Edge case where moving layers between groups changes the location, rotation or scale on the canvas

[j-jasz]

Recently I've spent more time working in Graphite and I want to make a point about one of the current design decisions.

Individual layers have their transforms set relative to parent node transforms. When such layer is moved outside of the parent into a different location in the nodegraph it changes its position on the canvas. It is really frustrating to work around this mechanic, and I believe many people will have similar opinion, especially those that come from other 2D apps.

Two solutions that might work here:

• make every layer have its transforms as absolute values relative to canvas origin (0,0)
• recalculate transforms when the layer is moved into a different place in the nodegraph so it's location, rotation and scale does not change

[Keavon]

Can you please check if this is still an issue in the new release?

[j-jasz]

When I make a new project with Alpha 4, HEAD, commit f4a0f27 the problem seems to be gone.
I have a project file made with dev.grapite.rs that has this issue - I checked it in both editor and dev versions.

[Keavon]

So new documents don't have it, but old documents created in dev at some point in the past do have the problem?

[j-jasz]

It looks that I made a mistake. It's not layers but layers inside groups that are the problem. And it happens in both versions of Graphite. Sorry for this.

With the example above if any group is moved inside the other one it's placement changes.
I think this could be designed a little better. I would leave current behavior as it is in line with procedural workflow either as default or as a fallback. I'd add to this an option for recalculating transforms so layer/group that is moved inside another stays in the exact placement.

[Keavon]

Are you talking about this occurring when re-plugging wires in the node graph? That would be expected behavior. The tooling (except in some complex edge cases involving shared data wires), however, should correctly compensate for this so if you're reordering things in the Layers panel, grouping or ungrouping with the keyboard shortcuts, etc., then it should keep the appearance by updating the transforms in the data. So to be clear, you aren't describing the latter, but the former?

[j-jasz]

Just moving layers in Layer panel does that. Without touching the nodegraph. Here are better screenshots. Moving GROUP_1 inside GROUP_2 changes its placement:

[Keavon]

Returning to this now that the big end-of-September release came out, I'm not sure if I fully followed the discussion above but could you please re-check this to see if it's still an issue? Thanks.

[j-jasz]

I checked and it looks that I omitted one crucial step. Layer group needs to be transformed in some way - moved, scaled or rotated. When new layer is inserted the transforms are applied to it as well. With editor.graphite.rs:

output.mp4

[Keavon]

That's a clear reproduction video, thank you.