Painting to select cards, boxes, and connections is faster and more responsive. Both fine detailed selections and quick broad strokes feel natural.
A Short History of Magic Paint
Paint selecting is a unique feature of kinopio, it enables really flexible selections/bulk editing in a way that feels both intuitive and creative.
The painting interface actually started it's life at Glitch, where it was something to keep you occupied for the 2-10 seconds it could take for a project to load. People would often try to sweep their mouse around the viewport to fill the screen with color before the loading was complete.
![](https://d2w9rnfcy7mm78.cloudfront.net/2530437/original_ba9d2538a5723a3145ddc183c7742222.gif?1533733654?bc=1)
Whether you identify as an artist or not yet, painting is a naturally fun interaction.
Years later, when I first started prototyping Kinopio, I reworked the concept to work for selecting items.
![](https://d2w9rnfcy7mm78.cloudfront.net/4461650/original_9e6ee255b87099638c335ca467e3df61.gif?1560526443?bc=1)
Of course, things have evolved since then, although mostly under the hood. The magic painting system features numerous <canvas>
painting and collision detection optimizations to feel fluid and responsive at any size space and with any number of cards.