why not to leave the selected brush highlighted

[srg]

I coulkd not find this mentioned before thus I post my problem.

When I select a brush the selected brush is highlighted. As soon as I modulate its features on the context tool bar the highlight goes away. This is a problem if I want to chose another brush since I cannot see which one I am using from the brush panel. 

I think the brush in use, or the one selected for the tool in use, should be identifiable somehow.

Thanks

 

[Chris B]

Hey srg,

This has definitely been reported before and I raised it at one point.

The reasoning behind this is that you've modified the preset so it is no longer that brush you initially picked.

[Polygonius]

20 minutes ago, Chris B said:

The reasoning behind this is that you've modified the preset so it is no longer that brush you initially picked.

So than just change the highlight-color or put a symbol behind.... There are many ways to indicate "both".

 

BTW: i do not like the concept of confusing split betwen "preset" and "brush" panel... could be both the same, but a "preset" gets onyl overwritten if i explicit say "overwrite", otherwise its just temporarily change. 

[Chris B]

5 minutes ago, Polygonius said:

So than just change the highlight-color or put a symbol behind.... There are many ways to indicate "both".

I realise this. I just haven't had any luck convincing dev that this should change  

[Polygonius]

9 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I realise this. I just haven't had any luck convincing dev that this needs to change  

is this so intensive to implement? Yeah as long there are metal-issuses... and regress (eg bitmap-styles)... this should have priority. But: if not in this version, it should come in next version and BTW: with a better brush-concept at all, like other views, a history of last used brushes... a shortcut to your five "standard/favorite-brushes"...

[fde101]

40 minutes ago, Polygonius said:

is this so intensive to implement?

Whether or not it even should be implemented is questionable... it depends on the whole philosophy of what the brush presets are.  If you consider them brushes with a "default" size that can be changed while it is still the same brush then it should be highlighted, but evidently that is not how the Affinity apps look at this.

The indication is that these apps consider a brush of a different size to no longer be the same brush.  Leaving it highlighted is then misleading because it suggests you are using that brush when in fact you are not.

 

As to whether or not this is difficult/time-consuming to implement, yes it easily could be depending on how they actually implemented brushes behind the scenes.

 

 

That said, there should be some way to see the properties of the brush you *are* using and this may call for a different type of interface than the one currently being presented.

Using a different highlight color to show that you are using a brush which is a custom derivative of a preset that was previously selected in the list seems reasonable: that treats it kind of like the text styles in Publisher where you have a basic style and then customized "local" attributes, possibly with an option to revert to the selected preset and a separate option to "update" the preset to match the changes that have been made since it was selected.  This could be a bigger change than it sounds like, however.

 

There are other ways to present this information, and perhaps the developers have something else in mind?  In any case, this clearly warrants some kind of change.

[ronnyb]

On 3/4/2019 at 6:14 AM, Chris B said:

Hey srg,

This has definitely been reported before and I raised it at one point.

The reasoning behind this is that you've modified the preset so it is no longer that brush you initially picked.

Hey @Chris B not sure if this is should be a separate post but how about this idea: what if Affinity apps using Brushes have an automatically generated and pinned category at they top of the brush studio called Recent Brushes, where users’ brush changes are logged, like Brushes History? 

[sublime]

yes, please fix this. I see people have been mentioning it for over a year. Although a brush and brush preset are not necessarily the same thing please highlight it or something. Working with various brushes at same time I lose sight of which shape I selected last. There's no name of brush or any type of visual identification what I'm working with.

[Evan D]

I came here to request a 'recent brushes' menu category too. Swapping between a few different brushes is currently really hard. I end up having to make categories and duplicate brushes into them just to manage the brushes I'm using. Would be nice if this was built in.