Re: [Gimp-developer] suggestions

[Elle Stone <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>]

On 04/05/2016 04:07 AM, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
> 4 апр. 2016 г. 20:10 пользователь "Elle Stone" написал:
>
> > But what about the ability to edit in color spaces other than sRGB? Is
> this less or more of a priority than nondestructive editing?
>
> We've had this conversation before. This is how
> http://wiki.gimp.org/wiki/Roadmap got adjusted to specifically mention
> that. At your request :)

I do appreciate that editing in color spaces other than sRGB is now on 
the official Roadmap. However, it's on the Roadmap for "Future GIMP".

GIMP 2.10 will be an "sRGB only image editor".

GIMP 3.0 is mostly about porting to GTK3 and I understand why porting to 
GTK3 is a high-priority task.

As for GIMP 3.2, quoting from the Roadmap: "The focus of this release is 
going to be on non-destructive editing. Note that both adjustment layers 
and layer effects/styles are the terminology currently used in requests 
by users. We haven't yet assessed, how exactly non-destructive editing 
is going to be implemented."

"Future GIMP" is some indefinite version of GIMP that come after the 
release of GIMP 2.10, GIMP 3.0, and GIMP 3.2.


Looking at the timeline for past GIMP releases:

1.2:  Dec 2000
2.0:  Mar 2004
2.2:  Dec 2004
2.4:  Oct 2007
2.6:  Oct 2008
2.8:  May 2012
2.10: ? (high bit depth editing)
3.0:  ? (port to GTK3)
3.2:  ? (nondestructive editing)
Future GIMP: ??? (support for editing in working spaces other than sRGB)

If the past is predictive of the future, it could be several or many 
years before "Future GIMP" gets here and GIMP finally provides for 
editing in RGB working spaces other than sRGB.

sRGB was invented in the 1990s to fit the color gamut of consumer-grade 
monitors.

sRGB has the same primaries as Rec.709, which dates back to 1990 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec._709).

Unless the devs give a higher priority to support for editing in RGB 
working spaces other than sRGB, it looks like Rec.2020 devices 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec._2020) will hit the shelves before 
GIMP supports editing in RGB working spaces other than sRGB.

It's already the case that photographic printers and various high-end 
display devices (televisions and monitors) have color gamuts that exceed 
the sRGB color gamut.

When shooting raw, it's already the case that digital cameras produce 
reasonably accurate colors that exceed the sRGB color gamut.

Even when shooting jpegs, most digital cameras allow to save in the 
AdobeRGB color space, and if you think those extra greens and 
blue-greens don't make a difference, you are just kidding yourself.

Color-producing/reproducing technology has moved past sRGB. This is a 
major reason why editing in RGB working spaces other than sRGB should be 
a high-priority item instead of being deferred to some indefinite 
"Future GIMP".

Best,
Elle