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List:       koffice
Subject:    Re: KImageshop (Krayon) bugfixes ready
From:       John Califf <jcaliff () compuzone ! net>
Date:       2000-10-02 11:34:06
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Shawn Gordon wrote:
> 
> >
> > These changes are based on a recent cvs version.  If the version in cvs
> > is not the current one please inform me.  I tried the Krayon link at
> > theKompany and it was dead, and while there is a KImageShop mailing list
> > I don't know how to get on it, as it's not on the Kde mailing list
> > page.  Also, how do I get on the new koffice-devel list?  It's not
> > accessible from the main kde page either, and doesn't show up on the
> > lists at developer.kde.org.
> >
>  You are the second person to say the link on our site doesn't work, but
> it works for me.  All we are doing is pointing you to the KImageShop
> page at the KOffice site, maybe the koffice web site goes down
> periodically?  I'm not sure what is going on with this.
> 
> > I will volunteer as the maintainer and bugfixer for Krayon while the
> > original authors work on new features when they have time, if this is
> > ok with the original authors.
> >
> > John
> 
> Totally cool - I know that the original developers have all pretty much
> left, but Michael Koch is working hard with us on KDB and said he was
> available for questions.  I'll try to have our programmer, Torp, who is
> working on Krayon, get your patches put into CVS.  For right now the
> main goal is to just get the app working and put in support for digital
> cameras by porting the code at gphoto.org
> 
> Shawn

The link to Kimageshop at koffice.org from theKompany now works.  I
think the koffice site may have been down when I tried before.

A clarification about the status of KImageshop. A *lot* of work is
needed before fancy import and export features can be added, although
the basic app does now work with these bugfixes.

First, what was (and still is) on cvs doesn't come close to even
compiling.  All I have done is to bring it into line with current Kde
common code and fix bugs so that it compiles and runs.  Even after I got
it to run there were major crashes. I think those are now fixed, so it
is usable to experiment with.  (Note: I've since uncommented the layers
and channels tabs so the only things now commented out are undo-redo and
patterns.)

Many features are missing because they haven't been coded yet. Loading
and saving is currently nonfunctional, but doesn't crash the app.  The
way this app saves data is to write out an XML file containing image
info and then info on each layer and each channel by layer.  Something
does get written but not correctly. The actual binary RGB data which
"is" the image is by channel within layer, and is supposed to be written
to a separate binary file (apart from the XML description file).  The
binary file never gets written, but even if it did there is no code to
load the binary data yet so loading a saved file can't possibly work
until that is written.  All of that needs to be added just to save and
load an image, and then export and import filters for the common image
formats and indexed color needs to be written, then for the esotoric
formats. I'd give a realistic estimate or 3 to 6 months before even
considering adding code for esoteric image formats to Krayon. 

So there is a lot to do even to get it near to where Gimp now is in
terms of features. I can't do all this by myself.  I do know a little
about
graphics but detailed knowledge about image formats and graphics
processing is needed eventually.  What's there in the infrastructure
using layers and channels looks good, though, and does work for a
current image.  In my opinion the user interface and gui code is very
good and easy to use, even at this early stage. 

One place to start is looking at Gimp to see how they have done some
things regarding image formats.  I don't know much about digital cameras
but I believe they use a special image format which will have to be
imported into Krayon's native format and then exported back into the
digital camera format for photo production.  Also some existing Kde code
can be leveraged - namely what is used already by Pixie with
libminimagic for effects and processing.  

Other bugs will be discovered that I haven't encountered yet because
I've not used the app enough, just enough to test the basics.  The only
thing I know of that crashes Krayon for sure is adding a second view of
an existing image and then deleting that view (not a showstopper), but
editing multiple images in one session with the tabbed dialog feature
works fine.  

I can put in at least a few hours a day on this (maintaining, bugfixing
and integrating new features - with the help of graphics experts
eventually I hope). I may ask for cvs update access soon specifically
for Krayon, but thanks of offering to get your programmers in touch so I
can coordinate with them (and have them commit the fixes until I'm bold
enough to ask for access).  I look forward to hearing from them. 

With these fixes committed we can start to get feedback from artists
about using Krayon while gradually filling in the stubs with features
which are missing.  Also, there's no reason why Krayon (it should be
renamed in Kde cvs) shouldn't be compiled by default with the rest of
Koffice now that it does compile and runs ok, although it's too early to
include Krayon in binary releases of KOffice for end users and distros.  

I will go ahead and prepare cvs diffs for the directories involved for
Torp to test, review and apply.  It might be easier just to totally
replace some files which is why I suggested a tarball. I'll put the
patches here and/or on the new koffice-dev list as attachments in diff
format tonite or tomorrow.

John

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