Python - Composition Helper | Ioan-Andrei Nistor

A tool created in Python to help with the scene composition, it displays a grid, “squint test” by blurring and quick mirroring.

Overview

I wanted to develop a tool with a basic but cool ui for it relatively fast so I went for a simple idea of a Composition Helper tool.

Give the option to the 2d/3d artist to snap a screenshot and then Mirror/Blur or add a rule of third grid on top.

Took this opportunity to use the QtDesigner for Pyside and get a more modern UI look.

Demo

Here is a fast demo how this works:

What it does

Takes screenshots of both displays (only 2 supported at the moment)
You can select which Display to work on
You can Mirror vertically (make scene composition is better if mirrored)
You can Blur it (spam it even) to see if readability is good
You can “spawn” a rule of third grid

What I could have done differently or better

Add a folder selection for where the screenshots will be saved
Add a slider for how strong the blur can be (instead of spamming the button)
Draw on top of the image for grids instead of adding another image (even if currently its way faster :D)
Add the option to have dark or light theme instead of just dark
Scaling/Resizing the window would resize/scale the screenshot/ui too

Links

Project git link:
https://github.com/ianistor/CompositionTool

Stylesheet credits:
https://github.com/Lumyo/darkorange-pyside-stylesheet

Notes

If anyone is interested I could make an exe/installer for this so you don’t execute the python code everytime.

If not it was really cool that I still haven’t forgotten everything regarding Python and even if my code its not the best, it works and it achieved its purpose.

I’m hoping with this Christmas holiday I have more time to invest in Houdini/Python, so who knows? Maybe i’ll post something else soon…

Have a nice Christmas and a Happy new year !

/Andrei