crocodisle

crocodisle , 22 days ago

@kde @kde
I support people trying new things! I hate Adobe!

However, all of the tools here, save for Blender and maybe Kdenlive, are lacking somewhat in either features or UX. Inkscape is not comparable to Illustrator in my recent experience, and even Krita, while decent, has some weird decisions that don't make much sense from a workflow perspective.

I commonly hear criticism met with either "Add the feature yourself, it's open source" (I am a visual artist with experience using digital art tools, not a C++ programmer) or "It's not supposed to replace <comparable software>" (then your software might as well not bother competing if it's not going to work much better than the other options). I have a necessity to switch, but I can't use these tools yet if they don't behave how I need them to, often how swaths of other competing software behaves. I'm willing to curb my expectations, I don't expect things to be perfect, but the amount of configuration I need to do to get similar workflows like comparable software is rough. I think once that gets addressed, more people will be interested in switching.

I'm so convinced it isn't even a feature issue, more of a look and feel with sane defaults sort of issue.

crocodisle , 21 days ago

@manos_de_papel I've done a bit of that, but it's difficult once you find a way that's objectively faster/less keystrokes to get something done. Not all proprietary software's got it figured out either, I just wish I had option to configure things how I want with the open source tools.

Not to mention, people looking for alternatives may not be as patient as I am. I think the value of UX cannot be understated when it comes to creative tools

crocodisle , 21 days ago

@Bro666 i appreciate your reply! I'll link you to my response to a different post here outlining a bit more of my experience. tl;dr, I've used multiple programs in personal and academic settings. Some FOSS options are great and comparable! Some miss the mark, even if they get close. It's not for lack of trying, it's that out of the multiple programs I've learned over the years, the FOSS options tend to be the odd ones out.

https://woof.tech/@crocodisle/112579981685976482

Even blender is guity of this with its default control scheme being the odd one out among Maya, Unity, and Substance, but it can be modified enough to make up for this and has other attractive aspects to make it a worthy contender. Digital tools tend to be used in an ecosystem that they are integrated with. Learning new workflows if fine, but there's value in being able to do what's already being done well in a similar way without much fuss.

crocodisle , 21 days ago

@Bro666 thanks for the encouragement! I joined a forum when researching some Krita features, but only because I felt the need to stand up for someone who suggested a good feature and ended up getting told it was a stupid idea, even though other painting programs had already implemented something similar... FOSS is tough, and all respect to the developers and communities that make it happen. I trust many of these things are already being worked on/implemented, or the groups have bigger fish to fry.

crocodisle , 20 days ago

@bufalo1973 I've gotten some mixed feedback by the community in the past that was discouraging enough to dissuade getting involved, but I'm reconsidering it now. Thanks for the input!

crocodisle , 20 days ago

@minecraftchest1 @Bro666 options for default control schemes are a good start! Blender's welcome popup thingy asks on first run whether or not the user wants blender or "industry standard" controls which is definitely useful. I know Krita has the option to use keybinds from other popular programs, but my pain points with it have less to do with keybinds and more to do with other small behaviors that add up to making it frustrating to use. I outlined some of them here if you're curious:

https://woof.tech/@crocodisle/112580205821945499

I've had a few suggestions at this point to submit bug reports so I'll consider it.