Below/Above Paint Alternator

[kollatt]

if no one minds i'll just post any ideas that come to mind and hopefully you won't all get sick of me. sometimes when drawing with alchemy i have the inclination to push the shapes that i'm seeing a bit further before exporting it into a different program. i think an affect module, or even better yet just a hotkey that would allow you to switch between drawing underneath the colors that are already laid down or above them would be really nice for building up a concept and being able to go back and lay some foundation underneath. it could create some interesting experimentation as well, so i don't think it would pull you away from that impulsive manner of working that alchemy is designed for.

[Karl DD]

Keep them ideas coming, its good.

So right now everything is added to the top, and you would want to be able to add to the bottom as well at will right?
Actually I think that could be a nice idea, sometimes you want to add a bit more of a structure under things. It shouldn't be too hard to implement actually.

On the same tip...
One of the new features coming up is the ability to load an Alchemy PDF session, roll through it page by page adding to it, all the while saving it as a new session.

[kollatt]

the load pdf addition sounds exciting. yes, with the above/below thing. that's what i mean. and i understand some people will argue just to use layers instead, but i think that's a slippery slope because then the program would start to become not as simple and intuitive. and just that ability to quickly switch over top and underneath the existing drawing on the fly would be more akin to alchemy's style i think.

[Karl DD]

I completely agree.
We have discussed similar things many times and adding new features is always a slippery slide. You might have noticed in the Andrew Jones clip on the front page how he adds what he calls an 'understructure' after combining the shapes - so I think the Below/Above toggle would be very appropriate for that.