KanvasBuddy 0.4.1
A minimalist toolbar for Krita



What is KanvasBuddy?
KanvasBuddy is a Python plugin made for Krita, a free professional and open-source painting program. KB is a small dialog that floats on top of the canvas packed with enough features to let you spend as much time in Canvas-Only mode as possible. The idea behind KB was to provide the 20% of tools used 80% of the time in the most out-of-the-way GUI possible. Its features are very similar to that of Krita's own Pop-Up Palette but tries to be more space-efficient by showing features more selectively.

KanvasBuddy 0.4.1 features:

• A wide selection of Krita's dockers. Right there when you want them, then hidden away when not in use!
• Slider controls for the opacity, size and flow of brush presets. Specific values can also be entered by simply typing.
• Quick buttons for toggling Canvas-Only Mode, Mirror Canvas and Reset Zoom, and more.

New in version 0.4.1

• This is mainly a small patch to ensure compatibility with newer versions of Krita. The developers patched a bug in the Krita API and KanvasBuddy follows suit!
• Pinned Panel Mode: prevent KanvasBuddy from switching back to the main panel automatically when you click on Krita's canvas. Enable this by clicking the tiny thumbtack in the title bar. (Credit to nickgeneratorfailed over at Krita-Artists for the suggestion)

Who is KanvasBuddy for?
KB is best suited to someone who's already well-versed in Krita's shortcut commands. The plugin isn't meant to replace the entirety of Krita's UI, just to cover the most essential features needed to be able to work in Canvas-Only mode.

Download & Installation
Downloads:

• ZIP ARCHIVE
• SOURCE

Open the KanvasBuddy-0-4-1.zip archive and place the kanvasbuddy.desktop file and the kanvasbuddy (all lower case) folder in the pykrita directory, et voilà! Installed!
Alternatively, open Krita and go to Tools -> Scripts -> Import Python Plugins... and select the KanvasBuddy-0-4-1.zip archive and let the software handle it.

To enable KB go to Settings -> Configure Krita... -> Python Plugin Manager and click the checkbox to the left of the field that says KanvasBuddy. When you want to launch KB, simply go to Tools -> Scripts and select KanvasBuddy. Please not that KanvasBuddy require you to have an open document to work.

If you want to assign a keyboard shortcut to launch KB you first need to download the kanvasbuddy.action file. Go to your resource folder (In Krita, go to Settings -> Manage Resources… > Open Resource Folder) and create a folder called actions. Place the kanvasbuddy.action file in the newly created actions folder and restart Krita. You should now be able to find KanvasBuddy in the shortcut list when you go to Settings -> Configure Krita... -> Keyboard Shortcuts.

Happy painting!

Known issues

• KB can't borrow the Tool Options docker if it's set to be in Krita's tool bar (it shouldn't crash though!).
• KB features virtually no crash handling and a new instance of KB can't be opened if the plugin doesn't exit cleanly
• Sliders and values might not synchronize properly between KB and Krita

Disclaimer: this plugin has been developed by someone better described as a 'code bodger' rather than a programmer. Beware of spaghetti. The plugin works well for me personally, but I can't guarantee it'll work well for people on other systems and/or machines.

License

KanvasBuddy is released under the GNU General Public License (version 3 or any later version).

KanvasBuddy is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version.

KanvasBuddy is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should receive a copy of the GNU General Public License along with KanvasBuddy. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.


Long story short: you're free to download, modify as well as redistribute KB as long as this ability is preserved and you give contributors proper credit. This is the same license under which Krita is released, ensuring compatibility between the two.

I'm happy to announce the release of KanvasBuddy 0.2!

(Despite me proclaiming my abandonment of the project, it turns out I couldn't leave it just yet...)

Changelog:

• KB now borrows Krita's full Layer Docker (and returns it properly)!
• The flag to prevent multiple instances of KB should now properly reset
• The Advanced Color Selector should now retain its resizability after KanvasBuddy is closed

Thank you very much for your complement, it's just what I was looking for!
However, I tried it and it seems that something is broken. When doing the installation in Krita, the complement appears dimmed, and when placing the cursor on it, it reports an error in a line of uikanvasbuddy, I think the 34. So the module does not load. Maybe the problem is that I tried it in a live installation in Manjaro?

In addition, I would like to ask some questions:

1.- How to uninstall it correctly? Just delete the files from your location?
2 .- I know nothing about Python, and the options offered by its complement I like, but I would like to adapt it to my needs (an access to the color palette would be essential for me). Would it be very difficult for someone without knowledge to make modifications?

As a final comment, I wanted to thank you again for your work, and I think this would be a complement to include in future versions of Krita. If it could be easily configured, according to the needs of each user, we would be talking about a very powerful tool.

A greeting!

Heya franciscoo, thanks for your comment!

I'm sorry for the delayed response; I'm not working on this plugin actively so that's why things are a bit slow. But to answer your questions:

1. I have not tried my plugin on any OS except Windows 10 unfortunately, so I'm not sure what might've caused your issue. Line 34 of uikanvasbuddy.py should be commented out (i.e. ignored by the program). I will make my own Manjaro live USB and look into the issue, though!
2. Yes, all you need to do to 'uninstall' KB is to remove the kanvasbuddy folder and the kanvasbuddy.desktop file from the pykrita directory. It adds no other files or modifications to your system
3. Without at least a little bit of experience with Python, and a willingness to learn the basics of Qt, it might be hard to modify KB. I'm not a good programmer, but I've tried my best to make it as easy as possible to add extra buttons and widgets to the KB dialog using PyQt5.

Again, sorry for the late reply!
Have a nice day

Thank you for the answer! I will keep an eye on the evolution of KanvasBuddy!

I'm happy to announce the release of KanvasBuddy 0.3!

Changelog is found in the inital post of the thread. Happy Holidays everyone!

I'm happy to announce the release of KanvasBuddy 0.4!

This is a pretty big update, so things are bound to break
Changelog is found in the initial post. Happy painting!