So, we all know you can import a reference photo as a layer. Cool, but in my experience, it would be nice if we could import a reference image as a floating window that isn’t bound by the canvas (think the preview window).
For one thing, you have to have an awkward canvas size to support the reference photo in it’s current iteration, but the other oddity is it makes using the symmetry tool more complex, especially if you import the reference in a project that’s already in progress. Yes, I know I can readjust the symmetry lines myself, but that’s one more step for the user to have to deal with when it’d be easier just to let us use the proper canvas size for our project, and have a floating window like the preview window. It’s easy to move the floating window with a click and drag vs having to switch to the reference layer, use the move tool, and switch back to whatever layer you were working on prior. I’m also aware you can open a new Sprite and drag that window next to your current one, which is a pretty decent solution unless you’re working on a smaller screen like most laptops. Then you spend quite a bit of time rearranging windows back and forth which is still a bit cumbersome.
Quick Edit: Another benefit to this would potentially be having another mini-canvas for us to draw on, for things like color palettes where we could quickly reference colors but keep our main canvas isolated. This would speed up workflows considerably since you wouldn’t have to waste time deleting layers to remove the color palette or reference image, or testing ideas for shading, etc and see how well it’ll work without messing with the main canvas.
Overall, the idea seems win-win, and not a particularly hard feature to implement since the groundwork is already there for the preview window. Anyway, thanks for creating such a great program. I absolutely love it, even though I’m awful. I’m happy to have found a solid piece of software that I can learn and grow with. Take care!