layer camera motion. If we had a way to choose between the behavior would be great but if not then just let one camera at a time have influence over the canvas.
  • [x] During video / image sequence export you can select which camera layer to use