Some feedback

[j-jasz]

Hi @Keavon ! We briefly talked on BlenderArtisits forum some time ago. Here is the link to my last post: https://blenderartists.org/t/graphite-foss-2d-editor-with-geometry-nodes-equivalent-year-in-review-and-preview-of-2025/1574486/59.

Recently I had an opportunity to test Graphite with a group of 30 students and I want to share some feedback.
The most important pain points were overall performance and frequent lags - this should be solved with the desktop app I assume.

Frequent feature requests:

• .ai I/O
• gradient, patterns and similar assets - to be covered by extension sharing platform ?
• manual / documentation
• destructive path joining (for example after boolean)
• better object origin point manipulation + reset

Smaller QOL improvements requests:

• node renaming with double click on the node label
• node links are hard to connect and very easy to disconnect by accident
• color picker default black color in properties is hard to be recognized as an input field
• ability to close a path with double click (Path tool)
• zoom with scroll as default
• context menus

I also want to highlight two points that IMHO are the key to fast adoption and feature parity with other DCC apps:

1. First point is the DIY asset exchange platform. There is a lesson that can be learned from Blender's Geometry Nodes. They are extremely powerful, but after 3,5 years there is still no place to share them. This is slowing down the process of replacing legacy functions with node based ones. If Graphite would have such platform relatively early it would motivate people to re-create toolsets known and loved from other applications.

2. Second is the importance of the well thought out keymap and keymap editor. Small things like having one modifier key for snapping for all functions, objects types and operators can go a long way. It would be also good to plan an option for keymap presets that are similar to specific DCCs that exist on the market. Personally I would need to have a mix of Photoshop and Blender shortcuts and this is a make or break point. But other people that are used to different node editors might want to have for example Ps+Houdini/C4D/Maya/ect one. I think long term - some form of keymap presets are the way to go. Here is a mockup for Bledner visual keymap editor (not implemented):

[Keavon]

This is very helpful, thank you for taking the time to compile and share your findings! A lot of these are already in the roadmap (the more detailed one that lives in my mind that would be hard to write down). This feedback helps to organize the relative priorities.

zoom with scroll as default

This option is available in the editor preferences. If you mean that it should be made default, we're unlikely to do that since I find it less intuitive for the typical user. But it's there for those who prefer it.