[Gimp-developer] Enhancement idea: Snapshot tool for quick comparisons

[Joao S. O. Bueno]

On Thursday 26 June 2008, vabijou2 wrote:
> I tried posting this to the list first, but apparently the list was
> down, so I went ahead and submitted a bug (#540091).  The text
> below is from that bug report, and I would love to have this idea
> discussed on the list for possible development.
>
>
> When editing photos I find that it is tedious waiting for the
> rendering to be
> completed as I turn layers on and off for comparing the effects of
> the changes
> I'm making.  I would like to see a new tool/UI that would allow a
> snapshot to
> be taken of any currently displayed view and saved for comparison
> with other snapshots later.  It would be good to allow these
> snapshots to be named.  I visualize a list of snapshots, and
> clicking on each one displays it in a snapshot review window.  This
> window would have zooming and panning capabilities.  By eliminating
> the processing that I assume is required each time a layer is
> turned on/off, I would think that the snapshots could be displayed
> very quickly and make subtle differences between snapshots more
> apparent.  Perhaps something like this might be done using the
> "Copy Visible"
> function and creating a display window with a list of snapshots
> displayed on the side?
>

Hi there -

I am improving the "layer group" plug-in that hacks some layer group 
functionality in GIMP. 
You can have a version of it at [1] right now - but I am working on a 
version featuring a dialog where one can trun the groups visible or 
invisible with a single click. That will still work on teh same 
image, but you can do image->duplicate if you need to see diferent 
versions at once.


[1] - 
http://www.gimpstuff.org/content/show.php/Layer+groups?content=83137

	js
	-><-


> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>-------------
>
>
> Comment #1 from Martin Nordholts (GIMP developer, points: 14)
> 2008-06-25 04:29 UTC [reply]
> Hi
>
> Why not just use Image -> Duplicate as the snapshot mechanism? If
> that doesn't
> work, please bring this up on the gimp-developer mailing list.
> Before opening
> an enhancement request the feature and solution should have been
> discussed there.
>
> Thanks
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>-------------
>
>
> Comment #2 from vabijou yahoo com (reporter, points: 6)
> 2008-06-25 13:12 UTC [reply]
>
> The gimp-developer mailing list has had no activity since June 16,
> so it does
> not appear to be working.  I've tried posting there, and my e-mails
> have been
> returned.  I've e-mailed the gimp-developer administrator and had
> that e-mail
> returned.  I posted it on nabble on June 20 and there it sits.  I
> think I've done my best to work within the system, and the system
> failed me.  Hence, I'm
> posting it here.
>
> Image -> Duplicate is an unacceptable alternative.  The idea is to
> create a single window that allows the user to cycle through
> multiple (named) snapshots
> in any order he chooses to see large or small changes more readily.
>  Image ->
> Duplicate has so many negatives to this process that I don't know
> where to start.
>
> Two major problems with Image -> Duplicate immediately come to
> mind:
>
> 1)  It would be a huge waste of memory, since it completely copies
> the image info (except for the History).
>
> 2)  It scatters windows all over the place, making comparisons
> difficult.
>
> What I'm after is a fast-rendering, easy to use method of flipping
> through "snapshots" of my workflow.  Shift-clicking on the eye-ball
> by each layer comes
> close, but it is slowed by the processing required during
> rendering.  My proposal is a way to get around that and speed
> things up for the user.