"Photoshop Style" Tool Windows (Detachable from Main Window)

[sadwinkingemoticon]

Hi!

My demo period ran out for version 8, but I just tried the recently released version 9 demo, hoping that this feature had been added. I was disappointed to see that I still had to keep tool windows within the "main" TVPaint window. This is troublesome for me because I prefer to use a dual-monitor setup, however one of my monitors is not capable of the same resolution as the other, so I must run them as dual displays rather than a single stretched-resolution display. This means that I can't drag the TVPaint window to "fill" both screens; it can only fill one, and naturally for that one I choose my Cintiq. And because the tool windows cannot be dragged outside of the boundaries of the "main" window, that means that my second monitor does me no good when I'm using TVPaint, when I would prefer to put all of the tools, buttons, menus, etc. onto the non-Cintiq monitor and devote the Cintiq monitor to the drawing/preview portion of TVPaint.

So it would just be nice to know whether there is any interest in this feature of emulating the "Photoshop style," since my Cintiq is 4:3 ratio and the vast majority of LCD monitors are now 16:9, which makes it awkward and costly to match resolutions between them (costly because most widescreen LCD monitors I've found run at the HD vertical resolution of 1080, with only the high-end or big-size models going to match the 1200 vertical resolution of the Cintiq, and awkward because even in that case I have to black-out the edges of the monitor to match the horizontal resolution of the Cintiq.)

Thanks, bye!

[Peter Wassink]

i have worked with two different sized monitors with TVP for quite a while.
And although it is sometimes awkward to move the pointer between them ( it often gets 'stuck' at the gap) it does work.

you have to make sure the 'main' window is NOT maximized then you can stretch it across any monitor configuration you like

[sadwinkingemoticon]

Hi Tantalus! Thanks for your post!

Unless I'm mistaken, what you're saying you've done is run TVPaint with two different-sized monitors. That's cool, but it's not really what I'm talking about; I'm talking about two monitors that must run at two different RESOLUTIONS.

You can't "stretch" any program across two monitors that are different resolutions, only when they're run at the same resolution. At least that's been my experience. If you've found a way around that, I hope you'll tell me!

Thanks again, bye!

[ZigOtto]

... You can't "stretch" any program across two monitors that are different resolutions, only when they're run at the same resolution. At least that's been my experience.

what CG/driver do you run, Sad ?
I personnally can run tvpa across 2 monitors with different sizes AND different resolutions without any problem .
(NVidia 7600GT, Desktop extended to the 2nd monitor checked ON in the windows display properties)
of course, as mentioned by Tantalus, when tvpa window is extended beyond one of the screen areas
(black area on the pict.), you can't reach this area, more exactly, the cursor (or panel in there) disappeared
outside the monitor displays, in "Hiddenland".

[sadwinkingemoticon]

I'm using an Nvidia 7800GT with relatively recent drivers.

Anyway, I found out what my problem was! I was trying to drag the tool windows into the other monitor, NOT the main window itself - I just didn't think to try it. If I run each monitor as a seperate display, and then drag the TVPaint window across them, it works fine. I had always thought that you had to have a "stretched resolution" to pull a window past the borders of one monitor and into another; shows what I know!

Thanks for prompting me to give it another try!!!!

[sadwinkingemoticon]

Hmm, I see what you mean about the "blank spot." It wouldn't be troublesome if it just "overshot" the smaller resolution monitor, and tucked in outside of the viewable display, but instead it actually forces your large-res display to display the window smaller.

I know you guys have your accepted workarounds, and I understand that I wouldn't have this problem if I matched my monitors better, but still - how could anyone be "against" TVPaint having a fully detachable Photoshop-like window system? It would be great.

[Manuel]

Tip : use Ctrl+Maximize button to extend a window over 2 monitors.