A major QoL improvement for me would be a toggle to switch between the current and the previous brush. I often use one brush for linework and another for shading. In that case, I always have to go through the brush panel and look for the previous brush(es).
In Sketchbook, the brush tool shortcut would, by default toggle between the current and previous brush, which allowed me to easily change brushes with a single hotkey. Now, I don’t propose this to be the default for Krita, but rather as an extension of the brush shortcut and as a simpler version than any of the brush plugins (such as: Three-slots, Ten-brushes, Buli Brush Switch). It is also very flexible, since you don’t need to pre-configure any brushes, it uses whatever you’ve picked previously. Users could assign this hotkey to B and activate the brush tool if it wasn’t active already and switch brushes when the brush tool is currently active.
If a dedicated eraser tool were to be implemented (see: Feature request for dedicated Eraser Tool), a similar option could also be used for erasers. For example, this could be used to change between a square and round eraser or between a hard and soft one.
There is already a shortcut for switching between previously used brush and current active brush by default it is mapped to / key. So you can select a hard eraser and then switch to a pencil brush so that you can keep on toggling between eraser and pencil brush by pressing this key. This was often suggested to people who wanted quick access to dedicated eraser brush, but often ignored.
You can also add your brushes to some tag, choose that tag in the popup-palette and then cycle between those brushes with the , shortcut
To be specific, I would like to have the combined behaviour of: / > Switching presets if the brush tool is active B > Switch to the brush tool if another tool is active
And when activating the brush tool, I want to use the brush that I would get when I were to activate the brush tool using B. It’s quite specific, but it shaves of an additional key from the keymap.
The hotkey for this feature request is ? in this example:
I activate the brush tool using ?.
I paint a bit with a paint brush.
Then I want to use my previous brush, which is a smudge brush. I press ? and get the smudge brush.
I go back to the paint brush by pressing ?.
I exit the brush tool, do some other stuff. And I activate the brush tool again by pressing ? and I am back to using the paint brush, as I would when using B.
So you want a shortcut to brush tool but pressing the same shortcut subsequently it should switch to previously used brush? But what does it matter the number of key presses are not reduced. Yes this would be a improvement if you are using some extra keypad or assigning the buttons of the tablet to it.
Exactly, that’s what I mean.
What it would improve is that I have more available buttons on my keyboard that I can use to activate a tool/ command without the need to press a modifier key. Also, by replacing B as the default, I can keep my fingers close to other tools that I often use. Not having to use keysequences or modifier keys is a huge plus for me, especially in the long run. And it’s quicker too, because you don’t have to move your finger off the key to change brushes.
I guess then the title of the thread needs to be edited to better reflect this request. Currently it says “toggle between current and previous brush (or eraser)” which is not what it is and it is already present in Krita.
This sounds like it should be a config option affecting the current “Activate brush tool” action rather than a separate action. Not only would a config option be more discoverable (and easier to label), I’m not sure if there’s a workflow that desires having both actions available.
If it’s possible to have this configuration option anywhere, then that makes sense, yes. In case the UI should remain simple, then it makes sense to be a different command. Users can map this command to B if they prefer it over the default. In the latter case, there doesn’t need to be a checkbox somewhere in the preferences or tool options.
It depends on what people think is the ‘cleaner’ and more discoverable approach. I think, it is more discoverable if it’s in the keyboard shortcuts then when it’s in a long list of options. But I am fine with it being either way.
