Your photoline Wish List / Deine Photoline Wunschliste

[Herbert123]

Time for an update of my wishlist!
Lots of changes and granted wishes since my last update. Check out the list of implemented requests at the bottom of this page. Awesome work! Thank you Hubers!

Please post and share yours too, so the developers may gain insight in most wanted features and novel ideas to improve Photoline.

[edited and amended 15/Oct/2019]

In order of importance (for me personally)

• master pages and improved guides management.
• general GUI improvements across the board.
• 2-8 bit image mode support, like the 1bit image mode, but extended with an indexed colour palette.
• vector brushes with bitmap support
• improved channel handling. This includes prepress related work (duotones, hexachrome, custom plates), as well as alpha channel handling for texture and CG work.
• photo editing improvements (puppet warp, improved photo stacking, focus stacking, content aware move and transformation tools)

Page Layout & project management workflow improvement features

• MASTER PAGES! Essential to have in a layout app. Just this alone would make my daily work in PhotoLine so much easier...
• layer dependent guides or sets of guides which can be individually turned on or off in the guides panel. More complex grids and guide systems are incredibly tough to manage in Photoline, since guides reside statically on their own "layer" that exists outside the layer stack. Ideally guides should be part of the active layer when the guide(s) is(are) created. This way the user can manage different guide systems easily, and decide whether he/she wishes to group the guides into subgroups, and move certain guide groups on top, and others below particular layers.
• NEW simple option to share (a) layer(s) on a range of pages.
• symbols and a symbol library panel that collects reusable objects and elements on a document level. Edits made in a library item cascade throughout the document and its pages. Instances of library items on a page should be detachable from the original. Simple drag and drop to create new library items and drag them in the document.
• NEW "Collections" or similar feature to organize layer states and layer linking. Refer to https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6246
• option to control separate guide systems for master pages
• option to display all the pages in the view, not just one at a time.
• NEW An option in the ruler (right-mouse click) to add custom named units, and base the relative size on the default units. This would allow for any measurement unit to be used in Photoline.

GUI Improvements

• NEW extended GUI colour controls: allow the user to customize the colours of all major GUI parts and save these settings as a theme.
• document windows in window mode look terrible on Windows. Refer to https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6171 Multiview GUI Improvements Proposal
• open multiple images as tabs. Also see the previous item.
• an option to hide the scroll bars: I personally never use them, and always pan the view with the middle mouse button or spacebar. And ideally these should be restyled according to the user interface background colour chosen in Options. The scrollbars in Windows look very, very ugly and are distracting.
• on-canvas parametric shape controls, instead of the old-fashioned and awkward tool properties controls.
  See download/file.php?id=6021
  Additional ideas:
  shapes.jpg
• NEW Visual Presets / thumbnails for new images: allow the user to manage presets in main categories (web, print, video, comics, etc), and for a subcategories (web-->800x600, web-->1140x768, etc). The current new document and new image dialogs would benefit from a visual presets list/presentation instead of that very limited preset list dropdown. I have too many presets to comfortably manage.
• NEW Various List panels: add folders option to organize and manage colours, patterns, textures, shapes, etc. Just like the Actions panel. This would also solve the problem with managing brush/texture/pattern/gradient/colour sets, because the menus in these panels only accommodate up to 6/7 or so recently used sets.
• NEW Various list panel: allow for filtering by type and by name (typing part of colour name, for example).
• NEW Add a script panel to organize and manage scripts similar to actions.
• NEW Remove the "Web" menu. Move the "Web Export" option to "File", and remove the other extremely outdated options. No-one uses image maps anymore, or tiles images in web development. Perhaps retain these two functions and move them in the File-->Functions menu if you actually find someone who still uses these options. Implement a new timeline panel with simple keyframe-based animation (see animation below)

Image Editing

• NEW Indexed image mode with true indexed colour palette support. With the layer option to set the bit depth to 2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8 bit. A rather big wish, I guess... This could be an extended version of the 1bit image mode in PhotoLine.
• create HDR image: allow for as many brackets as we want, and in both 8 and 16 bpc. When processing 16bpc brackets, generate a 32bpc image.
• add focus stacking.
• a content aware move/transformation/scale tool or option.
• the copy brush: it would be very useful at times to have an option to be able to copy ABSOLUTE transparency of the target area, and replacing the transparency of the painted area.
• perspective grid(s) options for the distort tool
• puppet warp type deformation
  OpenToonz is now open source, and calls it "plastic tool" - perhaps this code can be re-used in Photoline? https://github.com/opentoonz/opentoonz
  puppetwarp.jpg
• image calculations (Refer to Photoshop)
• additional options to refine a bitmap layer mask (comparable to Photoshop's refine mask option)

Vector Editing

• live vector brushes and bitmap brushes along paths. Various options and parameters to control how these are stretched and/or repeated, etc.
• when in Edit Vector Points mode, add a modifier key to reshape straight segments to a curved one in order to avoid having to first convert the straight segment to a curve with the Convert Vector Points tool. This would save a lot of unnecessary clicks.
• move a straight line segment by dragging it (instead of selecting both points).
• option to work on nodes of multiple paths (vector layers) simultaneously. Shift-select two or more vector objects with the edit path tool, and work on the nodes of multiple paths of objects.
• path outline option which displays (highlights) the paths the user is working on. Great for more complex work, and for when elements obscure each-other. In Photoline I solve this by changing the opacity of layers, but it does slow down work.
• quick and easy join/merge nodes functions. (In InkScape: shift-J - Done! InkScape also offers many shortcuts to speed up node editing.)
• easy offset tools for path offsets (preferably live effect)
• paths, nodes, handles, etc. highlighting when hovering before selection. Makes it much easier to select paths when working with more complex artwork. (Photoline already does include highlighting paths for snapping!)

Channels

• introduce custom channels in the channels panel. Currently custom channels are loaded up as a layer in the layer panel, which is rather inconvenient. The way how tiffs with custom channels are currently handled in Photoline is merely a reminder of how useful it would be to keep custom channels separated from the regular layers.
  Gimp's channel panel works quite well in this respect. Look for inspiration there.
• saving selections to a custom channel.
• custom channels for duotone, tritone, hexachrome, special inks, etc.
• essential: saving an alpha channel in a tiff. Loading a tiff with alpha channel is possible, but saving is still problematic.

Text & Typography

• extended open type support. With many typefaces letter variants are now included (such as proportional old style number variants). These cannot be selected or worked with in Photoline. Likewise, ligature control is limited: with headlines ligatures are avoided, but there does not seem to be an option to turn off ligatures at the text/character level.
• improved management of font families and their members for font selection. For example, I have Myriad Pro installed, which consists of 24 members. In Photoline it is often quite confusing to select a particular member. Some are part of the list, others can be reached through a combination of clicks in the text tool settings.
• font selection: typing the first letters of a font name filters the list. Example: type "M" and only font names starting with "M" will populate the visibile list.
• glyph or symbol /option/dropdown to easily select a specific character for insertion. This is related to the extended open type support.
• any other typography related design app on the market separates a) kerning, and b) tracking. Kerning and tracking are two very different things in typography, and equally important to have. PL only offers kerning, and the inclusion of tracking would be extremely helpful for type related work in Photoline.
• text flow tools: visible treads which display the linking between text boxes.

Miscellaneous

• transform tools: allow for 9-slice scaling of objects/layers.
• a non-destructive live object array cloning tool or layer. Allow for different symmetry schemes, and shift, scale, rotation, blur & opacity, color, etc. This would also be great for cloning bitmap layers.
• function to split layer effects into individual layers for further processing and export. Currently PL offers no function to achieve this. "Convert Layer Effects to Layers"
• PDF: allow specific selected layers to be exported as PDF layers. Handy for translations, maps, and so on.
• additional texture noise generators. Currently Noise, turbulence, and fractal is available. Voronoi, Worley, Cellular, and others would be great additions to push the capabilities of the procedural textures.

Dynamic Animation Feature Updates

• NEW Update icons to reflect their function better
• NEW Add a main timeline scrubber to play all animations simultaneously in the main view. The view and the main timeline scrubber should be synchronized, just like in every other animation capable software. Remove the scrubber at the bottom of the preview.
• NEW Expose the keyframe functionality by introducing nice keyframe indicators which can be dragged, copied, and deleted in the tracks. Expose these keyframes for all tracks, not just the selected track.The current timeline keyframes are tiny and almost invisible, as well as very hard to select.
• NEW Remove the preview, and use the main view to play the full animation (this already works for each independent track).
• NEW Alternatively (low hanging fruit): place the preview at the top of the timeline, or separate the two in two separately movable and scalable windows.
• NEW Make frame-by-frame animation possible. Perhaps a new track type?
• include onion skinning.

Bitmap Painting
This part of PhotoLine needs a drastic overhaul in terms of capabilities as well as the overall GUI. It would be too much work however, I think, and a lost battle to attempt to compete with dedicated digital painting software such as Krita and ClipStudio Paint. Besides, these work very well together with PhotoLine. It would be preferable to focus on improving the already quite decent vector tools instead (vector brushes with bitmap support would be an incredible artistic improvement!).

• integrate stamp tool in the regular painting tools by allowing the stamps to become part of the brushes panel
  Untitled.png

--------------------------------------------

Fullfilled wishes and requests
[*] DONE! allow handles to be (multi-)selected, and behaviour should be the same as selecting nodes/anchor points.
[*] DONE! create panorama photo from as many partials/photo stack.
[*] DONE! autosave function
[*] DONE! export options per layer & layer group (see File and Export)
[*] DONE! a way to set the export options on a per layer and layer group basis while working (preferably with a preview option). This would include options to set the export format, the settings for each export format, and an option to export multiple version of the same layer/layer group at different sizes. Also an option to set the resample method.
[*] DONE! apply depth maps (z-maps): in 3d applications depth maps can be calculated. When these are imported in Photoline (for example, as part of an EXR) these are unsupported. Ideally Photoline could utilize the 3d information in a depth map to apply effects, clouds, etc. depending on the depth and adjust the strength of the effect.
[*] DONE! option to keep the transformations of patterns, textures, and gradients of an object, and replace with another pattern/texture/gradient without resetting those transformations.
[*] DONE! Page spreads. And custom spreads. Spreads should be visible in the page pane, and be displayed side be side in the view. Export to PDF as spreads.
[*] DONE!option for automated assets export similar to Photoshop generator.
[*] DONE!when multiple nodes are selected on a curve, an optional transform cage appears, allowing for quick transformations of groups of selected nodes (including rotation). With shift and ctrl modifier keys a real workflow enhancer. Also works with multiple selected objects' nodes (see next point). And the transformation origin can be set as well. Awesome tool.
[*] DONE!Photoline does not seem to offer an option to snap vector nodes to other vector nodes of the same path. Another reason why I often switch to InkScape. It does work with other vector layers' nodes, but the nodes of those remain invisible, and it becomes trial and error to figure out where they snap. See previous point.
[*] DONE!Boolean operations that remain live and editable (non-destructive!)
[*] DONE!G'MIC support
[*] DONE!option to increase or decrease the size of the vector anchor points and handles points in the preferences.

[photoken]

I've noticed the "Image Arithmetic" functions in Photoshop and PaintShopPro, and asked this question before: If anyone uses that function in practice, what do you use it for?

[photoken]

My wishlist includes three "big" changes:

• A search function to find (and optionally select) all objects (layers) having defined characteristics such as
  • Line colour.
  • Fill colour.
  • Font.
  • Font styles (Headline, subhead, etc.).
• A replacement for the simple "Undo List" which would be a full-featured "History Panel". This panel would have the options to:
  • Use a non-linear undo -- an action would be undone without undoing subsequent actions. Same for restoring individual "Undo" actions. There will obviously be cases where subsequent actions would have to be affected, so this should be noted.
  • The ability to select non-consecutive actions and create a PL Action from them.
• The ability to create complex vector fills and shading. This is implemented in other programs as "Mesh Fill", but I like the concept of "Diffusion Curves".

It seems to me that PL is approaching the limits of what can be accomplished as a raster image editor -- there are only a few new features that would enhance its appeal for general-purpose uses, and its existing functions only need a few tweaks (like specifying the amount of feathering for the "Patch" tool).

For image creation, I think this can be considered as three areas:

• Completely raster image creation. PL does this already with the various options for its painting tools. Any enhancements here, such as mixing multiple colours in a paintbrush, would be nice, but marginal.
• Hybrid raster and vector images. Usually this consists of the lines (outlines) being vector shapes and the fill and shading being raster layers. Pl does this now.
• Completely vector image creation. This is where an ability to create complex vector shading is needed.

Of course, PL's outstanding ability to send a layer to an external program removes a lot of pressure from having to develop specialized functions.

Added:
A fourth "big" area would be the 3D Body tool. I'd like to see the ability to chamfer the edges, and more options for setting the colour of the extruded effect.

[bkh]

Just a quick wish:

the possibility to lock a layer against editing: I often use a transparent layer for retouching, but it's easy to miss that layer and to edit the original instead. I can lock the original layer against selection with the layer tool, but of course it can still be accidentally selected in the layer panel.

In particular, imo raw layers should be locked by default, because painting on them causes them to be converted into an ordinary rgb layer, losing the ability to recover the original raw file from the pld as well as some conversion options and drastically increasing the pld size. Also, layers compressed as jpeg for space reasons lose their jpeg data when edited, resulting in much larger PLD files.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[Falaffel]

Two big wishes I also wrote in the subforum "Verbesserungsvorschläge & Wünsche":

1. Improve and optimize the tool "Ausbessernwerkzeug" (sorry I don't know the english name of the tool) like described in my thread

2. A new tool like the "Radial Filter" in Photoshop.

[JulianZI]

1) Resize several selected layers together as if they were grouped (Danke, erledigt :-)

2)
a) Not embed RAW data when PLD is saved in same directory (PLD Sidecar files)
b) Copy "Sidecar" PLD file in image browser and "apply" to other RAW files with Paste

3) Image placeholder: Drag&Drop to fill multiple layers(done) and create new pages id required

4) Assign text attributes to multiple selected layers (even if groups with embedded text layers)

5) Assign layer effects to multiple selected layers together

6) Refinement of the Layer effects, especially the glow and shade effect should look more "analogue".

7) Invert switch for all work layer. Make any mask work as if it was inverted.

8) New soft glow/shadow effect for layers. The glow should start within the form and extend softly to the outside, technically until the page border.
Not the width of the glow is controlled in the attributes, but its the intensity decrease.

This effect would be mainly used to create vignette work areas (see "Radial Filter" mentioned above), also in combination with inversion - see 7, but could also help to create nice shading backgrounds. The radial marquee effect is not the same, it creates radial stripes and the center cannot be moved as easily as it would be possible with a layer.

9) OSX: Make delete key work as backspace (Danke, erledigt :-)

10) Apply gradient, transparency, shading, glow through dedicated tools. This helps to make PL work more intuitively.

[Falaffel]

Hy,

an other great improvement would be to set all Tools, Filters, Effects ... free from their Dialogues and integrate them directly in the Surface of Photoline.

[Herbert123]

Hy,

an other great improvement would be to set all Tools, Filters, Effects ... free from their Dialogues and integrate them directly in the Surface of Photoline.

+1 For inspiration, refer to Affinity Photo. Just the (non-destructive) lighting filter is a great example.

[maxwell]

Alle Wünsche können sicherlich nicht erfüllt werden, wie Herbert bereits geäußert hat. Man hilft den Hubers aber bei der Weiterentwicklung von Photoline, wenn Sie die Wünsche der Nutzer kennen . Anbei meine Wunschliste:

Bildübersicht:
-Festlegen des Aufnahmeortes eines Fotos via Landkarte (z.B. Google Maps) und Übernahme der GPS Daten und des Ortes in Metadaten des Bildes
- Lesen der Metadaten eines Bildes (Ort, Stichworte usw.) aus den „Sidecar“ Dateien von Bildern (z.B. von Lightroom, ACR) und deren Übernahme.

Werkzeuge:
- Füllwerkzeug zusätzlich mit Bildverrechnung (Füllmodi)
- Sprühdose: zusätzlich mit Bildverrechnung (Füllmodi)
- Voreinstellungen: Abspeichern von Werkzeugeinstellungen beim Pinsel und Kopierpinsel, falls möglich unter Berücksichtigung des
verwendeten Pinseltyps
- -> Farbe: Belichtung und Dynamik (geringe Prorität)
- -> Histogramm: zusätzlicher Schalter, mit dem der Definitionsbereich und Wertebereich der Farben fest vorgegeben werden kann (vgl.
Diskussion im Forum) (würde auch bei Übernahme von psd Dateien mit Histogramm Arbeitsebenen helfen. Photoshop Verhalten kann jetzt
nur über zwei getrennte Histogrammkorrekturen erzielt werden.)

Ebene:
- Ebenenmanagement: Unterstützung bei der Suche nach bestimmten Ebenentypen, Ebenen, … dies kann z.B. über eine Navigationsliste oder
direkt im Ebenendialog ähnlich Photoshop realisiert werden (vgl. Diskussion im Forum)

Filter:
- Perspektivisch ent- bzw. verzerren unter Berücksichtigung eines „Fluchtpunkts"
- Automatische Objektivkorrektur (wird zunehmend wichtiger, da zunehmend Korrekturdaten von Objektiven in Raw-Datei mit abgelegt werden
(vgl. z.B. MFT Objektive)). - - Nutzer von PL könnten hier mithelfen -

Druckvorstufe:
- Farbwarnung, falls Farben außerhalb des genutzten Farbraumes liegen
- Ausdruck von Duoton-, Triton-Bildern, Schmuckfarben zur Voransicht auf heimischen Drucker

[JulianZI]

Ein alternativer radialer verlauf fehlt meiner Meinung nach. Hauptsächliche Anwendung wäre das komfortable Erstellen radialer Filter oder Vignetten.

Andere Programme haben hier recht schöne Lösungen, in Photoline ist das gewünschte Ergebnis nur schwer und fehleranfällig zu erreichen.

Der Radiale Verlauf sollte über eine Ellipse, welche auf der Ebene positioniert positioniert, verzerrt und verschoben werden kann, definiert werden. Beim Rand der Ellipse soll der Verlauf genau 50% erreicht haben und sich danach bis zur maximalen Ausdehnung der Ebene auf 0% reduzieren.
Abstufungen (also Verlaufszwischenpunkte) sollen nicht möglich sein, sie führen hier nur zu unerwünschter Streifenbildung.

eliptical.jpg

Die Elipse ist über die gelb markierten Punkte veränderbar und drehbar. Sie ist verschiebbar. Der Wert, der am Rand der Ellipse erreicht wird soll einstellbar sein, Voreinstellung 50%, es kann aber auch 100% sein. In diesem Fall handelt es sich dann nicht um einen Verlauf, sondern um eine solide Füllung. 0% ist auch möglich, dann findet der gesamte Verlauf im Inneren der Ellipse statt.
Wichtig ist, der Verlauf ausserhalb der Ellipse geht bis zum Rand, bzw. an der kurzen Seite darüber hinaus (sofern >0% an der Grenze).

Mit dem aktuellen radialen Verlauf, kann man den Effekt erzielen. Doch dafür ist es erforderlich
a) den Verlauf bis über den Rand der Ebene aufzuziehen
b) man muss es unbedingt vermeiden innerhalb des Verlaufs zu klicken, da dann neue Verlaufspunkte eingefügt werden
c) den Verlauf kann man nur über die kleine weisse Raute einstellen.

Es ist aber nicht einfach möglich, den Verlauf auf der Ebene zu verschieben - man kann zwar das Zentrum verschieben, die anderen Kontrollpunkte bleiben aber dabei wo sie sind.

Im Ergebnis ist es schlicht so, der aktuell verfügbare Verlauf ist nur mit Abstrichen und oft umständlich für das Erstellen von Vignetten oder radialen Filtern zu verwenden. Dies ist schade, da es sich eigentlich nur um Einschränkungen des Userinterfaces handelt.

Wieso das ganze? Radiale Filter sind sehr leistungsfähig um die Belichtung eines Bildes fein einzustellen. Anstatt beim einem Landschaftsbild mit starkem Himmelkontrast "Lichter und Schatten" einzustellen, kann man mittels einer Vignette, welche über dem Vordergrund platziert wird, den Himmel subtil abdunkeln. Anschliessend erhöht man die Belichtung für das gesamte Bild, bis die Bildwirkung für den Vordergrund stimmt.

[Ashcraaft]

Ein alternativer radialer verlauf fehlt meiner Meinung nach. Hauptsächliche Anwendung wäre das komfortable Erstellen radialer Filter oder Vignetten.

…

Wieso das ganze? Radiale Filter sind sehr leistungsfähig um die Belichtung eines Bildes fein einzustellen. Anstatt beim einem Landschaftsbild mit starkem Himmelkontrast "Lichter und Schatten" einzustellen, kann man mittels einer Vignette, welche über dem Vordergrund platziert wird, den Himmel subtil abdunkeln. Anschliessend erhöht man die Belichtung für das gesamte Bild, bis die Bildwirkung für den Vordergrund stimmt.

Sehr gute Idee, JulianZI

[Falaffel]

Ein alternativer radialer verlauf fehlt meiner Meinung nach. Hauptsächliche Anwendung wäre das komfortable Erstellen radialer Filter oder Vignetten.

...

Wieso das ganze? Radiale Filter sind sehr leistungsfähig um die Belichtung eines Bildes fein einzustellen. Anstatt beim einem Landschaftsbild mit starkem Himmelkontrast "Lichter und Schatten" einzustellen, kann man mittels einer Vignette, welche über dem Vordergrund platziert wird, den Himmel subtil abdunkeln. Anschliessend erhöht man die Belichtung für das gesamte Bild, bis die Bildwirkung für den Vordergrund stimmt.

Finde ich auch eine klasse Idee, aber lies mal hier nach. Wird vermutlich nicht kommen

[JulianZI]

Ein alternativer radialer verlauf fehlt meiner Meinung nach. Hauptsächliche Anwendung wäre das komfortable Erstellen radialer Filter oder Vignetten.
Finde ich auch eine klasse Idee, aber lies mal hier nach. Wird vermutlich nicht kommen

Danke - das ist wirklich ein langer thread den ich noch nicht kannte - dein Vorschlag deckt sich mit dem meinen, habe ich gesehen. Ich kannte den "Vignetten" thread - dort kann man nachlesen wie diverse Wege zu nur 80% Lösungen führen.

Die Probleme welche ich mit dem aktuellen Radialfilter habe sind folgende:
- Ich möchte ihn verschieben können
- ich möchte nicht aus versehen Kontrollpunkte einfügen
- ich möchte ihn skalieren - dafür muss ich derzeit die weisse Raute verschieben, das geht aber nur in einer Achse, in der anderen muss ich den äusseren Punkt verschieben ....
- und, ganz wichtig, der Verlauf MUSS sanft bis zum Rand ausklingen. Das machen die diversen Workarounds (Glow, Unschärfe) nicht. Die einzige Möglichkeit ist es, das aktuelle Werkzeug bis über den Rand des Bildes aufzuziehen.

Im Grunde wünsche ich mir nicht ein neues Tool, sondern die Reduktion des User interfaces für ein existierendes Werkzeug. Das Tool könnte man auf einen neuen Button packen, sodass man den weiss-schwarz radial Verlauf schnell aufziehen kann, ohne erst im Werkzeug dialog die Eigenschaften zu klicken.

[Falaffel]

+1 Da bin ich voll dabei.

[Hoogo]

From me the same wish as always:
I wish I could just use the normal menu entries for filters when I want to create an adjustment layer for vector/text/groups.