Re: [Gimp-developer] Using GIMP in the textile industry

[Simon Budig <simon budig de>]

Hi all.

Please see my previous mail for more context of this problem.

Working with indexed images:

I witnessed one very funky way of working with indexed images and I am
not sure if I have fully wrapped my head around the ways they use some
features of the proprietary tool they're using now.

The tool in question does not provide multiple layers, but it does have
some sort of floating selection. It however has funky means of dealing
with indexed images. For each entry in the color palette you can
  a) set the resp. color to transparency  and
  b) protect specific colors

I've seen these features used in various workflows:

* If you want to extend a patterned area you'd drag the pattern onto the
canvas and roughly align it to an already patterned area. You'd then
swich some colors to transparency, making it easier to align the
patterns in a pixel exact manner. To actually do the expansion of the
patterns you'd then make the colors visible again and drag on the
bounding box of the pattern to extend it into the desired areas. That
way it is ensured that the alignment of the new area fits the old area
pixel perfectly.

* if you want to combine a decor element of a pattern over a different
pattern (with the same repeating properties) you can place the new
pattern on top of the old one, then protect certain colors of the old
pattern and expand the area of the new pattern by dragging on the
bounding box. This basically places the new pattern "behind" certain
areas (as defined by the protected colors) of the old pattern. This also
can be used in conjunction with swiching some colors of the new pattern
to transparent, making parts of the new pattern invisible.

As I said, I was kind of swamped by the speed the operator toggled the
properties of the different indexed colors and it was hard to judge what
she actually was trying to do.

I kind of suspect that it is worth evaluating if there are more
straightforward ways to arrive at the same goal of the workflow, but
right now I do not have specific ideas there. That having said: being
able to "protect" some indexed colors (in a similiar way to a protected
alpha channel maybe?) as well as temporarily making some indexed colors
invisible/transparent might be helpful to other pixel based artists as
well. Opinions?

An interesting side problem is: If we had patterns with indexed colors
and would want to use them in an indexed image - how could we go about
mapping the two palettes to each other?

I'd welcome input on that topic.

Bye,
         Simon

-- 
              simon budig de              http://simon.budig.de/