Re: [Gimp-developer] GSoC Questions

["gespertino gmail com" <gespertino gmail com>]

Just a quick note, since it has been discussed before at Peter's blog and it's clear the direction that GIMP will take regarding its UI:
I disagree when Peter says that a nodal UI works as a form of visual programming and sort of questions its validity for an application like GIMP.

These interfaces have been used successufly in CG and digital compositing for years and probably the best example of that is Nuke, that allows all the features GIMP has (and much more) not only for still frames but for sequences.

Nuke has become a de-facto industry standard for high-end digital compositing and it actually helps complex projects to be organized and manageable. It's not "experimental" and It's not the spaghetti mess most people think nodal compositing is.

This is a simple example (there are dozens) showing how transparent a nodal UI can be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMXZ5RWYejU
Notice that operations are created from tool icons and it doesn't necessarily take to manually connect nodes.

I agree that creating stuff from individual nodes could be cumbersome, but for editing a node tree is a more logical way to visualize and navigate and it's easier to organize (using groups and area containers) than a linear stack, plus all the flexibility it gives when it comes to re-using stuff by simply plugging existing nodes together.

As an everyday GIMP user, I'd welcome a nodal UI dialog as an extension to the current UI. The idea of a node-tree window on a second screen makes a lot of sense to me.

just my 2 cents.