ID:260505
 
I am one of those icon artist that uses graphics gale, and sometimes other programs, along while inporting and working with the Dm Icon editor. One re reoccurring problem, and a huge turn-off about the Dreamaker icon editor, is that all important buttons are lettered. Believe me or not, this is a bigger issue than one might think.

Lets say I just finished a 8 frame walk cycle and inported it into DM. THEN i realize the knee is 1 or 2 pixels off and HAVE to be changed... To spare me the trouble of copy/pasting or exporting and Importing, I decide to fix it on DM.

So? What's your point noob? You see, when an artist begins to work he switches thinking processes. Letters don't mean the same thing you anymore. Letters are now pectoral and nothing more than weird symbols. I remember reading something in a book that called this the "r" side or something. ANYWAY, back tot he story.

When I'm about to fix that 2 pixel off knee, and look at all the worded buttons, I get -really- confused. I spend more than 40 seconds looking for the Eyedropper, and another min looking for the pencil tool. I'm sure I'm not the only one who goes through this.

Basically, for Artist sake, change those lettered buttons into images, works a lot better when an artist is in the "zone".

I mean, if there is any problem making these buttons because of cost or whatnot, I'll make them for ya, as a contribution. This really is not a huge problem. Considering how half of the iconners here wont know what I'm talking about. And well, too some it might seem like a waste changing the buttons because they are so used to it. But it would be nice.
This sounds much more like a personal problem than a design issue, especially since you admit you don't use the DM icon editor all that often. If you did, you'd know where things are without having to search for them. The letter disambiguation thing you've got going on is certainly unusual, but also very likely unique to you and perhaps a very, very small portion of the community.

Why not just spend some time learning where all the buttons are and superceding your condition through intuition?
That is a very good idea. Perhaps they could add a toggle option to switch between worded buttons and images?

On an unrelated note, I seem to be experiencing some sort of bug when I copy/paste images in the DM editor. It doesn't matter if it's an animation within the same icon or an image from other program. Almost every time I paste something, the main window scrolls really far to the left. Each time I paste it scrolls even farther.
In response to Evre
Evre wrote:
This sounds much more like a personal problem than a design issue

Well, think about it. Why do -all- paint programs have pictured buttons?

Once you are in the creativity flow, using the "r hemisphere" of your brain as your main thinking proceses. letters dont procese the same way as normal. They bcome Symbols, thus, making it hard to navigate.
In response to Kataharo Tayoko
Kataharo Tayoko wrote:
Once you are in the creativity flow, using the "r hemisphere" of your brain as your main thinking proceses. letters dont procese the same way as normal. They bcome Symbols, thus, making it hard to navigate.

As an art major* I can say with a certain degree of confidence; "What?"

Seriously, nobody I've talked to in the Art Department has this problem. We don't suddenly forget how to read or how to associate symbols with certain things. The language center's part of that "r hemisphere" you're talking about.

Like I said, maybe this disambiguation thing affects a small portion of the community, yourself included, but it certainly seems more like an exception to the rule as opposed to the standard by which it was written.

*Well, ex art major. I still consider myself fairly artistic, though.
In response to Evre
Your obviously exaggerating what i say to make it sound ridiculous. I never said you forget how to read. I said it just makes it harder to navigate than usual.

I don't understand why you oppose this idea so much. Even if you disagree with the small navigation confusion.

Don't you think cool little buttons instend of boring words would make the DM icon editor look better?
In response to Kataharo Tayoko
Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to the concept, per se. I actually agree with SAx - a togglable option would satisfy both preferences just fine. I just don't think it's really a priority, since there are a lot of other features with more pressing need than this.
Honestly, I rarely use graphics programs anyways ((although I do use them occasionally)) and when it comes down to it, I much prefer the way it is in the DM editor at current. Better than going "OK.... this symbol COULD mean this... but it could also mean that...." and I actually have to go through the full list of symboled buttons before finding the tool I need.

But, if they decide to make it togglable, they can go ahead, but as it is, I much prefer it the way it is and I wish every graphics program had similar options