Created attachment 127319 [details] Simple colour blocks for testing SUMMARY This is a 'papercut' UI problem so I've marked it as Minor. It's been present for a long time in all versions. The colour selector icon can be either an eyedropper alone or an eyedropper with a small 'multi-layer' symbol added to it. This 'alone' or 'multi-layer' presentation does not always correspond to the action of the colour selector. I attach a simple two layer plus white background colour blocks .kra file for convenience of checking/testing. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Open the attached file and use the main or Ctrl colour picker as follows, noting which colour (if any) is selected. 2. Choose the main Colour Selector tool from the Toolbox then use it with 'Update Colour' option enabled in the Tool Options docker and alternately use Sample Current Layer or Sample All Visible Layers selected. 3. Note that it works according to the options but that the icon always indicates 'multi-layer'. 4. Choose the Freehand Brush Tool from the Toolbox and use the Ctrl key colour selector to select a colour. 5. Note that it selects a colour from all layers but has no 'multi-layer' indicator on the icon. 6. Use Ctrl+Alt to bring up the colour selector and note that it only selects a colour from the current layer but it has a 'multi-layer' indicator on the icon. 7. Note that the operation of the Ctrl(+Alt) selector is independent of the Tool Option settings for the main Colour Selector tool. OBSERVED RESULT See Steps Notes EXPECTED RESULT 3. The icon should indicate if it's in 'current layer' or 'multi-layer' mode. 5+6. The icon should indicate its mode but is the wrong way around in both cases.
Hey, I'm here after reading the forum (https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=139&t=166945&p=434883#p434883). I think part of the issue here is a bad interpretation of what the icon means: This one https://www.peppercarrot.com/extras/temp/2020-07-10_screenshot_130149_net.jpg is the default, picking the projection, multilayered. As in many other software. This one https://www.peppercarrot.com/extras/temp/2020-07-10_screenshot_130246_net.jpg is the "single/active layer" picking: the mini layer stack icon informs the action will be layer specific and different from the default. I don't think inverting the icons would fix the issue but it would add more confusion. Maybe I'm too used about how it is and have a bias as I designed the icons. I'm open to read proposals. (note: by the way, I understood the main issue on the forum thread was the unification of the behavior/options of the "color picker tool" in relation to the "Ctrl" shortcut while painting with freehand/brush tool).
@David REVOY re. Comment 1 Hi David, I wasn't aware that there was a known standard interpretation for this. My immediate (instinctive) impression was that the multi-layer icon represented 'pick from all visible layers'. [The main Colour Selector Tool still has a bug in that it shows the same icon in both situations.] The issue on the forum thread was that the user assumed that the Ctrl picker action was determined by the main picker options and so did not know how to get 'current layer' with the Ctrl picker. (I also had this initial assumption and confusion until I 'discovered' Ctrl+Alt colour picking.)
Think some clarification is needed in the manual too. In https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/tools/color_selector.html?highlight=color%20picker it says "..the Color Picker tool can also be quickly accessed by pressing the Ctrl key". It makes no mention of the 'Ctrl+Alt' version. To me it reads as the Ctrl key is a quick way to access the picker, including all the options that are set. And when Ctrl is pressed some of the options (blend, radius) are used. So it would not be unreasonable to expect that the alone/multi-layer is also used. But is not and 'add-to-palette' is also not. For consistency it would be good if all options were used when pressing Ctrl. But that have implications for the Ctrl+Alt behavior. Might it could flip the alone/multi-layer mode?
re. Comment 3 I would agree that the Ctrl picker should use the same options as set for the main colour selector tool. This is probably what a user would expect to happen. If the Ctrl+Alt picker flipped the alone/multi-layer mode, this would be a reasonable use of the meaning of the word 'Alt'. The user would have an indication of this happening because of the icon change.
*** Bug 435697 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***