I'd like to start a topic to discuss suggestions for Curvy 4. Feel free to add your thoughts here.
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
- Modern GUI
Firstly, I'd like to recommend that the Curvy GUI be modernized. Take a look at modern programs like MODO, Maya, and Photoshop. Everything from the color to the icons to the layout should be rethought, imo.
- Reduce Icons
I think that a lot of the icons on the current Curvy GUI could be reduced, making the GUI simpler, easier to use and to learn. For example, there is Add and Subtract under Sculpt. But these are essentially the same, just inverted. Instead of having two icons, why not have only one, Add, and then use a keyboard modifier to access Subtract. Add would work with just the mouse/stylus. Subtract would be the same, but with CTRL pressed. And you could press SHIFT while using Add to SMOOTH. This could be done the same with Inflate/Deflate - use just one icon and a keyboard shortcut (such as CTRL) to modify (to switch from Inflate to Deflate). Shift would always SMOOTH on either tool. Doing something like this allows the end-user to create without having to move off the view port constantly to click icons.
- Make Curvy Work on Tablets and Touch Enabled Devices
Many artists work on tablets, like the Microsoft Surface pro, or on Wacom Cintiq-like devices that not only use a stylus, but use touch and gestures. I currently use a Dell Canvas (based on Wacom tech, so it's like the Cintiq 27QHD Touch) and it has revolutionized the way I draw, paint, and work in 3D. With touch enabled devices and apps made to work properly with them, I can tumble the 3D viewport, pan, and zoom with touch gestures using my fingers. In a 2D app, like Photoshop, I can rotate the canvas, zoom, and pan, too. This is a very natural experience. This means that the program recognizes what touch is and, therefore, does not draw or create geometry when a finger is pressing on the screen. Currently, in Curvy when you move a finger across a touch enabled screen it's the same as moving the mouse or stylus with the left mouse button pressed.
A modern GUI for Curvy should also have a "tablet mode" so that people can work without a keyboard as much as possible. So, not only the touch/gesture controls I talked about before, but buttons that are friendly to fingers (when in tablet mode) and the ability to set up custom buttons for frequently used functions and hot keys. Paintstorm Studio, a painting app, does this nicely on the iPad, for example. Clip Studio Paint (formerly Manga Studio 5) also has a nice tablet mode that works great on a Cintiq, etc.
I'll keep thinking and see what else I can come up with. I need to get back into using Curvy so I can make better suggestions, too.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)