The GIMP bug report guidelines say to ask on the mailing list before filing enhancement request bug reports.

When editing images using GIMP 2.9, one useability issue kept cropping up over and over again, and that's exporting images to disk. Here are some proposed enhancement requests for consideration:

1. Right now the precision of the exported image depends on the image precision plus the maximum precision supported by the export file format. Assume the user is editing an image at 32-bit floating point precision:

Exporting to jpeg currently produces an 8-bit jpg, which is expected.

Exporting to png currently produces a 16-bit png. But maybe the user wants an 8-bit png.

Exporting a tiff currently produces a 32-bit floating point tiff. If the exported image is to be opened in another image editor for further editing, the other image editor might not be able to read a 32-bit floating point tiff.

It would be enhance useability if the user could choose the export precision as part of the export dialog.

2. File export dialog presets:

Some of the file export dialogs have the ability to save a set of options as the default options, and some don't.

Having to click open the export dialog options and make the same choices that were made the last time the same export dialog was opened is time-consuming, awkward, and easy to forget. It would enhance useability if all file export dialogs made it possible to save default settings.

Dither dialog:

As a related issue, in GIMP 2.9 changing the precision to a lower precision means dealing with the precision conversion dithering dialog Every. Single. Time. Personally I never use dither when changing precision and it would enhance useability to be able to permanently dismiss the dither dialog. This may sound like "just a click, no big deal". But to the person who has to deal with making the same choices over and over again, it does add up. Default presets and permanently dismissable dialogs would be a genuine useability enhancement.

The next two enhancement requests might be considered as "way too much", but here goes:

3. Scaling upon export:

When exporting an image for display on the web, the image usually needs to be resized, and sometimes you might want to make some additional edits at the reduced size before the final export. But not always. It would be convenient to have the option to scale the image as part of the file export dialog, leaving the GIMP XCF file at the original size.

4. Assigning and converting to another RGB color space upon export:

The editing RGB color space might not be the color space the user wants the exported image to be in. It would be extremely convenient if the export dialog allowed for both converting to another color space as part of the export dialog, and also assigning another color space.

Consider working on an sRGB image. If you are using the GIMP built-in sRGB color space, that's a V4 color space with a parametric curve. And for whatever good reasons, GIMP won't embed the built-in sRGB profile.

The ability to assign a profile from disk upon export would be a very nice option. Here's why this matters especially with sRGB images that will be displayed on the web:

When editing an image, because of how LCMS2 treats profiles with point curves, you really don't want to use a V2 sRGB profile because the V2 sRGB profile has point curves.

But when exporting to disk for display on the web as a photograph or digital art (not talking about web design graphics for which different considerations apply), given the peculiarities of default Firefox color management, you really do want an embedded sRGB profile, and you want that embedded sRGB profile to be a V2 profile, not a V4 profile.

Elle

On 03/11/2015 05:05 PM, Ofnuts wrote:

For current Gimp there is the "Save for Web" plug-in that lets you crop/scale the image. However it's not uncommon to do a little bit of sharpening after a downscale, or maybe add some watermark... Better take the habit to use Image>Duplicate. This creates an "untitled" image to there is little risk to overwrite the original image with a scaled down version(*).

True, usually resizing is followed by adding some sharpening and such. I completely overlooked Image->Duplicate, so thanks! (not the first "already there in plain sight" GIMP feature that I've overlooked).

(*) in the "belt-cum-suspenders" series, shouldn't Gimp issue a warning when saving an image if it detects that the image has been scaled down/cropped? This is another case of potential accidental loss of data. **ducks for cover**

Please not! unless there is a way to permanently dismiss the warning.

It seems to me that all such "save the user from herself" warnings should be permanently dismissable by the user.

Such warnings are like training wheels on a 10-speed bicycle - maybe OK for learning to keep the bicycle from falling over (but you really can learn to ride without training wheels).

Nobody wants training wheels permanently welded to their bicycle because training wheels seriously impede anyone who already knows how to ride a bicycle.

Consider the question about whether the user is sure s/he wants to erase the history. That repeatedly-asked question is very annoying to anyone working on a large layer stack with lots of edits, because the answer is always "Yes, erase the history".

Elle

On 03/11/2015 05:29 PM, Joao S. O. Bueno wrote:

Thinking on an UI for this now is up to us - so, why not bring the idea to the list?

This list? or the GIMP users list?

Currently, actually most export plug-ins do perform a image-duplicate, image-flatten (or merge visible layers) and save the resulting layer. Indexed formats do a "image-duplicate, image-flatten, image-convert-to-indexed" sequence.

Having this in an UI would allow one to have several presets like: image duplicate, image-resize(max-width: N, preserve-aspect: True), image-sharpen, image-flatten, image-convert-to-precision(8bpp), gimp-pause-for-review, export-to-desired-file-format )

That would allow presets for example, that could at once save for the various icon-sizes needed for
icons in mobile projects bound to a single keystroke. (and having a "mark as clean" node available for these presets could also give an option to the "I do only jpeg exports" shouters)

What you suggest makes perfect sense. I like the "pause for review".

Anyone have additional suggestions for/comments about what might go into an enhanced file export dialog? Or about whether such a thing is actually feasible?

Elle

On 03/14/2015 02:34 PM, yahvuu wrote:

You might consider a freely editable operations chain for each file to be exported. The exports then can be considered twigs of the GEGL tree*).

When different exports of the same composition are supported, the dialog could look like in the following example:
https://yahvuu.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/export-multiple.jpg

*) This concept can be taken quite far beyond GEGL operations: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2012-September/msg00116.html

On 03/14/2015 06:43 PM, yvind Kols wrote:

Further elaboration of what one can do when exporting was part of the motivation of doing initial clean-up work on the architecture level with separating saving from exporting.Another thing that is useful in a few scenarios is exporting named sub rectangles of the image (for creating raster graphics based assets for web/gui themes for instance.)

A sketch with some UI ideas around that is here: http://pippin.gimp.org/tmp/export.png

To summarize suggestions so far, an enhanced file export dialog might allow the user to:

* Choose the export precision as part of the export dialog.

* Save default settings for things like whether to embed a thumbnail, exif data, comments, and etc.

* Have the option to scale the image as part of the file export dialog, leaving the GIMP XCF file at the original size.

* Have the option to convert to another ICC profile color space and also to assign another ICC profile to the image-to-be-exported.

* Have the option to export designated subframes from within the image, rather than having to make a new image and crop to each designated subframe.

Does anyone have any suggested modifications/additions to the above-proposed file export dialog "enhancement request/bug report"?

Moving past the narrow topic of file export dialogs, other useability enhancements were brought up:

* Have a way to specify entire chains of operations (that might or might not be related to exporting a file) that could be activated by a single click.

* Have a way to permanently dismiss various unwanted dialogs and warning notices, such as the dither dialog and the "do you really want to erase the history" warning.

* A warning or a check box (a check box would be less intrusive than a pop-up warning) on the resize dialog might keep one from inadvertently saving a reduced size file over the top of the original larger size file.

The topic of a "fully geglified GIMP" was brought up. What does a fully geglified GIMP have to do with an enhanced file export dialog?

-- Elle