What if Krita's canvas rotation step is too large? This plugin allows fine-tuned, customizable rotation control

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Background

Recently, my boss tossed me into the world of design work again (I guess I’ve become the magical “wish-granting turtle”—every art-related task ends up on my desk). So here I am, drawing again.

I happen to use a hardware controller (like TourBox or Stream Deck) that lets me bind keyboard shortcuts to dials and wheels — super handy for speeding up my workflow.

However, once I mapped Krita’s canvas zoom and rotation shortcuts to the wheel, I ran into a serious problem:
the canvas rotates way too much with each click.
20250520114433_rec_

Zoom sensitivity can be adjusted

…but rotation can’t.
The default rotation keys (like 4 / 6 or Ctrl + [ / Ctrl + ]) rotate the canvas by a whopping 15 degrees per press, which is just… too much. I just wanted to make a slight nudge, but the whole canvas flips around like crazy.

I thought it was a minor problem — until I found this 2019 post on Krita’s official forum:

Addition of a value to settings for changing discrete steps for canvas zoom/canvas rotate/brush size

Sadly, this basic request has remained unresolved for years.

So I decided to build my own plugin to fix it.

:cyclone: Krita Canvas Rotation Tool

:wrench: Plugin Features

Micro Rotate

Allows you to rotate the canvas precisely, in small increments (e.g. 0.1° to 5.0°).
Perfect for fine adjustments or using with a dial/wheel controller.
Default shortcuts: Ctrl + 4 / Ctrl + 6

Coarse Rotate (Snap to Angles)

Automatically snaps the canvas to the nearest major angles (15°, 30°, 45°, etc.), avoiding awkward “half-rotated” states.
Default shortcuts: Alt + 4 / Alt + 6

Rotation Step Settings

A simple configuration window lets you set both micro and coarse rotation values via sliders.

:package: Installation & Setup

Everything is explained in the GitHub repository:

:link: GitHub Repo (with installation & usage instructions):

:down_arrow: Download Latest Release:

:scroll: License:
MIT License. Free to use, modify, and distribute.
Feedback and suggestions are welcome — feel free to :star: the repo or open an issue!

7 Likes
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Much appreciated.

1 Like
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Thanks for the plugin. Using it with 5.3 prealpha on Windows 11.

Rotation stepping works fine but not:

"… rotation centered around the current mouse position. " (quote from your GitHub page)

Rotation takes place around the center of the current view, not around the cursor position.

Is this maybe not implemented?

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Thanks for the feedback！ You’re right the “rotation centered around the current mouse position” was a feature I initially wanted to include, but I ran into some issues during development.
So in the current version (v0.4), this feature is not implemented, even though it’s mentioned on the github repo description.

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5

Thanks for the clarification.
In case you find a solution for the “rotate around cursor” challenge, please :folded_hands: let us know.
I can live with Krita’s default stepping of 15 degrees (but your solution is better), but the “rotate around view center” is bothering me every time I use it.

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Thank you very much for your work, but I find Krita’s built-in 【Rotate Mode】 more convenient. Pressing the shortcut creates a rotation center at the lower right of the pen tip — it’s the best feature I’ve ever used.

2 Likes
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Hm, are you referring to this one?

Rotate-Mode
Rotate-Mode1039×466 23.5 KB

In my Krita 5.3 prealpha it is rotating around view center, but not pen/mouse cursor position.
Is there maybe another rotate mode I have not yet discovered?

And, this mode requires to trigger the rotation by a movement of the pen/mouse.
I think the OP’s development focused on the use of remote controllers, where the rotation is triggered by a dial on the controller. The pen/mouse cursor stays where it is i that case.

1 Like
8

I use a Tourbox and this is going to really help me.

1 Like