Image syncing between Editors via active image canvas #103636

New Issue

Julien Kaspar · 2023-01-04T11:40:24+01:00

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-04 11:40:24 +01:00

This is related to D16811 and similar improvements.

Issue

The purpose of this design is to avoid unintended syncing of images between the image editor, 3D viewport and shader editor.
The syncing is currently tied to the last active image texture node in the material. But since this is triggered with selection it leads to many accidents.
This has lead users to avoid using the syncing all together by pinning images and not using the "Material" texture selection in the 3D viewport.

Solution

The goal is to make the syncing an explicit action by

Using the active texture paint slot/canvas, instead of the last active image texture node
Indicating the active image canvas on any image texture node that uses it with an icon (Eye icon for example)
Changing the active image canvas in the node editor via an explicit action (Clicking the icon)
For faster use, add a shortcut (like double clicking on an image texture node) to make the image canvas active
For reference, add a context menu entry with the used shortcut

This also affects other areas where currently the active image texture node is being used:

General Image editor display
3D viewport solid shading with color set to Texture
Baking target texture
UV editing image aspect ratio

This wouldn't contradict current cases of icons in the top-right corner.

This is related to [D16811](https://archive.blender.org/developer/D16811) and similar improvements. ## Issue The purpose of this design is to avoid unintended syncing of images between the image editor, 3D viewport and shader editor. The syncing is currently tied to the last active image texture node in the material. But since this is triggered with selection it leads to many accidents. This has lead users to avoid using the syncing all together by pinning images and not using the "Material" texture selection in the 3D viewport. ## Solution The goal is to make the syncing an explicit action by - Using the active texture paint slot/canvas, instead of the last active image texture node - Indicating the active image canvas on any image texture node that uses it with an icon (Eye icon for example) - Changing the active image canvas in the node editor via an explicit action (Clicking the icon) - For faster use, add a shortcut (like double clicking on an image texture node) to make the image canvas active - For reference, add a context menu entry with the used shortcut ![image.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F14113191/image.png) This also affects other areas where currently the active image texture node is being used: - General Image editor display - 3D viewport solid shading with color set to Texture - Baking target texture - UV editing image aspect ratio This wouldn't contradict current cases of icons in the top-right corner. ![image.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F14113193/image.png)

Philipp Oeser was assigned by Julien Kaspar

2023-01-04 11:40:24 +01:00

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-04 11:40:24 +01:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-04 11:40:24 +01:00

Added subscriber: @JulienKaspar

sizuka00 commented

2023-01-04 13:11:00 +01:00

(Migrated from localhost:3001)

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sizuka00 commented

2023-01-04 13:11:00 +01:00

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Hans Goudey commented

2023-01-04 16:24:08 +01:00

Added subscriber: @HooglyBoogly

Hans Goudey commented

2023-01-04 16:24:08 +01:00

What changes is this proposing for the geometry nodes viewer node? It's not clear to me how it's different from what's described here.

Philipp Oeser commented

2023-01-05 09:56:19 +01:00

Added subscriber: @brecht

Philipp Oeser commented

2023-01-05 09:56:19 +01:00

We should probably use the IMAGE icon? (since that is used for both Image Editor and inside the Paint Slot list)
That would need two states though (since every Image Texture node would have the icon to click on and only one can be active, so needs a state to indicate "active")

But it does have implications for the Viewer Node, as that one could also benefit for the same improvements of making the action more explicit.

What changes is this proposing for the geometry nodes viewer node? It's not clear to me how it's different from what's described here.

Also not sure about this (Viewer nodes wont be affected by this at all, same as Nodegroups and Output nodes)

There is a case though (currently not covered by the syncing if I am correct) which is compositing Image nodes. If we ever want to cover these as well, they would have two icons next to each other ("Toggle Preview" and the new "Sync to Image Editor").
But since that would be new functionality anyways, I would not worry about this at this point.

Using the active image of the current material, instead of the last active image texture node

From a code perspective, I assume NODE_ACTIVE_TEXTURE / NODE_ACTIVE_PAINT_CANVAS could be kept and used for this -- code just tweaked to handle this differently (not on selection etc).
(Or was the plan to introduce something new to indicate the active image?)

I would like to include @brecht here (since this might affect how the new texture/layer/painting works)

We should probably use the `IMAGE` icon? (since that is used for both Image Editor and inside the Paint Slot list) That would need two states though (since every Image Texture node would have the icon to click on and only one can be active, so needs a state to indicate "active") ![image.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F14114908/image.png) > But it does have implications for the Viewer Node, as that one could also benefit for the same improvements of making the action more explicit. > What changes is this proposing for the geometry nodes viewer node? It's not clear to me how it's different from what's described here. Also not sure about this (Viewer nodes wont be affected by this at all, same as Nodegroups and Output nodes) There is a case though (currently not covered by the syncing if I am correct) which is compositing Image nodes. If we ever want to cover these as well, they would have two icons next to each other ("Toggle Preview" and the new "Sync to Image Editor"). But since that would be new functionality anyways, I would not worry about this at this point. > Using the active image of the current material, instead of the last active image texture node From a code perspective, I assume `NODE_ACTIVE_TEXTURE` / `NODE_ACTIVE_PAINT_CANVAS` could be kept and used for this -- code just tweaked to handle this differently (not on selection etc). (Or was the plan to introduce something new to indicate the active image?) I would like to include @brecht here (since this might affect how the new texture/layer/painting works)

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-05 10:49:14 +01:00

@HooglyBoogly @lichtwerk The reason I bring up the Viewer Node is this:
Do we want switching viewer Nodes also to be an explicit action instead of using active selection?

But I agree, it's unrelated so I'll remove it from the description.

And yes we might want to use the image icon instead. But it would need a disabled state too.
Graying out the icon if the image is not active would be fine by me.

@HooglyBoogly @lichtwerk The reason I bring up the Viewer Node is this: Do we want switching viewer Nodes also to be an explicit action instead of using active selection? But I agree, it's unrelated so I'll remove it from the description. And yes we might want to use the image icon instead. But it would need a disabled state too. Graying out the icon if the image is not active would be fine by me.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2023-01-05 15:00:20 +01:00

Making the operation more explicit and indicating the state with an icon seems good to me.

It's not clear to me what is meant by "active image" in the description. We have an active texture node, and active texture paint slot/canvas. Are these proposed to become the same thing? Or would they still exist as distinct states, and if so what is each used for?

Making the operation more explicit and indicating the state with an icon seems good to me. It's not clear to me what is meant by "active image" in the description. We have an active texture node, and active texture paint slot/canvas. Are these proposed to become the same thing? Or would they still exist as distinct states, and if so what is each used for?

Julien Kaspar changed title from ~~Image syncing between Editors via active image state~~ to Image syncing between Editors via active image canvas

2023-01-05 15:30:04 +01:00

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-05 15:30:38 +01:00

@brecht True. I updated the task to use more accurate terminology.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2023-01-05 16:14:23 +01:00

Thanks, but it's still not clear to me if the concept of the active texture node goes away entirely then or not?

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-05 16:28:24 +01:00

Even if this design gets implemented, the active texture node would still be used as a baking target (until the baking workflow gets a new design).
What else is the active texture node currently used for?

Even if this design gets implemented, the active texture node would still be used as a baking target (until the baking workflow gets a new design). What else is the active texture node currently used for?

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2023-01-05 16:57:28 +01:00

It's used for:

Image editor display
3D viewport solid shading with color set to Texture
Baking
UV editing image aspect ratio

I think it would be wrong for this to affect display in the image editor and 3D viewport but then not have baking and UV editing tools follow along. They should be coupled so what you see matches what you are editing.

It's used for: * Image editor display * 3D viewport solid shading with color set to Texture * Baking * UV editing image aspect ratio I think it would be wrong for this to affect display in the image editor and 3D viewport but then not have baking and UV editing tools follow along. They should be coupled so what you see matches what you are editing.

Philipp Oeser commented

2023-01-06 07:24:13 +01:00

In #103636#1469485, @lichtwerk wrote:
From a code perspective, I assume NODE_ACTIVE_TEXTURE / NODE_ACTIVE_PAINT_CANVAS could be kept and used for this -- code just tweaked to handle this differently (not on selection etc).

I would also keep it "like it is" (in regards to what above flags do / what they are used for), just setting these happens differently (e.g. clicking the icon instead of selecting the node)

> In #103636#1469485, @lichtwerk wrote: > From a code perspective, I assume `NODE_ACTIVE_TEXTURE` / `NODE_ACTIVE_PAINT_CANVAS` could be kept and used for this -- code just tweaked to handle this differently (not on selection etc). I would also keep it "like it is" (in regards to what above flags do / what they are used for), just setting these happens differently (e.g. clicking the icon instead of selecting the node)

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-06 11:53:45 +01:00

@brecht Ok I think you are right. We should use the active image canvas/slot for all these cases.

Philipp Oeser commented

2023-01-10 09:13:11 +01:00

I would assume that once we move this to be an explicit action, we will drop the exception that Render Results and Compositing Viewer wont be changed in the Image Editor, right?
This was more or less added to avoid "accidents", if this is an implicit action, we can be sure the user really wants to see that image in the Image Editor, right?

I would assume that once we move this to be an explicit action, we will **drop** the exception that `Render Results` and `Compositing Viewer` wont be changed in the Image Editor, right? This was more or less added to avoid "accidents", if this is an implicit action, we can be sure the user really wants to see that image in the Image Editor, right?

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2023-01-10 09:27:12 +01:00

I don't think we would drop that exception, it's still helpful when you have multiple image editors open. In other apps the render result / compositing viewer is a different type of editor even.

Julien Kaspar commented

2023-01-10 10:40:02 +01:00

I also think that we should keep those exceptions. If the user set the image viewer to a render/compositing result, they wouldn't want that to change with syncing.
That's why a pinning feature is not even exposed there I assume (That and because these images cannot be assigned to anything)

Often a second image viewer area is added to show a texture at the same time.

I also think that we should keep those exceptions. If the user set the image viewer to a render/compositing result, they wouldn't want that to change with syncing. That's why a pinning feature is not even exposed there I assume (That and because these images cannot be assigned to anything) Often a second image viewer area is added to show a texture at the same time.

Philipp Oeser commented

2023-01-10 12:25:35 +01:00

@brecht , @JulienKaspar : thx for the input, that makes sense then.

Julien Kaspar added this to the Sculpt, Paint & Texture project 2023-02-08 10:20:48 +01:00

Philipp Oeser removed the

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Image syncing between Editors via active image canvas #103636

Issue

Solution