Recent Brush Ninja Updates

29 March 2019

I’ve not posted on the blog much recently, but Brush Ninja has not stood still. In this post I will explain some of the things I have been working on over the last few months.

Transform Tools

I have added the ability to scale, rotate and move the images you draw. This makes it a lot easier to reuse content since you can duplicate frames and then move the contents.

You can access the transform tools whilst editing by using the tools menu, or pressing the number 6 on your keyboard.

Background Settings

This one has been a long time coming. Initially I have spent some time tweaking how the animation backgrounds are changed, with only a couple of new features. You can now remove the current background, which can be helpful if you decide you don’t want a photo as the background image. You can also select the background colour with a colour picker, rather than having to enter a hexadecimal number.

These changes also make it easier to add more types of background (and other features) in the future. One of the types of background I want to add is a user supplied background image. This is probably the most requested feature for Brush Ninja and it will be the next major thing I add.

Frame Duration

A few times when making animations I have found myself duplicating frames to create pauses. If I want the frame to last longer then I had to create a lot of extra images. Allowing the frame duration to be changed makes this a lot easier. Now I can increase the frame time multiplier and the frame will wait for longer.

Since Brush Ninja has technical limitations with regards the number of frames, this allows the frames to be used more wisely.

Docs

Not a glamorous feature - but improving the documentation makes it much easier for people to learn Brush Ninja.

Bug Fixes and Code Improvements

Bug fixes are unseen improvements. But hopefully they make Brush Ninja more resilient. Less likely to fall apart. This is an ongoing process and hopefully will see the number of bugs drop to 0 (eventually).

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Brush Ninja Version 2

01 April 2020

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. But I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of Brush Ninja over the last few months. As I mentioned last time, I’ve had to prioritise earning a living. Brush Ninja just about covers costs, but as a project I love it...