Development Milestone - Project Management and Gizmo Controls

Advancing Project Management and UI Controls

As development progressed, one of the biggest challenges was implementing a robust project management system that allows users to seamlessly open, save, and manage their projects. Ensuring stability and smooth user experience was crucial in making these features intuitive and efficient.

Project Handling: Open, Save, and Manage

The first major step was enabling project opening and saving, allowing users to load and store their work efficiently. This required designing a structured format for storing project data while maintaining compatibility for future updates.

A key consideration was implementing an autosave feature to prevent accidental data loss, ensuring that changes are stored periodically. This not only improved reliability but also provided a seamless workflow without disrupting the creative process.

Layer Management: Adding, Deleting, and Visibility Control

With the project system in place, the next step was managing layers, which form the foundation of the animation workflow. Users needed full control over layers, including:

• Adding new layers to structure their work effectively.
• Deleting layers when no longer needed.
• Toggling visibility to manage complex compositions.

This was accomplished through an intuitive UI that updates in real-time, ensuring that users always have a clear overview of their project’s structure.

Point Manipulation: Adding, Selecting, and Removing Points

Another critical aspect was handling point-based editing, allowing users to manipulate shapes and paths:

• Adding points dynamically for fine-tuned control.
• Selecting points with visual feedback to ensure precision.
• Removing points as needed for adjustments.

This required implementing an efficient selection system, ensuring that users could interact with individual points smoothly without accidental modifications.

Developing the Transformation Gizmo

One of the most exciting parts of this development cycle was building an interactive transformation gizmo, which enables users to manipulate objects directly on the canvas. The gizmo supports:

• Translation (Move): Dragging objects smoothly across the workspace.
• Rotation: Implementing a precise control for adjusting orientation.
• Scaling (Future work): Potential for non-uniform transformations.

The biggest challenge was ensuring snappy and responsive interaction, where the gizmo provides immediate feedback without lag or inconsistency. By leveraging SkiaSharp’s rendering capabilities, I was able to create a performant and visually clear gizmo that enhances user control over the workspace.

Camera Rotation and Navigation

To complement the transformation system, I also focused on camera navigation, allowing users to easily rotate and position their view. Implementing smooth camera control was crucial for an optimal workflow, making it easier to interact with objects from different perspectives.

By integrating mouse-based navigation, users can intuitively pan, zoom, and rotate the view with precision, improving the overall experience of working within the application.

Conclusion

This development phase has been a major milestone in refining both functionality and user interaction. With project management, layer controls, point selection, and transformation tools now in place, the foundation for a powerful animation workflow has been established.

Next, I plan to refine interaction precision, enhance the gizmo with scaling support, and introduce more advanced UI features. This journey has been a challenging but rewarding experience, and I look forward to pushing the project even further!