[Issue] Image workbench controls are scattered and hidden in a wb.

[PaddleStroke]

Forums discussion

https://forum.freecad.org/viewtopic.php?p=668562#p668562

Issue description

Currently :
Image workbench :

• Image_Open: Open the img in a (bad) image viewer.
• Image_CreateImagePlane: Create a plane and put the selected img in it.
• Image_Scale: a Dialog opens to scale the image.
  Core :
• File/Open + File/import : both call Image_Open.
• Double clicking on the Tree element triggers the transform enabling setting the image at correct position.

Remarks :

• Image_Open is useless. It only opens the picture in a bad image viewer. It is misleading and bad UI because what the user want is Image_CreateImagePlane.
• Having a workbench for only 1-2 tools is overkill + clutter the workbench selector.

Suggestion :

• Delete the Image workbench.
• Move the Image code to Core.
• The image viewer is removed. All tools from the toolbar are removed.
• File/Open + File/import + Paste with an image + drag drop an img, all call Image_CreateImagePlane.
• Double clicking the ImagePlane in tree + in 3DView opens a TaskBox containing the necessary for placement + transform + scale.

Anything else?

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[PaddleStroke]

In the Tools menu we have the image creation function and there we can move the function to map an image onto a plane.

@wwmayer you mean src\Tools\ImageTools\ImageConv right ? So necessary files should be put in src\tools\ImageTools\imagePlane for instance?

But the command CmdCreateImagePlane, it should still be in one of the command tools in src/gui Like CommandStd.cpp?

Currently the Open command connects to the Py::Object open of the ImageGui Module in a generic way through : StdCmdOpen then Application::open which then calls Command::doCommand(Command::App, "%s.open(u\"%s\")", Module, unicodepath.c_str());

So I'm unsure how to connect the CmdCreateImagePlane command in here. Should we add an else if (File.hasExtension("png") || File.hasExtension("jpg") || ...) in the Application::open?

[wwmayer]

you mean src\Tools\ImageTools\ImageConv right ?

No. I meant the function in FreeCAD: Tools > Save picture, that creates an image of the currently active view. I thought about adding a function to the Tools menu to also load an image file. Using the global open/import mechanism is an option too but it causes a lot of extra work.

ImageConv has been removed recently and it was a utility to convert between several image formats and had an option to write XPM files to a .cpp file. The utility has become obsolete since we are using Qt's resource framework and switched to the SVG format for most of our icons.

Should we add an else if (File.hasExtension("png") || File.hasExtension("jpg") || ...) in the Application::open?

No. Like for any other module the core system must register the image file types and define a module name (here FreeCADGui) that is supposed to load them.

[PaddleStroke]

Thanks for the feedback. And it has already been done I see ! That's great.
#8955

[PaddleStroke]

What do you think about this taskbox to trigger when imagePlane is double clicked :

TaskImagePlane.zip

The first line-edit being a 'feature picker'.

• It displays the name of current orientation plane.
• When clicked it a) opens a menu with 'XY plane' 'XZ plane' & 'YZ plane'. and b) shows the planes on the 3d view (as PartDesign_NewSketch does)
• When user select a feature on the 3d viewer, the edition stops and the newly selected orientation is displayed.

The position X, Y can be changed manually by dragging the picture.

When checkbox proportional is unticked, 'y scale' appear and scale label change to 'x scale'.

[chennes]

Can you provide instead an X-scale and a Y-scale with a link that turns on and off uniform scaling (like in Inkscape, for example)?

[PaddleStroke]

Yes of course I forgot about it. I edited previous post.

[bambukouk]

What seems to be missing as well is setting image transparency.
I use all my images transparent and I believe it can and should be done at the point of importing, please

[chrisb-github]

We could then also have a slider or similar for the backlight preference.

[bambukouk]

Is backlight preference set globally for Display, or is it specific to image only?
(and yes I use both transparency and backlight for my images)

[xtemp09]

When it comes to creation of dialog, I usually copy already existing layout instead of arranging them like I want.
Here is the example how GIMP puts them:

First name, then color tag, opacity, size, offset.

[bambukouk]

> What do you think about this taskbox to trigger when imagePlane is double clicked :
...
> The position X, Y can be changed manually by dragging the picture

setting position at the point of import is un-important
I always have to move the image afterwards anyway.

What is more important is that moving by X, Y and rotation is always available

Dragging a picture/image is PITA if you trying to align specific feature and it puts origin of the image outside the visible screen making transformation thingy un-reachable

[sliptonic]

what's the inputbox control for orientation (plane)?
How would the user align the image to the camera position? (Yes, it's a border case but might as well include it here)

[chennes]

setting position at the point of import is un-important
I always have to move the image afterwards anyway.

Isn't that what we are talking about here? The interface for working with the image once it's been imported?

[bambukouk]

> Isn't that what we are talking about here? The interface for working with the image once it's been imported?

As long as the interface opens automatically immediately after import, as well as on double clicking existing /imported image - then we are talking about one and the same thing

[bambukouk]

...How would the user align the image to the camera position? (Yes, it's a border case but might as well include it here)

wouldn't it be better that such a "marginal" case is handled by use of normal placement tool rather than clutter interface for vast majority of users?

[adrianinsaval]

isn't it better to reuse the dialog and concepts of the attachment dialog rather than making an independent dialog here for positioning the image plane? This will also make it more consistent with other object creation dialogs so the user only needs to learn to use this once.
Then above that we can have a widget with scaling and transparency options.

[bambukouk]

> isn't it better to reuse the dialog and concepts of the attachment dialog rather than making an independent dialog here for positioning the image plane?

in my view no, because the needs are different...
How do you propose to drag the image on the screen using placement dialogue?
there needs to be a combination of precise X,Y placement as well as manually dragging on the screen

[adrianinsaval]

Does the current method allow dragging? You can use the transform tool if you wish to drag things around. In the future we could better unify the attachment, placement and transform dialogs. This would then benefit all objects using that dialog

[sliptonic]

...How would the user align the image to the camera position? (Yes, it's a border case but might as well include it here)

wouldn't it be better that such a "marginal" case is handled by use of normal placement tool rather than clutter interface for vast majority of users?

Instead of having three controls (radio buttons) for the three planes, have one combobox with the alignment options (XY XZ, YZ, Camera) and an apply button. If other alignment options are desired in the future, they're easily added.

[Dtays-meanderings]

Should the option to have an image anchor point be on this dialogue? Center, top right, top center...?

[adrianinsaval]

Is there something still open here? should we not close this now?

[chennes]

I agree: if there are still a few lingering problems we need specific Issues to address them, they'll be lost here.