1.1 User interface overview

PhotoFlow Wiki > User Manual > User Interface Overview

The graphical user interface of photoflow is divided into three main panels:

1. the left panel, where the tree-like layers structure of the current image is shown
2. the image preview area
3. the right panel, which groups the GUI controlsa

The controls widgets that appear in the right panel have a common "header" followed by tool-specific widgets (sliders, curves, selectors, etc...):

The common header includes the basic layer parameters (name, blend mode, opacity and intensity), plus a number of small buttons:

	Expand/collapse the controls.
	Close the controls (it does no remove/delete the corresponding layer).
	Toggle the layer visibility. This button has the same effect as the corresponding check box in the layers list. Both can be used simultaneously.
	Enable/disable the layer masks. When disabled, any grayscale layer mask associated to the layer is completely ignored. Useful to quickly preview the effect of a mask by toggling it on and off.
	Toggle "sticky" flag on/off. When enabled, the preview area will always show the output of the corresponding layer, otherwise the composite output will be shown. Only one tool at a time will be set in "sticky" mode.
	Toggle "editing" flag on/off. When enabled, mouse interactions in the preview area are allowed for the corresponding tool. Only one tool at a time will be set in "editing" mode.

The "editing" flag probably deserves some additional clarifications. In PhotoFlow, several tools can be controlled via mouse interactions in the preview area. For example, control points can be added into a curves adjustment by control-clicking in the preview area, or the area selected by the crop tool can be adjusted by dragging the sides of a corresponding highlighted rectangle rendered on top of the preview image. However, only one tool at a time can eventually interact with the preview area, otherwise it would be a complete anarchy. The "editing flag" toggle button serves exactly this purpose: it defines which tool takes exclusive control of the mouse interactions in the preview area.