On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 3:46 PM, jEsuSdA 8) wrote:

The question is When it is planned to be released the 2.10 Gimp version?

At this point in time any estimation of 210 release involving dates (including even years) would be a deliberate lie :)

The last thing I heard from mitch is that GEGL transition is only ca. 20% done. This is the single most important factor for a new stable release.

The course will starts over september 2013, but the agenda must be closed over april 2013, so if I want to use Gimp I need the 16bit channels feature before april.

Personally, and this is just a speculation, I think we'll be lucky if we'll have 2.9.0 by April 2013.

Alexandre Prokoudine http://libregraphicsworld.org

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 4:09 PM, jEsuSdA 8) wrote:

Personally, and this is just a speculation, I think we'll be lucky if we'll have 2.9.0 by April 2013.

2.9 will brings the new 16bit, 32bit, etc. color modes?

Yes, 2.9, whenever it's out, will bring 16/32 float/integer modes. I'd rather call it precision level, though :) People usually mean a different thing when they say "color mode" (e.g. native work in LAB color space).

Alexandre Prokoudine http://libregraphicsworld.org

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 02:04:09PM +0100, jEsuSdA 8) wrote:

2.9 will brings the new 16bit, 32bit, etc. color modes?

Yes, 2.9, whenever it's out, will bring 16/32 float/integer modes.

Thank you, Alex. ;)
I think I have done a very bad translation. In spanish we should call it "profundidad de color", but "color deep" does not looks like so well, so I used "color modes". I will take your "precision level" suggestion. ;)

"Color depth" is the normal term in English.

Matthew Miller           mattdm@mattdm.org          

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 04:38:01PM +0100, jEsuSdA 8) wrote:

"Color depth" is the normal term in English.

Thank You Matthew... my english is so terrifying, hahaha. ;)

Well, it's better than my Spanish by a long shot!

Matthew Miller           mattdm@mattdm.org          

El 18/12/12 08:46, jEsuSdA 8) escribió:

It will be great to use Gimp, cause the course is a great opportunity to popularize its use, but if 2.10 Gimp version will be released after april, I think I must have to use other software like Photivo, Darktable or similar who can work with more bit per channel.

Hi Jesusda! :)

(This is just my personal opinion)

- I wouldn't count on having GIMP 2.10 by April 2013. There's still a lot of work to be done and april is really close.

- I would advise you strongly against using a development version for a demonstration (except, of course, you're in a Libre Graphics Meeting). Any bug can and will be perceived as a weakness of the program. Trying to seduce people who don't know GIMP with an unstable version of GIMP is really a bad idea. Stick with 2.8.

- A mixed workflow with other applications and GIMP could be acceptable. If you process RAW and/or HDR images using Darktable in high bit depth to take the most of the source material and export to tiff files for final touches in GIMP, quality should be fine if you don't have to go berserk with the postprocessing.
High bit depth editing is critical when you have to apply extreme processing and when layer and brush strokes accumulation is whether too extreme or too subtle.
Generally you can get away with 8 bpc if you don't have to stretch too much, but the job you're describing seems tricky, so be careful.

- Finally, I would think twice about going ahead with the course if the software we have is not ready for the task. If editing in high bit precision is mandatory, then GIMP (at least today) isn't suited for the task.
I know it sounds like missing a nice oportunity, but maybe it's better to postpone than to screw a nice chance to reach a specialized audience. If you show GIMP and the professionals there conclude that it can't be used for their job, that's something extremely difficult to revert.

Anyway, you can turn this "missed oportunity" into a useful event. You can meet with them to evaluate if a mixed workflow is viable. There you can tell them that high bit precision is being implemented and will be available in the next version. You can show them the current stable, you can tease them with the new stuff coming, but I wouldn't go there to "teach" them how to do the job with free software unless I'm absolutely sure that it can be done with the expected quality.

We had to wait years literally to see high bit depth happening in GIMP. It's finally happening, but we have to wait a little :-)

Gez.

* jEsuSdA 8) [12-18-12 11:39]:

Hi Gez!

Great opinion and nice data. As I suppose, maybe Photivo will be the chosed. Darktable will be fine, but there are no Windows version at the moment.

Being crippled by windows is not the end. You can always install a linux distro into a virtualbox (all free apps) and run photivo/darktable there.

(paka)Patrick Shanahan       Plainfield, Indiana, USA      HOG # US1244711
http://wahoo.no-ip.org        Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2
http://en.opensuse.org                           openSUSE Community Member
Registered Linux User #207535                    @ http://linuxcounter.net

El 18/12/12 14:28, Paka escribi:

* jEsuSdA 8) [12-18-12 11:39]:

Hi Gez!

Great opinion and nice data. As I suppose, maybe Photivo will be the chosed. Darktable will be fine, but there are no Windows version at the moment.

Being crippled by windows is not the end. You can always install a linux distro into a virtualbox (all free apps) and run photivo/darktable there.

+1
Pascal de Bruijn used to compile a custom Ubuntu LiveCD with bleeding edge Darktable. I'm not sure if he still does, and I don't know is they also include GIMP, Photivo or any other photo processing/retouching application.

Fedora has a custom "design spin" with graphics software and there are other distros with liveCDs with plenty of graphics packages.

I'd avoid windows. Although it's a system with a huge userbase (this also applies to free software for graphics), the performance and DE experience is generally inferior than gnu/linux's.

Apart from that, most of the windows installs you'll find are 32 bit, which is likely to be insufficient for high resolution image processing.

Gez.