Application Preferences

This page is early work in progress draft. Information may be incorrect or incomplete.

The 'PanelForge Preferences' provides options to configure elements of PanelForge's functionality. These options apply when interacting with all Projects in PanelForge.

The default preference configuration tries to fit the widest possible set of user's workflow and system configuration. It may be helpful to adjust some of the options, although caution should be exercised as some options may cause reduced usability.

General

These general options apply to all areas of PanelForge.

General Setting

Maximum Open Panels:

To limit the system RAM usage by PanelForge only a limited amount of 'Panel' files are stored in memory.

This option sets the maximum amount of Panels that are stored in RAM. When the maximum Panel limit is reached the Panel file that was viewed the longest time ago is removed from RAM and will have to be reloaded from disk.

Panels with un-saved changes will always be retained in RAM, this may cause this 'Maximum Open Panel' option to be exceeded.

The default setting '5' is relatively conservative, providing a useable experience with 4GB of system RAM. When more RAM is available, increasing this value will reduce the amount slow disk activity required.

The 'No limit' option will never remove a Panel from memory, extra caution should be exercised when using this option. This option should only be used with systems that have very large amounts of RAM.

Undo Limit:

Sets the maximum amount of actions in PanelForge can be 'undone' using the 'Undo' functionality.

Increasing the 'Undo Limit' will require more system RAM to be used to store this information. The default setting '5' is relatively conservative, providing a useable experience with 4GB of system RAM. When more RAM is available, increasing this value may be advantageous.

Tooltips Display:

Toggles if the 'tooltip' help windows are displayed when the cursor is hovered over a user interface element.

Experienced users may find these windows a distraction and wish to prevent them being displayed.

Input Settings

Tablet Driver Support:

PanelForge supports many advanced features provided by 'Graphics Tablet' and 'Tablet PC' stylus input.

Multiple software drivers are supported by PanelForge to receive this information from the hardware device. Under normal circumstances the default setting should not be changed.

None:

The stylus input is interpreted as mouse input. Only simple press and movement functionality is provided.

Pointer Events:

This is the default option for Windows version 10 and 8.1, it is only available on these operating systems.

As this interface is provided by Microsoft and is fully integrated into Windows, it provides compatibility with any hardware that supports these versions of Windows. PanelForge has been tested successfully with Devices from 'Wacom', 'Huion' and 'Microsoft Surface'.

NOTE: Turning off the 'Use Windows Ink' option in the 'Wacom Tablet Properties' Windows Control Panel will disable this functionality (this option is on as default).

The following advanced features are available (hardware dependant):

• Pressure and Tilt
• High precession (sub pixel movement input)
• Movement sample buffering (uses all movement even with slow screen updating)
• Full multi-screen and screen scaling support
• Stylus Eraser tip

WinTab Events:

This is the default option for Windows 7.

It is not supported with other Windows operating system versions, it most likely will not operate as expected.

The 'WinTab' driver interface is a propriety system developed by Wacom in the early 1990's. It has not been updated to reflect modern computing standards.

NOTE: Turning off the 'Use Windows Ink' option in the 'Wacom Tablet Properties' Windows Control Panel is recommended for more fluid operation (this option is on as default).

Only Wacom hardware devices have been tested. The following advanced features are available (hardware dependant):

• Pressure and Tilt
• Movement sample buffering (uses all movement even with slow screen updating)
• Basic multi-screen support
• Stylus Eraser tip

Cocoa Events:

This is the default option for Apple macOS systems.

As this interface is provided by Apple and is fully integrated into macOS, it provides compatibility with any hardware that supports macOS. PanelForge has been tested successfully with Devices from 'Wacom' and 'Huion'.

The following advanced features are available (hardware dependant):

• Pressure and Tilt
• High precession (sub pixel movement input)
• Full multi-screen and retina-screen support
• Stylus Eraser tip

Tablet Driver Active:

A colour coded status message if the tablet driver has been successfully loaded and a supported tablet device is available.

Tablet Driver Mode:

With some tablet drivers PanelForge provides different interaction modes. If the default mode is not performing as expected, try switching to the alternative mode.

Tablet Driver Sample Buffering:

When PanelForge is drawing large, complex brushes with long stokes the viewport may not update smoothly. Sample buffering will record stylus moment when the viewport is updating for use in the next update.

If the tablet driver supports this option then it it recommended to be active.

Tablet Driver Cursor Offset:

When using a graphic tablet with a built in screen or a tablet PC the stylus may not exactly match the on screen cursor. This option allows the cursor to be offset by an amount of pixels to more closely match the stylus position.

Canvas

These options only effect interactions with the Canvas Viewport and associated tools.

General Settings

Exterior Colour: Exterior Opacity: Tool Handle Scale: Scroll Wheel Interaction: Touch Interaction:

Advanced Graphics Settings

Antialiasing (PanelForge Restart Required): Triple Buffer: (PanelForge Restart Required):

Stage

General Settings

Exterior Colour: Exterior Opacity:

Input Settings

Scroll Wheel Interaction: Touch Interaction: Camera Movement Overlay Multiplier: Camera Movement Cursor Multiplier:

Advanced Graphics Settings

High Quality Rendering Override: Pixel Doubling: Persistent Stage Layer Buffer:

Files

File Settings

Auto Save Previous Panel:

Asset Import Settings

OBJ Unit Scale: 3DS Unit Scale:

Development

Development Settings

DO NOT TURN THIS OPTION ON! Activating this option may reduce the stability of PanelForge.

This option activates various development and debugging features. It also provides access to activate additional unfinished functionality.

This feature is only provided for select testing users that are not working on production work.

DAZ Studio Compatibility

PanelForge has basic DAZ Studio 'duf' 3D file import support. PanelForge will add the default DAZ Studio asset library to the PanelForge Asset Palette.

A custom DAZ asset library location can be set using this option.