Hey all,
I use Obsidian for worldbuilding a graphic novel and general notetaking / project tracking. I’m a big fan of seeing things in a macro-overview but would love to have a more dedicated tool to help with this approach. Canvas is excellent and I get a lot out of it, but it’s not super intuitive how to drill down into more specific things.
My rough idea is this: a magnifying slider that dynamically shifts things from a macro to a micro view (sketch example attached). You’d only need 3 levels (Big, medium, small) but as you slide it, it would zoom in to the Big View, then reach a threshold where it switches to the Medium View, and then the Small.
Also, it would zoom in to where you are currently looking. So, for example, if my Big overview is a world map, as I zoom in, it would move to that part of the world and begin to give more detailed notes about that section of the world I provide. For stories, the Big View could be the overarching story, and drilling down would result in story beats, plot points, chapters, and then text.
On the programming / Obsidian side, you could start with Canvas as a base but then use a hierarchy to start attaching children to the parent Canvas (Longform does a good job of showcasing how this could be done). The programmer would really only be responsible for the magnifier and how the magnifier uses the hierarchy. The writer/artist is responsible for feeding the magnifier the correct notes, canvases, etc it should use.
Artists/More visual writers, how does this sound? Does this sound helpful? I know it would be for me. It’s closer to how my brain works.
