Hello everyone, I’m thinking about easy and simple ways to improve Krita out of the box without adding new features. Before creating a feature request I wanted to be sure we all discussed it and come to a good conclusion together.
I have a few suggestions:
We need a Hotkey for the Freehand Selection (also called Lasso tool in other software).
I suggest the key “S”, or maybe “Q”
Deselect is used very often I suppose. I asked about it on Discord and in private and we all seem to use Ctrl+D instead of Ctrl+Shift+A. “D” is perfect for “Deselect”, also yes, it is the standard in other software, too.
We can certainly talk about other mappings. What do you think and even a lot more important: how do you have your shortcuts set up?
They’re not really new features in my opinion, you can just go to “settings-Configure Krita-Keyboard shortcuts” and then search for the shortcut you want to customize. That’s what I love about Krita, everything is easy to customize.
It is Ctrl + Shift + A and I think this is same with two creative software on linux side that is free software side for example GIMP has the same shortcut.
Sorry I meant “Ctrl+Shift+A”, my bad.
I want to create fast, and three keys for something I use that often is not necessary when it can be done with two keys that also make more sense. I understand the logic of “Ctrl+A selects everything, so Ctrl+Shift+A deselects it”.
However: Shift usually works the other way around in Windows and on a Mac, it adds to the selection. I love Linux and Gimp, don’t get me wrong. But aren’t most users on Windows?
The ones i changed that i remember now are:
Q - outline selection tool
C - toogle eraser mode
E - eraser preset in 10 brushes
Ctrl+D - deselect
W - show the color wheel on canvas
Ctrl+w - show the color history on canvas ( though i don’t use it much cause it’s a pain to select anything in it
R,A,S- toogle replace, add and subtract modes for the selection tools ( it was removed as defaults in a previous version)
T - transform tool
Ctrl+T - move tool
D - dynamic brush tool
Not all of these would be good defaults but work really well for me. I also removed any “dangerous shortcuts” like the shortcut to quit the program and flatten image.
One thing i like to point out is that krita relies heavily on 3 key presses shortcuts and many cheap keyboards don’t support that.
I am using Q as my lasso, and it is working wonderfully for me!
As I wrote on my shortcut set:
Freehand Selection Tool
No shortcut → Q
Polygonal Selection Tool
No shortcut → Ctrl + Q
Magnetic Selection Tool
No shortcut → Shift + Q
Reasoning: I use these a lot. “Q” looks like a lasso, so it is easy to remember and easy to reach!
“L” is not easy to reach and feels like it interupts my zen
Also for the deselect shortcut it should definitively be something with “D” for Deselect
Also if feels more natural to reach for than A
I disagree as the Shift and Ctrl is used for this instead now, and those letters are so well placed I feel it’s wasteful to use them for this purpose.
Haha I did the excact same, this one makes more sense than the current I believe!
I think it’s a nice reason, but as with the other software Krita is competing/lives in harmony with, it shouldn’t be similar just to be similar, but stand out if it means the program can be better for it.
I have a whole list here with how I like then, and reasonings as to why I think they are better than the defaults, a few of them is porsonal but most I really believe would be better for most people!
I just prefer to use the toogle than use the modifiers, for me it works much better. Not really suggesting any of these as new defaults just listing the ones i changed.
I use more than a dozen different custom keyboard shortcuts under my left hand, which is why each free key participates in 2-3 new combinations. They do not overlap with the standard combinations of Krita, but complement them, and for me, changing the standard layouts will be extremely negative. People come to Krita with different experiences of other programs, and their priorities and ideas about hotkeys may be incompatible. Secondly, it will change the relevance of resources and lessons devoted to the study of Krita (however, the development of Krita in any case requires updating of educational materials). Fortunately Krita has the ability to import and export hotkey settings
I can see that, but as you said you can export them and keep them as they were. Also Krita support different shortcut schemes, so people could easily change to the old shortcuts. I think a lot of changes would be positive for most people. For instance shortcuts that are more easy to reach, or shortcuts that is easier to remember. I think if we were to change it would be better to do it early than to do it late. Also, as long as there is a large update number and the update is easily identified, lets say a different UI and/or big version number (Krita 6) I think people can swallow the change better. Blender 2.8 changed a ton, and after the initial shock it ended up much better for it! And I think Krita could too!
I agree that if the program looks the same or has the same major version number, but different shortcuts that can be confusing for people trying to learn.
BUT, I think if the change is paired with a UI redesign and perhaps a big number change, then people can see easily if the program is looking different and is (for instance) version 6.
We could then have, just like we have with the bunles, a Krita 5 shortcut scheme, and a Krita 6 shortcut scheme.
That is why we should think together about improving the defaults. To not make us all customize it completely differently but find simple steps to improve, see overlapping ideas and opinions that many of us share. It could also make learning easier in the future. To make the program better. If too many things change the Krita Foundation could release a collaborative video of many of us artists telling people 10 second clips (of each change/feature) of what has changed and how.
Going back to the old settings is always an option if newer options don’t work out for you.
Your left hand hotkeys make sense to you, however, me as a leftie (drawing with the left hand, that is) - I don’t get anything from that.
It will be a brilliant idea to have shortcut schemes based on your handedness. It can be a shortcut scheme along with other shortcut schemes we have for Photoshop etc.
Because I thought I had it in lounge and then it landed it feedback. I thought I made a mistake and tried to make it right. Sorry. You can move it where you think it belongs and I’ll stay away from changing categories.
I think like Rakurri said introducing a change like this in the next major version would make sense as major versions already signal breaking or huge changes.
I understand this but changes shouldn’t be blocked because because it outdates current tutorials. Documentation needs to be always evolving alongside the program.
I am unsure about this statement. I think there is some value to make krita be a bit more compatible with other programs, of course not everything would be able to be set as default as it might not make sense for krita, but i think the point of this thread is to find the common points that could be altered.
I don’t think the idea is to make the ultimate shortcut scheme that no one will change, fine-tuning will always be a thing for each one the idea is to make so the most common changes during fine-tuning are the default.
2 things i think would be interesting is introduce a new scheme in a non major version (like 5.x), as an option to be chosen(no changes to the default one) so people can already start to test it,
And one thing i think would be very beneficial a startup wizard to navigate the user to choose what they want in some options like choosing the scheme. With of course a button to just close it right away.
These are a bit out of the scope of the topic but felt related enough to mention.
Edit: why this thread was moved to general questions? I think it made more sense in feedback
I agree with your points. Krita already has some shortcuts similar to photoshop for example feather is Shift + F6, brush editor has similar shortcut, merging layers etc duplicate layers, brush tool etc etc. it is one of the reason people feel familiar while switching from photoshop to Krita.
It also has different shortcuts for some tools, for example colour picking is Alt, we can see if changing these remaining different shortcuts helps. It is also good to look if it is beneficial to break the muscle memory of existing users who are accustomed to defaults when those needing different shortcut can change it to their liking anyway. It is one of the reason we have shortcut schemes, people familiar with other software can choose a similar shortcut scheme
I think it will be beneficial to add more schemes instead of changing the defaults drastically. And I hope these schemes will become resource types which people can share with each others like bundles etc.
Perhaps we should look at other software too and take the good shortcuts if there are any in them.
I’m quite capable of setting up my own custom shortcuts if I want to.
(I don’t though because the only ones I can remember are Ctrl+[Z,X,C,V] ).
However, if I’d spent a long time using krita and its default shortcuts, I’d be confused and annoyed if they suddenly changed.
If this does go through, the release notes should include a very easily seen statment to that effect and a link to a tutorial of how to select the ‘old defaults’ which ought to be available as a named set of shortcuts.
@AhabGreybeard, absolutely right!
If anything, I would introduce another scheme for Krita for this and offer it on first launch, because anyone who is happy with the current scheme and uses it as is would otherwise get a big problem.
Yes i completely agree, i dont think it would be good to change the current default scheme , having a new option and give the user the choice of choosing which scheme fits better is always better than to impose a a drastic change.
I think they are already sharable too.
Indeed i changed the color picker to alt in my end too.
Indeed, that’s why I think it’s a good thing that krita could have a startup wizard for people to be able to chose what they want the first time they open krita, while it’s possible for users to change things in the settings guiding new users through the most common settings people may change may be helpful
