WIP: UI: Icons at 64x64 and Simplified Process #112261

Harley Acheson · 2023-09-12T01:55:34+02:00

Harley Acheson commented

2023-09-12 01:55:34 +02:00

Add a third MIP level to our icons, in 64x64, allowing non-blurry sizes
above 2X scale (1X scale with Retina). Also greatly simplifies our icon
processes in the project.

This simplifies our processes and allows more detailed icons.

The current process for the interface icons in Blender is a bit involved. We first export rasterized PNG versions of our vector SVG source file. Those PNGS are then read and are broken up into individual icon bitmaps that are stored in the source blender_icons16 and blender_icons32 folders (1358 files, totaling about 8 Megabytes). Blender then takes those individual bitmaps and puts them back together to make the two levels of a mipmap that is used to draw the icons.

One mipmap level, 16x16, is used to draw the icons when the resolution scale is exactly 1.0 or smaller. The other level, 32x32, is used for all scales above 1.0. The first problem is that the icon detail maxes out at 2x scale. When viewing on a high-dpi monitor this will be shown as 1.0 scale. Any larger scale will show fuzzy icons. And there are many users who might prefer a scale larger than 1.0 on a Retina screen or 2.0 on a 4K monitor.

This PR first simplifies the process. Instead of including the 1358 bitmap files (8 Megabytes) in the blender executable, we include just one PNG file of just 585 Kilobytes. This means that we no longer need the blender_icons16 and blender_icons32 folders and could remove them from the project. This also eliminates the often (and current) problem of those folders being out of sync with the SVG source.

This PR uses the one PNG file to create a mipmap level of 64x64. It then creates the 32x32, 16x16, & 8x8 levels. This allows perfectly clear icons to 4.0 scale on regular monitors and to 2.0 scale on Retina displays. Because of this change this PR also increases the range of ui_scale to a soft limit of 4 and a hard limit of 8.

The following captures illustrate the differences.

32x32 icons on top, 64x64 below:

32x32 at left, 64x64 at right

Add a third MIP level to our icons, in 64x64, allowing non-blurry sizes above 2X scale (1X scale with Retina). Also greatly simplifies our icon processes in the project. --- This simplifies our processes and allows more detailed icons. The current process for the interface icons in Blender is a bit involved. We first export rasterized PNG versions of our vector SVG source file. Those PNGS are then read and are broken up into individual icon bitmaps that are stored in the source `blender_icons16` and `blender_icons32` folders (1358 files, totaling about 8 Megabytes). Blender then takes those individual bitmaps and puts them back together to make the two levels of a mipmap that is used to draw the icons. One mipmap level, 16x16, is used to draw the icons when the resolution scale is exactly 1.0 or smaller. The other level, 32x32, is used for all scales above 1.0. The first problem is that the icon detail maxes out at 2x scale. When viewing on a high-dpi monitor this will be shown as 1.0 scale. Any larger scale will show fuzzy icons. And there are many users who might prefer a scale larger than 1.0 on a Retina screen or 2.0 on a 4K monitor. This PR first simplifies the process. Instead of including the 1358 bitmap files (8 Megabytes) in the blender executable, we include just one PNG file of just 585 Kilobytes. This means that we no longer need the `blender_icons16` and `blender_icons32` folders and could remove them from the project. This also eliminates the often (and current) problem of those folders being out of sync with the SVG source. This PR uses the one PNG file to create a mipmap level of 64x64. It then creates the 32x32, 16x16, & 8x8 levels. This allows perfectly clear icons to 4.0 scale on regular monitors and to 2.0 scale on Retina displays. Because of this change this PR also increases the range of `ui_scale` to a soft limit of 4 and a hard limit of 8. The following captures illustrate the differences. 32x32 icons on top, 64x64 below: ![image](/attachments/eba81b80-825e-4997-a13b-a25225a6b365) 32x32 at left, 64x64 at right ![image](/attachments/05307f14-4b0b-4137-bd4b-2add017e8c75)

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Harley Acheson added this to the User Interface project 2023-09-12 01:59:21 +02:00

Harley Acheson force-pushed Icon64 from d93b35e0b5 to f4cf2904ff

2023-10-01 22:43:55 +02:00

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Harley Acheson changed title from ~~WIP: UI: Icons at 64x64~~ to WIP: UI: Icons at 64x64 and Customizable