CanvasTool

Canvas Tool - Reference Management for Digital Artists  - For Windows onlyApplication Overview

Canvas Tool is a WPF (.NET 8.0) desktop application specifically designed for digital artists to manage and organize reference images, featuring real-time drawing window capture capabilities and blur/b&w filters to control values and overall composition while painting.

If you need me to make changes, add features, or if you find any bugs, please contact me via email: vuogle@vuogle.com. I’ll be more than happy to refine and improve this tool further. Thank you.

Core Features

1. Canvas & Reference Groups Management

• Main Canvas: Primary workspace with smooth zoom/pan capabilities like professional art software

• Reference Groups: Create and manage separate reference collections (anatomy, lighting, composition, etc.)

• Groups Panel: Slide-out panel from bottom-left corner with triangle scroll bars for large group systems

• Group Switching: Quick switching between different reference groups

• Persistent State: Each group stores its own canvas size, zoom level, and pan position

2. Reference Image Management

• Drag & Drop: Drop references from browsers, Pinterest, ArtStation, or any website, as well as drop files from your computer into the tool

• Format Support: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, WebP, TIFF, ICO, and many other popular image formats

• Image Manipulation:

• Free transform: move, scale images or image groups

• Horizontal flip (Ctrl+F)

• Zoom overlay with double-click for detailed study

• You can run a slideshow of all the images in the canvas in Zoom overlay mode.

• Copy paste images to other drawing software

4. Color Extraction

• Canvas Tool automatically and accurately extracts colors from all the images you drop in. 

• Right-click on an image to save swatches as ACO for importing into Photoshop.

5. Window Capture

• Capture your drawing windows and then apply blur and b&w filters

• Real-time capture helps you better manage values and overall composition of your painting

6. Annotation Tools

• Doodle Mode: Draw notes and annotations directly on references

• Brush Tool: Customizable pen with color picker and size adjustment

• Eraser: Erase annotations with precise control

• Color Wheel: Professional color picker

• Per-Canvas Storage: Annotations saved separately for each reference group

• Undo/Redo System: Full undo support for drawing operations

7. Filters & Visual Effects

• Blur Filter: Gaussian blur with adjustable radius

• Grayscale Filter: Convert to black & white for value study

• Multiple Filter Application: Filters apply to entire canvas simultaneously

8. Ruler Tools

• Grid Ruler: Customizable grid with horizontal/vertical line count

• Grid Color: Customizable grid color for visibility

• Single Image Application: Grid applies to one reference at a time

9. Auto Arrange

• Automatic Layout: Pinterest-style, horizontal layout for organized reference boards. Can automatically arrange newly dropped image groups without affecting your previously arranged canvas elements

• Fit to Content: Auto-adjust canvas to fit all references

10. Storage

• Canvas Projects: Complete workspace storage (.canvas format)

Keyboard ShortcutsFile Operations

• Ctrl+O: Open canvas file

• Ctrl+S: Save current canvas

• Ctrl+Shift+S: Save canvas as...

• Ctrl+E: Save canvas as image

• Ctrl+Shift+E: Export all images

Editing Operations

• Ctrl+A: Select all items

• Ctrl+C: Copy selected images

• Ctrl+X: Cut selected images

• Ctrl+V: Paste images

• Ctrl+F: Flip image/multi images

• Ctrl+G: Toggle create group

• Delete: Delete selected items

Drawing/Annotation Mode

• Ctrl+D: Toggle doodle/annotation mode

• B: Switch to brush tool

• E: Switch to eraser tool

• [ / ]: Decrease/increase brush/eraser size

Doodle Mode

• Ctrl+D: Toggle doodle mode

• B: Brush tool (in doodle mode)

• E: Eraser tool (in doodle mode)

• [: Decrease brush/eraser size (in doodle mode)

• ]: Increase brush/eraser size (in doodle mode)

• Ctrl+Z: Undo

• Ctrl+Shift+Z: Redo

Filter

• Ctrl+B: Toggle blur filter

• Ctrl+Y: Toggle B&W filter

• Ctrl+R: Toggle grid ruler overlay

View Controls

• F1: Show help/settings

• F2: Lock/unlock canvas

• Ctrl+Shift+F: Fit canvas to content

• Ctrl+Alt+I: Change canvas size

• Ctrl+0: Reset view and fit canvas to window

• Escape: Exit doodle mode / Exit zoom overlay / Cancel selection

Layout Modes

• F4: Set layout mode to Pinterest Dynamic

• F5: Set layout mode to Horizontal

Navigation

• Space: Pan canvas

• Ctrl++: Zoom in

• Ctrl+-: Zoom out

Zoom Overlay Playback

• Return: Play/Pause playback (in zoom overlay)

• Right: Next image (in zoom overlay)

• Left: Previous image (in zoom overlay)

• Up: Increase playback speed (in zoom overlay)

• Down: Decrease playback speed (in zoom overlay)

• Add Duplicate Task: Added the ability to clone/duplicate existing tasks.

• Todo List Input Fixes: Fixed an issue where users couldn't use the 'Enter' key for new lines or paste text containing line breaks.

• Pin Todo Panel: Added a "Pin" feature to keep the Todo panel fixed in place.

• Sync Task Names: Fixed a bug where renaming a task in the Todo panel wouldn't update the task's name elsewhere.

• Scrollbar Fix: Fixed the scrollbar behavior for the "Link Task to Canvas" popup.

• Fix: Resolved an issue in the "Change Canvas Color" picker where the HUE slider would jump erratically while selecting a color.

• Fix: Adjusted the height of the "Delete Group" confirmation popup.

• New Feature: Added the ability to move the tool window by holding down the right mouse button.