Canvas Tool

Canvas Tool - Reference Management for Digital Artists  - For Windows onlyApplication Overview

Canvas Tool is a WPF (.NET 8.0) desktop application specifically designed for digital artists to manage and organize reference images, featuring real-time drawing window capture capabilities and blur/b&w filters to control values and overall composition while painting.

If you need me to make changes, add features, or if you find any bugs, please contact me via email: vuogle@vuogle.com. I’ll be more than happy to refine and improve this tool further. Thank you.

Core Features

1. Canvas & Reference Groups Management

• Main Canvas: Primary workspace with smooth zoom/pan capabilities like professional art software
• Reference Groups: Create and manage separate reference collections (anatomy, lighting, composition, etc.)
• Groups Panel: Slide-out panel from bottom-left corner with triangle scroll bars for large group systems
• Group Switching: Quick switching between different reference groups
• Persistent State: Each group stores its own canvas size, zoom level, and pan position

2. Reference Image Management

• Drag & Drop: Drop references from browsers, Pinterest, ArtStation, or any website, as well as drop files from your computer into the tool
• Format Support: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, WebP, TIFF, ICO, and many other popular image formats
• Free transform: move, scale images or image groups
• Horizontal flip (Ctrl+F)
• Zoom overlay with double-click for detailed study
• You can run a slideshow of all the images in the canvas in Zoom overlay mode.
• Copy paste images to other drawing software

4. Color Extraction

• Canvas Tool automatically and accurately extracts colors from all the images you drop in. 
• Right-click on an image to save swatches as ACO for importing into Photoshop.

5. Window Capture

• Capture your drawing windows and then apply blur and b&w filters
• Real-time capture helps you better manage values and overall composition of your painting

6. Annotation Tools

• Doodle Mode: Draw notes and annotations directly on references
• Brush Tool: Customizable pen with color picker and size adjustment
• Eraser: Erase annotations with precise control
• Color Wheel: Professional color picker
• Per-Canvas Storage: Annotations saved separately for each reference group
• Undo/Redo System: Full undo support for drawing operations

7. Filters & Visual Effects

• Blur Filter: Gaussian blur with adjustable radius
• Grayscale Filter: Convert to black & white for value study
• Multiple Filter Application: Filters apply to entire canvas simultaneously

8. Ruler Tools

• Grid Ruler: Customizable grid with horizontal/vertical line count
• Grid Color: Customizable grid color for visibility
• Single Image Application: Grid applies to one reference at a time

9. Auto Arrange

• Automatic Layout: Pinterest-style, horizontal layout for organized reference boards. Can automatically arrange newly dropped image groups without affecting your previously arranged canvas elements
• Fit to Content: Auto-adjust canvas to fit all references

10. Storage

• Canvas Projects: Complete workspace storage (.canvas format)

Keyboard ShortcutsFile Operations

• Ctrl+O: Open canvas file
• Ctrl+S: Save current canvas
• Ctrl+Shift+S: Save canvas as...
• Ctrl+E: Save canvas as image
• Ctrl+Shift+E: Export all images

Editing Operations

• Ctrl+A: Select all items
• Ctrl+C: Copy selected images
• Ctrl+X: Cut selected images
• Ctrl+V: Paste images
• Ctrl+F: Flip image/multi images
• Ctrl+G: Toggle create group
• Delete: Delete selected items

Drawing/Annotation Mode

• Ctrl+D: Toggle doodle/annotation mode
• B: Switch to brush tool
• E: Switch to eraser tool
• [ / ]: Decrease/increase brush/eraser size

Doodle Mode

• Ctrl+D: Toggle doodle mode
• B: Brush tool (in doodle mode)
• E: Eraser tool (in doodle mode)
• [: Decrease brush/eraser size (in doodle mode)
• ]: Increase brush/eraser size (in doodle mode)
• Ctrl+Z: Undo
• Ctrl+Shift+Z: Redo

Filter

• Ctrl+B: Toggle blur filter
• Ctrl+Y: Toggle B&W filter
• Ctrl+R: Toggle grid ruler overlay

View Controls

• F1: Show help/settings
• F2: Lock/unlock canvas
• Ctrl+Shift+F: Fit canvas to content
• Ctrl+Alt+I: Change canvas size
• Ctrl+0: Reset view and fit canvas to window
• Escape: Exit doodle mode / Exit zoom overlay / Cancel selection

Layout Modes

• F4: Set layout mode to Pinterest Dynamic
• F5: Set layout mode to Horizontal

Navigation

• Space: Pan canvas
• Ctrl++: Zoom in
• Ctrl+-: Zoom out

Zoom Overlay Playback

• Return: Play/Pause playback (in zoom overlay)
• Right: Next image (in zoom overlay)
• Left: Previous image (in zoom overlay)
• Up: Increase playback speed (in zoom overlay)
• Down: Decrease playback speed (in zoom overlay)

V1.3

- Added Open Recent File

- The currently opened file name is now displayed on the title bar

- Integrated Task with To-Do List

- Each task now has its own separate to-do list

- Added To-Do Panel to create and manage a list of tasks within each main task

- Tasks are arranged in the order they are created

- You can tick items to mark them as completed in the to-do panel

- Double-click a task item to edit its content

- Click and hold a task item, then drag to rearrange its order in the to-do panel

- Task numbering automatically updates after reordering

- Fixed Scroll Jump issue in the to-do panel