[geeks] super gimp

[joshua d boyd]

On Tue, Aug 14, 2001 at 10:46:14AM +0100, David Cantrell wrote:
> > Corel Painter cheats (very well I might add).  But I've seen student
> > projects that actually put more effort into doing simulation (although
> > they also cheated quite a bit).  Sometime I'm going to make my own paint
> > program.  Initially it's job will be to do only things the gimp doesn't,
> > or when it does overlap to do it better.  If I can't do it better, then it
> > should be left to the gimp to do.
> 
> It *should* be possible to do what you want in script-fu (slow) or as a
> compiled C plugin for the gimp.  There's certainly no sense in starting
> from scratch.  It would certainly be possible to write a brush simulator
> plugin - your m4d ideaz about different colour thingies would be harder.

A brush simulator plugin would have to duplicate so many things (drawing
area, palletes, etc) that it would be better to start over, and just try
to borrow code when you can.  To do it as a plugin would mean essentially
launching a whole seperatae program through the plug in interface
since that is how complex of a plugin it would need to be.  Plugins are
really meant for interactive useage, although since they can create their
own dialogs however they want to, they can create their own canvasses for
interactive work.  There are a few that have done this already, I believe.

As nice a the gimp is, it really isn't very flexible.

That is why for version 2.0, they are essentially starting from
scrap.  Currently, they are working on getting GEGL going, which will be
the basis for Gimp 2.  GEGL supports every which color space, and it might
allow code that only knows about one color space to work with other color
spaces (by translating back and forth, etc).  I'd guess that Gimp 2 is
probably at least 18 months from being useable.  That probably is a
generous guess since I don't think that it has actually been started on
yet other than to work on the GEGL library.

I'm told that brush plugins are going to be another new feature though.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd
http://www.cs.millersville.edu/~jdboyd/