it is just a brainstorm
Looking good so far!
One tiny objection: How would the multiple documents handled? 
-G
How about using canvas panel?
Very nice!
I mean that I use to like to see more than one document (canvas) at the same time. Will that be possible?
-G
How about an option to tear off panels? I think Gimp has that ability in new UI (?, have not really tried Gimp 2.7 much).
Yes, it is fully possible to have multiple canvases at the same time.
I’m still trying to figure out the workflow or production pipelines of digital animation, I am currently reading toonboom animate pro’s manual to get the initial idea. For future information I would like to have a close look at TVPaint (but it is bitmap based, am I right?), Moho (long time ago), and DigiCel FlipBook etc…
Before figure out a clear picture of workflow of Synfig Studio, it is no possible to DESIGN a reasonable UI, I am sure!
Did I mention the Morevna Project is a good resource for Synfig Studio UI redesign?
Some points I currently have:
- Blender’s non-overlapped concepts!
- VIM-liked shortcuts, don’t use modifier key.
- Fully customize-able UI, there is no a design can suite all kinds of workflows.
- Rotate-able canvas
…
I will document my research and post here for further discussion.
It would be very appreciated if you guys share your animation workflows in Synfig Studio (when you have spare time of cause ).
most of panels have their own toolbar now, and create a smart icon 
those panel toolbars should be hided by user, I mean advance Synfig Studio user whose master all kinds of shortcuts, remember those shortcuts are vim-liked without modifier keys.
dear santa, I would like to have a new look of Synfig Studio in the coming year!
merry christmas, Synfiger.
These designs look great! I’m just wondering, is this actually going to be implemented?
Also, can the File/Help/View etc menu just not lie at the top instead of being a drop-down menu?
Thanks,
I think we will achieve a brand new synfig studio with a new UI one day in the future.
do you mean something like this
Ah, so no one is actually coding these UI designs? That’s a shame as some of these designs are quite good
Yes, like that!
That reminds me. Did you guys consider using QT for future development? Working with interface designs certainly seems a whole lot easier there, and it’s cross-platform, and looks beautiful!
For one thing, this UI design would be easier to implement using QT. 
how about blender’s toolkit? since it is animation-orientated 
wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.5/Source/UI
I would like to have tabs.
AND possibility to view contents of many tabs at the same time.
For example, I have TAB1, TAB2 and TAB3
TAB1 is active.
but TAB2 is checked for display too - so it is displayed as semi-transparent at the workspace background. I can post clarification image for this idea.
+1! It would be amazing to have tabs akin to Photoshop CS4 / Chrome browser.
Sounds a nice idea similar to GIMP’spolaroid design, but at the same time I come up with some concerns:
How to handle timeline, which frame should we take from TAB2?
What is the benefit for animation creation?
- Timelines should be synced. In fact, synced timelines are desirable for current multi-window mode too. XD
- Alternative we can have “Lock timeline position” button on each tab to un-sync timeline from global timeline.
- Benefit for animation creation - it’s just dictated by workflow. We very often work with animation scattered in different files. Generally we have each character in separate file and plus one more file where everything composed together. When editing some character we have several windows open - to view how our edits will affect the whole composition. OFFTOP: That’s also the reason why I am concerned about too wide size of canvas window - it doesn’t allow us to fit many windows on single screen. ^___^
In the current state of art, it is not possible to edit one imported file if the file is not opened as well.
Although it is not a good idea to edit a library file (you should make a copy first) it is good to adapt the reused file (maybe used in several shots) for the particular scene like change one color or particular shape.
One thing that we could think for the future is to rework how the imported files are load from file, since sometimes (as zelgadis has shown in one of the bugs) the imported file shares some definitions from the importer and so, the imported file becomes impossible to load because it asks for a file in opening process. The open process file should be reworked to allow load imported files after the importer file is fully loaded.
-G
Couldn’t this mean a considerable hit on performance? Scrubbing and updating several canvases instead of a single one?