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The preface here is that I am a 3D artist working in the games industry. I am starting to use Obsidian’s Canvasses for my reference boards over the industry standard tool “pureref”, and while I have been enjoying the things obsidian does better so far, there are still some artist and gamedev specific features from pureref that I think could make Obsidian a more valuable tool if adopted.
The Meat:
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toggle Nearest Neighbor/Point image filtering
Being able to enable sharp pixel interpolation is useful for digital artists working with pixel art, textures pulled directly from retro games, or for precise color/value sampling from pixels. -
Toggle Image Grayscale (preferably a perceptual algorithm)
Being able to visualize values can be an important tool for artists to break down an image. A perceptual algorithm takes into account nonlinear perceived brightness of colors across the visible light spectrum. -
Rotations and flipping for images
Basic manipulation tools. Flipping is especially useful as a way to get a fresh look at something you have been staring at for hours on end. -
images import at scales relative to resolution
I find myself miffed when I import a 5000~ pixel width image and it scales to the size of a 16 pixel width image with similar poportions. -
Zoom in further
Ties with my above suggestion, I find that at default image import scale I cannot zoom in enough on my canvas to make appreciable use of high resolution images without scaling them up. -
Image packing algorithm
Images can be grouped into grids but the algorithm used relies a lot on existing positioning and leaves gaps between differently proportioned images. something like pureref’s packing algorithm would make for a golden standard, where something like uvpackmaster would constitute a significant improvement over other tools on the market. -
Files dragged into canvasses are their native format (or at least anything other than bmp)
I expect this is probably an OS level limitation but BMP files are uncompressed, extraordinarily space-wasteful, and can have issues with properly managing image colorspace data. I’ve found that copy and pasting images works as intended, but is a significant slowdown when tasked with importing many images at a time. -
Move or hide canvas toolbars
The toolbars make for bothersome visual clutter when not being used, particularly the add items bar on the bottom which is particularly bothersome in how it interrupts images when on a display above the working monitor.