Resource Control

Improve the usability and data saving of resources and Tool Presets in Artbox.


Deactivate Automatic Saving

Current Design: Saves are done when GIMP exits

Issues: Tweaks to resources in session can corrupt carefully set up tools with unwanted changes.

Changes: A Preference to ‘Save resource changes on exit’

Implementation: Added a user preference option to control when resource changes are saved, preventing automatic saving of temporary modifications that might compromise carefully configured tool setups.

Benefits: Provides better control over resource preservation, allowing users to experiment with resource changes without fear of corrupting their carefully configured tools and presets.

Immediate Saving

Current Design: Saves are done when GIMP exits

Issues: Changes to resources are lost if GIMP crashes or exits with a crash.

Changes: Save immediately when clicked

Save As Functionality

Current Design: Saves are done with default naming

Issues: The name of the saved resource is not the same as the filename, this is confusing.

Changes: Save immediately with a naming option, Save As…

Save All Changes

Current Design: If saves are done by the user on demand, as described in (2) or (3), a new issue arises

Issues: Changes to resources may be forgotten during the session. Saving one by one is error prone and time consuming

Changes: Add ‘Save all the active tool assets’ button and a ‘Save all changes’ button on the Preset Editor

Simpler Menus

Current Design: Menu item ‘Copy Resource Location’ exists in several menus

Issues: Not used by most users, creates menu clutter

Changes: A Preference to ‘Show Copy Resource Location menu item’

Brush Editor Enhancements

Current Design: See menu items and Button Bar GUI in GIMP / See Brushes Menu items

Issues: Confusing item placement, Button Bar GUI out of step with updates / Confusion over brush types

Changes: Apply a consistent menu item position, and arrange Button Bars to support the changes / Double clicking an image type opens the image for editing, Double clicking a parametric type opens the Brush Editor

Locked Resource Notification

Current Design: Folder locked resources can not be edited

Issues: User confusion

Changes: An informative message is displayed in the Brush Editor if the resource is locked

Copy and Paste as New Brush

Current Design: New Feature

Issues: Create a brush from the active drawable

Changes: Added to the Brushes Menu via a Script-Fu plug-in

Tool Preset Name Display

Current Design: New Feature

Issues: See the active Tool Preset name requires the Tool Preset Editor to be open or the Tool Preset selector to be in list mode

Changes: Added the active Tool Preset name after the Tool name in the Tool Options title. Tool Name | Tool Preset Name

Preferences Folder Options

Current Design: New Feature

Issues: Folders have to be manually added or removed per resource

Changes: Added a GUI to add, deactivate, or remove folder paths to a set of resources, allowing quick control over active resources

Resource Filtering

Current Design: New Feature

Issues: User never uses filtering and it takes up GUI space and adds complexity

Changes: Added Preference option, Interface > Resource Filtering > Enable Resource Filtering and Tagging

Icon View Preview

Current Design: Themes button appears in Icon view grid modes to toggle background colour of preview

Issues: Adds GUI clutter that also appears in the Tool Presets view, user sets once, button hangs around forever.

Changes: Hardcode the previews to use the theme background colour and hide the toggle button.

Implementation: Automatically configured icon view previews to use theme background colors and removed the persistent toggle button, eliminating interface clutter while maintaining visual consistency.

Benefits: Reduces GUI complexity by removing a rarely-used persistent button, while maintaining appropriate theme-based preview backgrounds for better visual integration.